Today's Tidbit... Game-Used Sweaters and All The Presidents' Sons
Today's Tidbit... Game-Used Sweaters and All The Presidents' Sons
If you wrote a book report on Grover Cleveland while in the 5th grade, you may recall that Cleveland is the only U.S. President to serve nonconsecutive terms. His second term ended on March 4, 1897, when William McKinley became President.
Cleveland began his first term as a bachelor before marrying Frances Folsom in a White House ceremony in 1886 when he was 49 and she was 21. Folsom's father, who had been a friend of Cleveland's, died when Frances was 11. Cleveland became her legal and financial guardian, though she lived with her mother or attended boarding schools. She was an attractive and gracious First Lady, sharing many of her husband's progressive views and supporting various charities.
As the end of the second term neared, the Clevelands bought a home in Princeton, New Jersey, where they planned to raise their children. Amidst the excitement of the Cleveland family coming to town, the folks associated with Princeton's football program got the idea to hold a charity auction to raise money for one of Frances Cleveland's favorite charities, a New York kindergarten fund.
They announced plans for the event in January 1887 before asking Mrs. Cleveland to be the chief patroness. Still, the event would be a tea for women in society, allowing them to buy or bid on various football-related items. Tables decorated in the colors of top Eastern football-playing schools would feature items donated by those schools and "blessed" by their players, with the tables managed by young ladies from the male schools' sister colleges. Featured items included:
Photographs of top players
Chrysanthemums and handkerchiefs kissed by the stars
Footballs marked "Kicked by Fincke" or "Kicked by Smith"
Football sweaters worn by stars such as Murphy, Thorne, Murray, and Chamberlain
Game-used sweaters were considered particularly hot items due to the fashion trend among college-age women who wore football sweaters when cheering for their favorite team.
All the newspapers covered the announcement and fully expected the event to occur, even illustrating their coverage with example auction items.
As it turned out, the end of Grover Cleveland's second term coincided with Frances Cleveland's fourth term, as she became pregnant around the time the charity auction hit the news. As a result, the football auction never occurred, or at least it did not materialize in a form that warranted newspaper coverage. Nevertheless, Richard Folsom Cleveland, the couple's first male child, showed his face in late October 1897, leading Princeton students to predict he would start at center rush for Princeton in 1916, the baby's predicted sophomore year.
While Grover Cleveland died of cancer in 1908, Richard Cleveland became a fine athlete. He played football and exhibited champion shot-putting form at Phillips Exeter before entering Princeton in 1915. He started as running back on Princeton's freshmen team and became a reserve during his sophomore campaign of 1916. Cleveland continued his winning ways by putting the shot that spring.
Following the 1915 football season, his athletic exploits, those of James Garfield's grandson and William Howard Taft's son, were the subject of a human interest story.
Like many of his generation, WWI interrupted Richard Cleveland's athletic career. He joined the Marines before being moved to the diplomatic corps. After returning to Princeton following the Armistice, he continued his champion ways with the shot and graduated in 1919. He then earned an M.A. from Princeton and a law degree from Harvard.
No word has been found regarding his football sweaters or track togs ever coming up for auction.
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