Hank Ketcham (American football)

Henry Holman "Hank" Ketcham (June 17, 1891 – November 1986) was an American football player. He played the center and guard positions for Yale University. He was selected as a first-team All-American three consecutive years in 1911, 1912 and 1913. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1968.

Biography

Ketcham was born in Englewood, New Jersey. After attending the Hotchkiss School, he enrolled at Yale University, where he was a member of Skull and Bones.^[1] He played every game for Yale's varsity football team in 1911, 1912, and 1913. He helped lead Yale to a 7-2-1 record in 1911 and a 7-1-1 record in 1912 and was a consensus All-American in both of those years. In 1913, Ketcham was selected as the captain of Yale's football team. In a departure from past tradition at Yale, Ketcham appointed Howard Jones as the school's first salaried football coach. Ketcham later recalled: "I played every varsity game for three years and was taken out only once for a slight injury ... I am generally credited with having developed the term 'roving center'. Except for today's platoon systems, football hasn't changed materially. We had the on-side kick, the ball was a bit larger in circumference and the drop kick was more popular than the place kick."^[2]

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