November 19, 2025
By Chris Serb
On November 30, 1905, Walter Eckersall found himself, and his football team, in a tough spot. The University of Chicago quarterback was pinned on his own 7-yard-line, late in a scoreless tie against mighty Michigan. “Eckie” initially planned to play things safe, calling signals for a punt.
From the corner of his eye, Eckersall saw the Michigan defense cheat slightly to the right, hoping to block his kick. The ball was snapped; Eckie stepped forward, as if to punt; then at the last second, he sprang to his left, sneaking into the newly-vacated space and dashing 20 yards for some much-needed breathing room.
Eckie was used to big moments like this. At Hyde Park High School he had won league, state, and even national titles in football, baseball, and track, becoming Chicago’s first-ever schoolboy superstar. As a college sophomore, he made first-team All-American –a rare honor then for a non-Eastern player, although a close loss to Michigan spoiled the Maroons’ dreams of a “Big Nine” (predecessor to the Big Ten) title.
In 1905, Eckie led Chicago to a 10-0 start, and had outscored opponents 269 to 5. (Michigan was even more dominant, outscoring its 12 opponents 495 to 0.) Eckersall had played brilliantly, tying a major-college record by drop-kicking five field goals (worth 4 points each then) against Illinois, and scoring the only points with a field goal in a 4-0 win over Wisconsin. That win was set up by two tremendous runs off of fake punts; Eckie scampered 50 yards on the first, and 40 yards on the second.
Off the field, controversy followed Eckie. He spent most of his college career suspended by the Amateur Athletic Union, ruining his legitimate chance (he had already beaten two future Olympic medalists) at becoming an Olympic sprinter. Three weeks before the Michigan game, Collier’s magazine cited Eckersall, who hadn’t even graduated high school, as an “athletic ward” of his school, and Exhibit A of all that was wrong with college sports.
Back to the Chicago-Michigan game. After Eckie’s fake punt, Chicago and Michigan locked into a desperate stalemate, which included four more punts, another fake punt, and a fumble. Slowly but surely, the Maroons shifted field position to their favor.
Eckersall lined up to punt again; Michigan’s Denny Clark dropped back to receive. From midfield, Eckie kicked a beauty, high and deep. Clark fielded the ball behind the goal line, then tried to run. Chicago lineman Art Badenoch hit Clark hard, at the 2-yard-line. Clark slipped out of Badenoch’s grasp, but Chicago end Mark Catlin threw Clark backwards and tackled him. With no “forward progress” rule then, Clark was down for a safety, and 2 points for Chicago.
Eckie’s brilliant punt, combined with the Badenoch-Catlin tackle, made the difference, as Chicago broke Michigan’s 56-game unbeaten streak with a 2-0 masterpiece far more exciting than its low score would indicate. Eckersall repeated as a first-team All-American, and Chicago won the Big Nine title; the Maroons would be retroactively named national champion for 1905.
As a senior in 1906, Eckersall earned his third first-team All-American selection, but a 4-2 loss to Minnesota on a muddy field cost the Maroons the championship. Shortly after the season, Eckie was arrested for theft, and was quietly expelled from Chicago for “loose morals.” His turbulent personal life would later include a shotgun wedding, the abandonment of his wife and infant daughter, a messy divorce, and a drinking problem.
The fallen hero would rebound, with a successful third act as a Chicago Tribune sportswriter. He became the country’s leading authority on college football, as well as an expert on boxing, track and field, and swimming. In a common practice then that’s a clear conflict of interest today, Eckie also officiated many of the football games he covered, including the Notre Dame-Army “Four Horsemen” game, five Rose Bowls, and several other great moments in football history. Along the way he founded the Golden Gloves boxing tournament, and became a vocal and consistent ally for Black athletes.
Eckersall died from a heart attack in 1930. Only in his mid-40s, his death was huge news at the time, but in those days before mass media shifted from print to broadcast, Eckie was soon forgotten. This fading of memory should not diminish his greatness. For 30 years, Walter Eckersall was synonymous with Chicago sports. And for those same 30 years, Chicago sports grew tremendously, driven in large part by Walter Eckersall.
Chris Serb is deputy district chief for the Chicago Fire Department. He is also a veteran Chicago freelance writer with almost thirty years of experience as a journalist. Serb’s articles, concentrated in sports and history, have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago History, Writer’s Digest, Chicago Athlete, and Men’s Fitness. He is the author of War Football: World War I and the Birth of the NFL and Sam’s Boys: The History of Chicago’s Leone Beach and Legendary Lifeguard Sam Leone. His new book Eckie: Walter Eckersall and the Rise of Chicago Sports is available now through University of Nebraska Press.