Clarence Alcott

Who is Clarence Alcott?

Clarence F. Alcott was an American football player, coach and investment banker. He was selected as an All-American end in both 1906 and 1907.

Alcott attended Yale University where he played at the end position from 1905 to 1907. During the 1906 and 1907 seasons, the first in which the forward pass was legal, Alcott developed a reputation as one of the sport's best pass receivers. In 1916, The New York Times wrote that he "was one of Yale's most spectacular ends, especially in handling the forward pass."

In Yale's 6-0 victory over Harvard in November 1906, Alcott scored the game's only points on a touchdown pass from Paul Veeder. Though it was neither the first nor the longest pass of the 1906 season, the Veeder-to-Alcott pass in the Harvard game was the most publicized pass in the first season of forward passing. Some publications refer to the touchdown pass from Veeder to Alcott in the 1906 Harvard game as the "first forward pass in a major game." In his book, "A Century of The Game: Yale-Harvard Is a Matter of Pride,' Al Morganti claimed that "the first significant use of the forward pass in a major game, a 20-yard gain on a Paul Veeder-to-Clarence Alcoft pass in The Game of 190." Writing in The Washington Post, Sally Jenkins called it one of the few significant forward passes thrown in the first season of the forward pass.