Beloit College

At a time when football was in its infancy at Beloit College, William A. Atkinson achieved the unique distinction of being captain of the team four years in a row.  He entered Beloit Academy in 1892, played football for the first time in Beloit’s fourth season of the new sport, was chosen captain and elected captain also the following three seasons during which time Beloit played such teams as Northwestern, the Universities of Wisconsin and Minnesota – as well as local and Chicago high schools and Y.M.C.A.s.  The 1892 team lost all its four games; each team that Atkinson captained improved until the climax of 1895 when Beloit won six games and lost only to Northwestern. The college annual said of him: “He has won national reputation and is second to none in the west today,” while the college newspaper said that to him “probably more than to any other one man is due the success that Beloit has attained on the football field.”  Atkinson was also prominent in baseball.  He later entered the University of Wisconsin where was immediately named football captain.  In later life he became a prominent Episcopal clergyman in Detroit.