I DHMO" -HF HHtSS .thijUday NOV 15.1979 11F fZ-ilfs 7s black gridder . . . Jewett turned the jeers into cheers in 1890s By TED TALBERT -'t Press Soeciai Writer The year was 1 890 Oscar Wilde had just written "A Picture of Dorian Gray " Congress had voted pensions to Civil War . veterans. At Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, doctors had come up with the revolutionary idea of wearing rubber gloves during surgery . As the year wound into fall," a 20-year-old son of a blacksmith was making his own kind of news. His game was football, then in its 1 2th year at the University of Michigan, and George Henry Jewett II played it with an intensity that rivaled anything previously seen on the playing field at Ann Arbor. "He is a brilliant player who stands punishment with "indifference," observed the Daily, the university's student newspaper jewett stood out in one other respect He was black, the first black to take the field for the Maize and Blue While modern journalists frequently credit Willis Ward as being Michigan's first :black football player (1932), the honor actually belongs to Jewett. "Gramps entered the University "of Michigan in 1890, and enrolled in a four-year homeopathic medical course." said his grandson, Coleman Jewett, 46, an assistant principal at Tappan Intermediate School in Ann Arbor "He took to the gridiron and became the starting fullback on the varsity team as a freshman " ' JEWETT was born in 1870, the son of George Jewett, a successful blacksmith, who, with his wife, Letitia, had come to Ann Arbor from Bowling Green, Ky in 1854. The younger Jewett attended Ann Arbor schools where he earned nine letters for football, track and base-, ball As a high school senior, ' he captained his basketball " team His sports prowess was equaled by his ability as a scholar He carried straight A's n geography. English, history, chemistry and mathe- matics, and graduated at the top of his class - His introduction to football at U-M was not without pitfalls, -as noted by John Behee in his book, "Hail to the Victors " 5 ..; Wrote Behee, " 'Kill the coon! Kill the coon!' chanted the blood-thirsty Purdue crowd when Michigan squared off against the Boilermakers (in 1892)." ' But, said Behee, even the hostile Purdue partisans changed their attitude when they saw Jewett play "The chant continued until early in the first half when the officials unscrambled a heap of players. Jewett was found underneath, flat on his face, unconscious. As his limp body was carried off the field, the Purdue rooters stood and cheered wildly " v ' Vt iini rjTf, 'fl ; wmi J l vi? ft COLEMAN JEWETT, who has been working with Millie Schembechler. wife of Michigan footbail coach Bo Schembech-ler, on a project commemorating 100 years of Wolverine football, said: "Gramps was the target for much of the time when he was on the football field He was the fast runner (in 1892, Jewett was the National Amateur Athletic Union champion in the 1 00-and 200-yard dashes), the team's best kicker, the designer of 'special formations," and he was a black player in a for-whites-only game. "Opposing teams would designate players to get that 'nigger' out of the game by any means, and from all reports Gramps dealt out as much punishment as he received " Jewett, who often played offense and defense for the entire game, was the Wolverines' leading scorer in his fresh man year "Gramps quickly gained a reputation as the best all-around football player in the Midwest," boasted his grandson. "Unfortunately, there were no athletic boards of control, media coverage was very limited, and (there were) no professional football teams to draft the top players." WITH NO professional football opportunities available, Jewett was encouraged to study medicine, according to his grandson. "Victor Vaughan, dean of medicine, continually put pressure on Gramps to give up . either medical studies or football." said Coleman Jewett "Consequently, after the 1892 season, he transferred to Northwestern University in Evanston, 111., and'continued both football and medical studies until his graduation. By transferring to Northwestern, he became part of a select group of athletes who have lettered at two Big Ten schools. "Gramps went on the practice medicine in the Chicago area but medical practice wasn't lucrative in the 1890s, particularly for a black per-. son. He supplemented his income by playing football and baseball with various semi-professional teams." After brief coaching intervals at Michigan State Normal and Olivet colleges, Jewett returned to Ann Arbor -; In 1901. he married his childhood sweetheart, Lillian Zebbs. and the following year opened "The Valet," a profitable dry-cleaning, establishment on South State Street in the heart of the U-M campus. On Aug. 11, 1908, George Henry Jewett II died at work, " the victim of a heart attack at the age of 38. It would be 24 years before . before another black man - would wear a University of Michigan football uniform. In 1 90 1, he married his childhood sweetheart, Lillian Zebbs, and the following year opened "The Valet," a profitable dry-cleaning establishment on South State Street in the heart of the U-M campus. . . On Aug. 1 1, 1908, George Henry Jewett II died at work, the victim of a heart attack at the age of 38. It would be 24 years before before another black man would wear a University of Michigan football uniform. Above, Michael Jewett (left) and his father, Coleman, stand by a showcase highlighting the career of Coleman's grandfather, George Jewett II (left), who was the first black football player at the University of Michigan.
