The Union Club of Columbia football team

The Union Club of Columbia football team was a short-lived football club composed of students and alumni of Columbia College, active from 1886 to 1887. It serves as the only school-related football team during this period, as Columbia’s varsity football program was on hiatus from 1885 to 1888. Little is known about the Union Club’s organization, its exact relationship to Columbia College, or the reasons behind its formation and eventual dissolution.

1886 Unions of Columbia College football
Conference	American Football Union
Record	1–3 (1–2 AFU)
Captain	A. Cohen
Home stadium	St. George Cricket Grounds
Seasons ← 1885 1887 →

1886 American Football Union standings
v t e	Conf.					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Crickets of Stevens Institute $	3	–	0	–	0	4	–	1	–	0
Staten Island Football Club	1	–	2	–	2	2	–	3	–	3
Unions of Columbia	1	–	2	–	0	1	–	3	–	0
Brooklyn Hill	0	–	1	–	2	3	–	5	–	3
Cutler School	0	–	0	–	0	–	–	–	–	–
Spartan Harriers	0	–	0	–	0	–	–	–	–	–

In 1886, the Unions of Columbia football club joined the newly formed American Football Union (AFU) for its inaugural season. The Unions compiled a 1–3 record, all against AFU opponents, and outscored their opponents by a total of 28 to 23. The AFU later ruled that a forfeit loss on November 6th between Brooklyn Hill and the Unions would not count toward the league standings.^[1] The 1886 team was composed primarily of Columbia College alumni, particularly former members of the 1883 and 1884 varsity squads.

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Source
October 16	Staten Island Football Club	Staten Island, NY	W 22–0	^[2]
October 30	Crickets of Stevens Institute		Likely postponed	^[3]
November 2	Crickets of Stevens Institute	St. George Cricket Ground Hoboken, NJ	L 6–13	^[4]
November 6	Brooklyn Hill	Crescent Athletic Club grounds Brooklyn, NY	L (forfeit)	^[5]
November 20	Staten Island Football Club	St. George Cricket Grounds Staten Island, NY	L 0–10	^[6]

1887 season

1887 Unions of Columbia College football
Conference	American Football Union
Record	0–3 (0–3 AFU)
Captain	A. Cohen
Seasons ← 1886 1888 →

1887 American Football Union standings
v t e	Conf.					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Crescent Athletic Club $	6	–	0	–	0	7	–	1	–	0
New York Athletic Club	2	–	2	–	0	1	–	2	–	0
Staten Island Cricket Club	1	–	3	–	0	1	–	3	–	0
Unions of Columbia	0	–	3	–	0	0	–	3	–	0

The 1887 Unions of Columbia College football team compiled a 0–3 record (all in the AFU) and were outscored by their opponents by a total of 63 to 2. Sometime in the middle of October, the team was able to secure new players when the Crickets of Stevens Institute (who had won the 1886 AFU championship) decided to consolidate their team with the Unions. On November 13, the Unions resigned from the AFU for an unstated reason, and disbanded their student alumni football team. Speculation at the time for the team's disbandment was blamed on the club "not being able to stand defeat".^[7] Another possibility was the alumni simply lost interest in the game, which was a common reason for dropping football at the time (this was the reason for Columbia's Varsity hiatus' in the 1880s and 1890s), or perhaps the most viable, the student sect of the Unions team was consolidated into the 1887 Columbia interclass teams, and there were two few alumni remaining to continue the season.

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Source
October 15	Staten Island Cricket Club	Staten Island Cricket grounds Livingston, Staten Island	L 2–30	^[8]^[9]
October 22	Crescent Athletic Club	Crescent Athletic Club grounds Brooklyn, NY	L 0–27	^[10]
November 5	Staten Island Cricket Club	Crescent Athletic Club grounds Brooklyn, NY	Likely Cancelled
November 12	Crescent Athletic Club	Crescent Athletic Club grounds Brooklyn, NY	L 0–6

1888 season

1888 Unions of Columbia College football
Conference	Independent
Record	~2–1
Captain	Read G. Dilworth (quarterback and rusher)^[11]
Seasons ← 1887 1889 →

1888 Eastern college football independents records
v t e	Conf.
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
Yale		–		13	–	0	–	0
Harvard		–		12	–	1	–	0
Princeton		–		11	–	1	–	0
Lehigh		–		10	–	2	–	0
Trinity (CT)		–		5	–	1	–	1
Lafayette		–		6	–	3	–	0
Cornell		–		4	–	2	–	0
Penn		–		9	–	7	–	0
Bucknell		–		2	–	3	–	0
Fordham		–		1	–	2	–	0
Massachusetts		–		2	–	4	–	0
Wesleyan		–		2	–	7	–	0
Worcester Tech		–		1	–	4	–	0
Rutgers		–		1	–	6	–	1
Penn State		–		0	–	2	–	1
Swarthmore		–		0	–	5	–	0

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Source
October 27	Manhattan Athletic Club	Manhattan Athletic Club grounds Manhattan, NY	W 4–0	^[12]
November 3	Consolidated team of Crescent Athletic Club	Crescent Athletic Club grounds Brooklyn, NY	L 4–6	^[13]
December 8	Manhattan Athletic Club	Manhattan Athletic Club grounds Manhattan, NY	W 30–0	^[14]

Team rosters

In 1886, nearly all of the players in the Union Club were alumni or students of Columbia College. For the 1887 season, however, the Unions of Columbia roster would also include the Crickets of Stevens, which were another alumni football team that represented the Stevens Institute of Technology. Various members of other athletic clubs in the AFU also played a small part on the Union team. The following players were a member of the Unions of Columbia football team between 1886 and 1888. In 1888, restrictions from the new AFU constitution regarding fixed rosters slowed the influx or shifting of players of any club in the New York metropolitan area, and as such many of the Crickets or other players not affiliated with the college left the team. Any additional information regarding the player's history will follow their years and position with the Unions.

C. Aldridge – 1887 Unions quarterback
H. Anderson – 1888 Unions rusher
J. Bacon – 1886 Unions fullback and rusher
Francis Blossom – 1888 Unions center rush and right end; Columbia Varsity letterwinner 1889
R. Bradley – 1888 Unions halfback and right tackle; 1888 Columbia sophomore team
Charles K. Beekman – 1886 Unions rusher; rusher for 1887 Columbia Junior team; 1888 Unions left tackle; Columbia Varsity letterwinner 1889
Caldway – 1887 Unions rusher
A. Cohen, captain – 1886/1887 Unions rusher and halfback
J. F. Congdon – 1888 Unions rusher
J.Cooke – 1888 Unions rusher
Cummings – 1886 Unions halfback
DeWitt Weld? – 1888 Unions rusher (could be E. B. DeWitt, Columbia Varsity letterwinner 1882)
J. Dilworth – 1888 Unions rusher and center rush (could be R. G. Dilworth, 1888 Unions quarterback)
Read G. Dilworth – 1888 Unions quarterback (could be J. Dilworth, 1888 Unions rusher and center rush); Columbia Varsity letterwinner 1889–1890
Dimock – 1886 Unions rusher
Drummond – 1887 Unions rusher
D. Edwards – 1887 Unions halfback; Princeton football alumni and Crescent Athletic Club halfback 1887?
Field – 1887 Unions rusher (possibly Otis W. Field; Columbia Varsity letterwinner 1873)
Gardiner – 1886 Unions halfback
Alger C. Gildersleeve – 1888 Unions left end; 1888 Columbia Sophomore team; Columbia Varsity letterwinner and captain 1889
A. Halstead – 1888 Unions rusher
Howland – 1886 Unions rusher
J. M. Hewlett, captain – 1888 Unions quarterback and halfback; 1888 Columbia Sophomore team captain; Columbia Varsity letterwinner and captain 1889
Klapp – 1886 Unions rusher; captain and halfback of 1887 Columbia Junior team; 1888 Unions right guard
J. Langthorne (Longthorn, Longthorne?) – 1888 Unions left guard
Livermore – 1886 Unions rusher
Benoni Lockwood – 1886 Unions halfback; Columbia Varsity letterwinner 1883
E. Magee – 1887 Unions halfback
G. M. Martin – 1888 Unions rusher
R. A. Martin – 1888 Unions rusher
G. S. Nicholas Jr. – 1888 Unions rusher
C. O'Connor – 1888 Unions fullback
S. D. Pierce – 1888 Unions quarterback; 1888 Columbia Sophomore team
Provost – 1886 Unions quarterback; quarterback for 1887 Columbia Junior team
Phelps – 1887 Unions rusher
Richards – 1886 Unions rusher
W. P. Robertson – 1888 Unions halfback and fullback; 1888 Columbia freshmen team
Schuyler – 1886 Unions quarterback
Sevenoake – 1887 Unions rusher; Crickets Athletic Club 1886–1887; Secretary and Treasurer of the AFU in 1887
Sheldon – 1887 Unions rusher
E. P. Smith – 1888 Unions rusher; Columbia Varsity letterwinner 1890
H. Smith – 1886 Unions rusher
T. Smith – 1886 Unions fullback
Charles A. Stevens – 1886 Unions halfback; Columbia Varsity letterwinner 1883–1884 and 1884 captain;
R. Stevens – 1886 Unions rusher
Uhlenhaut – 1887 Unions fullback
William Ward – 1886 Unions rusher; Columbia Varsity letterwinner 1874–1876; played on 1887 Crescent Athletic Club
E. Winchet – 1887 Unions rusher
E. Woodbridge – 1888 Unions rusher

^[15] ^[16] ^[17] ^[18]

v t e Columbia Lions football
Venues	Polo Grounds (1880–1883, 1890, 1899, 1901–1903, 1920–1927, 1936) Berkeley Oval (1889) Columbia Grounds (1891) Columbia Field (1900) American League Park (1904–1905) South Field (1915–1923) Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium (1923–1982, 1984–present) Giants Stadium (1983) Hofstra Stadium (1983)
Bowls & rivalries	1934 Rose Bowl Cornell Fordham: Liberty Cup
Culture & lore	Columbia University Marching Band Roaree the Lion "Roar, Lion, Roar" The Union Club
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885–1888 1889 1890 1891 1892–1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906–1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
National championship seasons in bold

The Union Club of Columbia football team

1887 season

1888 season

Team rosters

References

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