Today's Tidbit... Most Spectacular Play I Saw per Walter Eckersall

A syndicated series from 1926 covered 24 football notables describing the most spectacular play they ever saw. Here's the play Walter Eckersall described.

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Walter Eckersall died in 1930 at age 46, but he had already seen an entire lifetime of football when he described the most spectacular play he witnessed. Eckersall was an All-American quarterback at Chicago in 1906, who then combined sportswriting for the Chicago Tribune with refereeing football games. He was known to write columns about and predict the outcomes of games he refereed. After those games, he typed out his story and telegraphed it to the Tribune for inclusion in the next day's issue.

Despite the many conflicts of interest, everyone wanted Eckie to referee their games because he was considered honest and among the best in the business at controlling and calling a good game.

Walter Eckersall stands in the middle with the umpire and headlinesman before the 1919 Rose Bowl. He wrote many articles about the game and trip as well. (Great Lakes Recruit, March 1919)

Anyway, Eckersall was there when Minnesota invaded Chicago in October 1922. Minnesota was 2-0, having beaten North Dakota and Indiana, while Northwestern bettered Beloit and lost to Chicago.