The 1900 Homestead Library & Athletic Club football team won the professional football championship of 1900. The team was affiliated with the Homestead Library & Athletic Club in Homestead, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. The team featured a lineup of former college All-Americans paid by Pittsburgh Pirates' minority-owner William Chase Temple.

Organization

In 1898, William Chase Temple took over the Duquesne Country and Athletic Club, becoming the first individual team owner in professional football. In 1900, most of the Duquesne players were hired by the Homestead Library & Athletic Club, by offering them higher salaries. Over the next two seasons (1900 and 1901), Homestead fielded the best professional football team in the country and did not lose a game. The 1900 team reportedly paid its player "from $50 to $100 a game plus 'expenses.'" After a season as coach of Georgetown, former Princeton tackle Bill Church was hired by Homestead as the team's captain and manager. Other players for the 1900 Homestead team included Dave Fultz and J. A. Gammons (halfbacks from Brown University), Pete Overfield (center from Penn), Bemus Pierce (guard from the Carlisle Indian School), Art Poe (end from Princeton), Otto Wagonhurst (from Penn), John Hall (end from Yale), George Young (quarterback from Cornell), Willis Richardson (from Brown), Artie Miller (from Carlisle), Grenville Lewis (fullback from Maryland and Columbian), John Winstein (tackle, various local teams), and guards M. P. McNulty (from Notre Dame) and P. J. Lawler. George H. Brooke (fullback from Penn) was signed to appear only in "important" games, as he was coaching Swarthmore during the same season.

Season summary

Before the season, the schedule was announced as: October 6 vs. Pittsburgh College, October 13 vs. Altoona, October 20 @ Greensburg, October 27 vs. Detroit A.C., November 3 @ Latrobe, November 6 @ Duquesne C. & A.C., November 10 vs. Greensburg, November 17 vs Lehigh, November 24 vs. Latrobe, November 29 vs. Bucknell.

Season schedule