Charles Rinehart

American football player, engineer and businessman (1875–1933)

American football player

Charles Rinehart

Rinehart as an All-America selection at Lafayette, c. 1897

Personal information
Born:| (1875-12-31)December 31, 1875
Uniontown, New Jersey, U.S.
Died:| October 30, 1933(1933-10-30) (aged 57)
Career information
College:| Lafayette College
Position:| Guard
Career history

* Greensburg Athletic Association (1898–1900)
* Western Pennsylvania All-Stars (1898)

Career highlights and awards

* 2× Walter Camp All-American (1896, 1897)[1]

College Football Hall of Fame

Charles Ramsay Rinehart (December 31, 1875 – October 30, 1933) was an American football player, engineer and businessman. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1964. He played high school football at Phillipsburg High School in Phillipsburg, New Jersey.[1]

## Playing career[edit]

### College career[edit]

Rinehart attended Lafayette and played right guard on the school's 1896 team, under coach Parke H. Davis. At 6'3" and 210 pounds, "Babe" or "Riny" was the biggest man on the team.[2] That season Rinehart and Lafayette fought Princeton to a scoreless tie. Thirty-seven years later, the two teams were named co-national champions for the season by Coach Davis, who had become the sport's pre-eminent historian. In 1934, Davis wrote that Rinehart was "the peer of any player whoever wore a cleated shoe" and "often has been named, with Walter Heffelfinger of Yale, as one of the two greatest foot ball players of all time."[3]

Rinehart captained and played quarterback for the team in 1897.[4] He graduated from Lafayette in 1899 and became an engineer.[5] Rinehart was serving as the president of a tire company at the time of his death.[1]

### Professional career[edit]

From 1898 until 1900, Rinehart played professional football for the Greensburg Athletic Association.[6] He also played, against the Greensburg Athletic Association's wishes, in pro football's very first all-star game as a member of the 1898 Western Pennsylvania All-Star football team, which played against the Duquesne Country and Athletic Club on December 3, 1898, at Pittsburgh's Exposition Park.[7]

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c Charles Rinehart, College Football Hall of Fame. Accessed July 3, 2009.
2. ^ ""Lafayette College Foot-Ball.", The Lafayette, page 99, January 15, 1897 (misprinted as 1896)". Archived from the original on February 16, 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
3. ^ Spalding's Official Football Guide of 1934, p. 223
4. ^ "The Football Season Opened Here.", The Lafayette, page 22, October 8, 1897[permanent dead link]
5. ^ American Institute of Mining Engineers, Bulletin of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, page xxi, No. 118, October 1916
6. ^ Van Atta, Robert (1983). "The History of Pro Football At Greensburg, Pennsylvania (1894–1900)" (PDF). Coffin Corner. Professional Football Researchers Association (Annual): 1–14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-11-27.
7. ^ PFRA Research. "Stars Over All-Stars" (PDF) (Annual). Professional Football Researchers Association: 1–5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-11-26. `{{cite journal}}`: Cite journal requires `|journal=` (help)

* v
* t
* e

1896 Lafayette football--national champions

* George Barclay
* Charles Rinehart
* George B. Walbridge
* Fielding H. Yost

* Head coach: Parke H. Davis

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