1922 College Football All-America Team


The 1922 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1922. The only selector recognized by the NCAA as "official" for the 1922 season is Walter Camp, whose selections were published in Collier's Weekly. Additional selectors who chose All-American teams in 1922 included: Athletic World magazine, selected by 214 coaches; Norman E. Brown, sports editor of the Central Press Association; the New York Tribune, selected by Ray McCarthy with advice from Grantland Rice and William B. Hanna; Walter Eckersall, of the Chicago Tribune; Frank G. Menke; and Billy Evans, who polled 200 sports editors.
Iowa quarterback Gordon Locke was the only player chosen as a first-team All-American by all 10 selectors referenced herein. Locke led the undefeated 1922 Iowa Hawkeyes to a 6–0 win over Yale, which had never before lost to a team from the "West". After returning by train from Yale, Locke scored Iowa's only touchdown in an 8–7 win over Illinois.
Cornell back Eddie Kaw was chosen as a first-team All-American by 9 of the 10 selectors, and he also had more votes than any other player in the All-America survey conducted by the Romelke Press Clipping Bureau, based on votes of "nearly every important pressman who has picked an All-American team."

Consensus All-Americans

For the year 1922, the NCAA recognizes only Walter Camp's selections as "official" for purposes of its consensus determinations. Accordingly, the NCAA's consensus All-America team mirrors Camp's selections. The following chart identifies the NCAA-recognized consensus All-Americans and displays which first-team designations they received.
NamePositionSchoolOfficialOtherNumber - TotalRomelke Points
Gordon LockeQuarterbackIowaWCAW, BE, FH, FM, LP, NB, NYT, RO, WE10/10111
Eddie KawHalfbackCornellWCAW, BE, FH, FM, LP, NB, RO, WE9/10122
Herb TreatTacklePrincetonWCBE, FM, LP, NB, RO, WE7/1096
Harry KipkeHalfbackMichiganWCAW, BE, LP, NB, WE6/1099
Paul G. GoebelEndMichigan--AW, BE, LP, NB, NYT, RO6/1067
Harold MullerEndCaliforniaWCAW, BE, FM, NB, WE6/10RO-3
Frank SchwabGuardLafayetteWCAW, BE, RO, WE5/1094
George OwenHalfbackHarvard--BE, FH, RO WE4/10113
Mike GulianTackleBrown--AW, BE, LP, RO4/1097
Howdy GrayEndPrinceton--BE, FH, LP, RO4/1093
Edgar GarbischCenterArmyWCBE, NB, NYT, RO4/1078
Fritz BreidsterGuardArmy--AW, BE, FM, WE4/1076
Charles BuellQuarterbackHarvard--AW, BE, NB, RO4/1058
John Webster ThomasFullbackChicagoWCBE, NYT3/1065
Paul MinickGuardIowa--NB, RO2/1093
Charles HubbardGuardHarvardWC--1/1054
Wendell TaylorEndNavyWC--1/10RO-4
John ThurmanTacklePennWC--1/10NR

Dissatisfaction with Camp's selections

By 1922, there was growing dissatisfaction with relying on the selections of the aged Walter Camp, who was perceived as being biased to Eastern players and who saw only a small number of games each year. Among the major selectors in 1922, Camp was alone in naming several Eastern players as first-team All-Americans, including Harvard guard Charles Hubbard, Navy end Wendell Taylor, and Penn tackle John Thurman. A syndicated columnist from Ohio accused Camp of favoritism:
"We print with apologies the All-American football teams selected by Walter Camp. We print them because Walter picks them and for years have been accustomed to regard Camp's choices as official. But in our opinion Camp's teams this year are positively the poorest that the dean of football critics has ever foisted upon the public. For we find Camp drifting unquestionably back into the old rut of letting his eastern feelings dominate his selections. It is a positive travesty upon All-American selections to have six members of the first team honor teams chosen from the eastern Big Three—Harvard, Yale and Princeton... Camp should begin once more to see the light or the first thing he knows folks will forget the halo with which he has been for years blessed in the opinion of football followers."

Notable omissions from Camp's 1922 squad included halfback George Owen who received the second most All-America points out of all players at all positions in the Romelke survey discussed below. Likewise, ends Paul G. Goebel and Howdy Gray received the most votes at their position in the Romelke survey, but were not selected by Camp.

Romelke approach

An alternate attempt at developing a consensus All-America team was developed in 1922 by the Romelke Press Clipping Bureau. Romelke assembled a consensus All-American team based on its compilation of the votes of "nearly every important pressman who has picked an All-American team." In addition to naming players to five All-American teams based on the consensus voting, Romelke also compiled the total number of votes compiled by each school and ranked how the schools ranked in the voting. The team statistics compiled by Romelke showed the following schools receiving the highest vote count.
SchoolVotesNames of members
Michigan385Harry Kipke, Paul Goebel, Bernard Kirk, Stanley Muirhead, Irwin Uteritz, Oliver Aas, Franklin Cappon
Iowa345Gordon Locke, Paul Minnick, John C. Heldt, George Thompson, Max Kadesky
Chicago268McMillen, Ralph King, John Webster Thomas, Harold Fletcher
Princeton259Herb Treat, Howdy Gray, Pink Baker, Mel Dickinson
Army254Edgar Garbisch, Fritz Breidster, George Smythe, Denis J. Mulligan, William H. Wood
Cornell239Eddie Kaw, Leonard C. Hanson, George Pfann
Harvard227George Owen, Charles Buell, Charles Hubbard
Wisconsin211Marty Below, Shorty Barr, Gus Tebell, Rollie Williams
Lafayette133Frank Schwab, Bots Brunner
Brown97Mike Gulian

All-Americans of 1922

Ends

NCAA recognized selector for 1922
Other selectors
Bold = Consensus All-American