1895-1905 (11 seasons)
Latrobe Athletic Assoc. Team History
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Latrobe Athletic Assoc.
History 1895-1905 (11 seasons)
The Latrobe Athletic Association was a professional football team located in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, from 1895 until 1909. A member of the unofficial Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit, the team is best known for being the first football club to play a full season while composed entirely of professional players. In 1895, team's quarterback, John Brallier, also became the first football player to openly turn professional, by accepting $10 and expenses to play for Latrobe against the Jeannette Athletic Club.
In 1895 the local Latrobe YMCA organized a local football team and announced that the team play a formal schedule. With the decision, Russell Aukerman, an instructor at the club and a former halfback at Gettysburg College, was named as a player-coach. Meanwhile, David Berry, an editor-publisher of a local newspaper, the Latrobe Clipper, was chosen as the team's manager. Harry Ryan, a former tackle from West Virginia University, was then elected as the team's captain. The team was formed and began to conduct daily practices in early August. Since many of the players held jobs unrelated to football, those men working different shifts were accommodated with evening practices, when they could not attend regular sessions in the afternoon. The team's practices were held on a vacant Pennsylvania Railroad lot at the corner of Depot and Alexandria Streets, which was lit at night by a street light.