Today's Tidbit... Keeping Up With The Joneses

With the Kelce brothers opposing one another in Super Bowl LVII, we'll look this week at a few brother combinations that played a part in football’s history.

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Although Howard Jones was eighteen months older than his brother, Tad, they entered and graduated in the same class at Yale. Both started three years on Yale's football team, with Howard the dogged, determined, but average end, while Tad was the two-time All-American quarterback and captain of the baseball team. Their 1905 to 1907 teams went 28-0-2, and all three teams were dubbed national champions by one group or another. Upon graduating, Walter Camp recommended Howard for the Syracuse coaching job, and he took it while Tad remained in New Haven to assist a teammate as backfield coach and act as baseball coach.

Syracuse opened Archbold Stadium, seating 30,000, in 1907 and was trying to progress its program, scheduling aggressively. With a veteran team returning, the outlook for 1908 looked bright, Howard molded the team into a solid unit that beat Michigan, tied Princeton, and lost to Carlisle, Colgate, and Yale (by a 5-0 score). Although Tad coached Yale's backfield, he also spent some time in Syracuse working with their backs that season.

Archbold Stadium postcard (Personal collection)