Harold Hathaway Weekes (April 2, 1880 – July 6, 1950) was an American college football player. Weekes played halfback for the Columbia University Lions (1899-1902), and he served as team captain during his senior year. Weekes received induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954 as the first of seven Columbia players enshrined. In 1962, the book Football Immortals profiled Weekes for their selection of the greatest 64 American football players from the game's first 93 years. The Bill Shannon Biographical Dictionary of New York Sports termed him a "145-pound lightning bolt" who "hit the college football scene like a shot". During Weekes's college football career, Columbia won 29 games, including 19 shutouts.
Early life and education
Weekes was born on April 2, 1880. He grew up in the town of Oyster Bay, New York on Long Island. In 1899, Weekes graduated from the Morristown School (now Morristown-Beard School) in Morristown, New Jersey after playing in the backfield on the school's football team.
Columbia
He graduated from Columbia with his bachelor's degree in 1903 after serving as class vice president. Weekes's graduating class voted him "most popular man" on campus, "best athlete", and "most modest man".
Beyond football, Weekes attained achievements in other athletic pursuits at Columbia. Weekes, who competed on the track team, equaled the world indoor record for the 60-yard dash in 1900 with a time of 0:06 2-5. The following year, he set Columbia's school records for the indoor 40-yard dash (with a time of 0:04 4-5) and the 180-yard dash (with a time of 0:19 2-5). That April, Columbia hung a tablet in the school gymnasium to showcase 11 recently shattered athletic records, including Weekes's. He later set the school record for the indoor 100-yard dash that year with a time of 0:10 1-5.
During his athletic career, Weekes played as an outfielder (left/center field) on Columbia's baseball team and as a member of second crew for their rowing team. In 1901, he won Columbia's strongman competition with a score of 1709 points on the strength test. In the spring of his senior year, Weekes competed in intramural hockey at Columbia. He played the position of point (now known as defenseman).
Football
In the 1902-1903 school year, noted poet George Edward Woodberry (then a Columbia professor) penned a poem titled "To 1903, Columbia". He dedicated this poem to the senior class. The eighth and ninth stanzas of "To 1903, Columbia" paid tribute to Weekes's achievements on the football field:
During Weekes's time at Columbia, an article in the school literary magazine (Columbia Literary Monthly) noted how he helped arouse the school spirit. Describing his impact on Columbia's athletics and student life, a 1902 New York Times article titled "Columbia's Football Hero" wrote:
In 1927, Weekes and two other former Columbia Lions (Bert Wilson and David Smythe) visited Columbia to speak at Baker Field (now Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium). George Trevor, The New York Sun's football editor, selected Weekes for First Team on Columbia's all-time football team that year. Trevor named him as Columbia's greatest football player of all time. In 2000, a panel of journalists and historians selected Weekes for Columbia's 24-member Football Team of the Century. Twelve years later, Columbia inducted Weekes into their athletic hall of fame at a ceremony held at the school's Low Memorial Library.
1899: upset of Yale
During his freshman year, Weekes played an integral role in the Columbia Lions' 1899 upset of the Yale Bulldogs at Manhattan Field. The heavily favored Bulldogs entered the game undefeated with a 5-0 record. While notching five consecutive shutouts in those games, Yale had scored a combined 115 points (for an average of 23 points per game.) At the time, Yale carried a reputation as a perennial powerhouse. In stark contrast, Columbia had just resumed playing football that season after a seven-year absence from the game (1892-1898).
Returning a kick in the second half of Columbia's game against Yale, Weekes sprinted 50 yards to score a touchdown. During the run, he successfully thwarted the tackling attempts of several Yale players, including the team captain. Weekes's scoring play for Columbia marked the only points in a 5-0 shutout of Yale. Columbia's surprise upset victory represented the first time in 28 seasons that a team other than Harvard, Princeton, or the University of Pennsylvania shut out Yale. The 1899 victory also marked Columbia's first defeat of Yale in 24 years.