1903 Phillips Andover Game Images and the Bullock Brothers

A few years ago, I acquired six images from an early 1900s football game but only recently determined where and when the game occurred. As discussed and shown below, four of the six images include William H. Bullock, the younger of two brothers who were pioneers in integrating prep and college football. 

The images are unlabeled but contain clues to their identity. For example, the image below shows a game played on a checkerboard football field, with multiple players wearing nose guards (the predecessor of face masks), and a mix of football jerseys and canvas vests. The player to the far left has a P on his right breast, a clue that led to comparing the buildings in the background to period images of Phillips Andover Academy. The combination confirms the game was played on Brother Field at Phillips Andover Academy, a renowned prep school in Andover, Massachusetts, but in what year was the game played?

Playing on a checkerboard field with distinctive buildings in the background, a player wearing a striped shirt is tackled in the center of the image.

Football used checkerboard markings on the field from 1903 through 1909 so the game occurred during that period. However, the checkerboard pattern covered only part of field in 1903, covering only the portion between the 25-yard lines. The rest of the field retained the traditional gridiron pattern.

The first image shows the teams playing on a checkerboard pattern, while the second shows a conventional gridiron, so the game had to have occurred in 1903.

A player hands the ball to a teammate just short of the yard line on a conventionally-striped part of the field.