It's a community football team in 1910
Meet one of Bluffton’s earliest football teams. It’s the 1910 Bluffton Warriors, and as best we can tell, it is a community team, as several members had graduated from high school before 1910.
According to the football in the photo, the Warriors were unscored upon. Sadly, we don’t know their opponents or any of their game details.
We do know the names of some members of the team:
• Charles “Hank” Hankish, Sr., second from the left in the front row. He came to America from Syria age 19 in 1907, so in this photo he may have been 22.
• R. L. Triplett, standing on the far right. Based upon his suit we believe he was the team coach. He graduated from Bluffton High School in 1902. He quarterbacked the Bluffton football team of 1901, thought to be Bluffton’s first-ever team, which could have also been a community team.
• Isaac Geiger, standing, wearing the letter "N" for Ohio Northern University, where he graduated from college. He graduated from Bluffton High School in 1896.
• Renee Studler, standing to the left of Geiger. He graduated from Bluffton HS in 1913.
• Harley Spangler, second row, far right. He graduated from Bluffton HS in 1913.
• The man on top row, far left, was the coach of a 1907 community basketball team, but we do not know his name.
• Fred "Frenchy" Mueller is a team member, but we don't know where he is in the photo. He would have been in early 20s in this photo.
We’ve made educated guesses on two additional players based upon photos that resemble them in other sports team photos. Viewers may speculate on our guesses.
• Harley Burkholder, center row, second from left, in light colored sweater.
• Joe Owens, standing, second from left. He was on the 1904 Bluffton High School football team.
Is it possible that we've identified several Bluffton Warrior team members based upon early photos of these players on Bluffton sports teams below?
