Today's Tidbit... Connecting with the 1895 and 1896 Maine Wesleyan Football Teams

I love this image. It's from an RPPC I've had for a few years and shows Charles L. Graves, Myron E. Bennett, and W. L. Pullen of the 1895 Maine Wesleyan football team. Bennett, the captain, sits while Graves and Pullen stand. Part of the attraction is the crystal-clear quality of the studio image. I also like the quilted football pants and nose guards hanging from two of the three necks. While none of the three appear to be studs, there's a trophy hanging behind them, so somebody did something.

C. L. Graves stands to the left, W. L. Pullen on the right, and M. E. Bennett sits in the image of 1895 Maine Wesleyan players, (Personal collection)

Maine Wesleyan, known informally then and formally now as Kents Hill School, is among the country's oldest coeducational college prep schools. Their alum list includes few who were recognized by football fans, though Ray Eliot, Illinois' head coach from 1942 to 1959, deserves mention. He won two Rose Bowls, his second coming during my Dad's senior year in Champaign.

As for Graves, Bennett, and Pullen, a newspaper article says the picture above, or one like it appeared in the 1896 Spalding Foot Ball Guide. I don't have a digital or physical copy of that year's guide, so if someone has one and can send me an image, please do.