William Castle Rhodes was an American football player and coach. Rhodes played tackle at Yale University from 1887 to 1890 and was selected for the 1890 College Football All-America Team. After playin
Portrait of Rhodes from Walter Camp's 1894 book, American Football
The Allegheny Athletic Association was an athletic club that fielded the first ever professional American football player and later the first fully professional football team. The organization was fou
William Rhodes (American football)
…season. In 1891, Rhodes captained the football for the Cleveland Athletic Club. On October 31, 1891, Rhodes and Cleveland defeated the then-amateur Allegheny Athletic Association, 22–4. A second game between the two clubs was played on November 21, 1891, however Rhodes did not make the trip to Pittsburgh to play the team. Rhodes…
1892 team, on which Pudge Heffelfinger (not shown) became the first professional football player on record
1896 "Three A's", credited as the first fully professional football team