Walter Eckersall

In 1905,[9] the sophomore quarterback led the Maroons to a national championship. In the final game of the season on Thursday, November 30,[10] Chicago and Michigan met in a battle of undefeated, Western Conference powerhouses in front of 27,000 spectators, at that time the largest crowd to view a football game, at Chicago's Marshall Field.[11] Michigan was 12–0-0 with no points allowed and had a 56-game undefeated streak on the line; while Chicago was 10–0-0 and had allowed only five points all season.

The game was a punting duel between Eckersall and Michigan's John Garrels; and was scoreless until early in the third quarter when a Michigan punt and Chicago penalty pinned Chicago inside its own 10-yard line. On third down, as Eckersall attempted to punt, he encountered a fearsome rush, but evaded the Michigan tacklers and was able to scramble to the 22-yard line and a first down.

After three more first downs, the drive stalled and Chicago was forced to punt again. Eckersall's booming punt carried into the end zone where it was caught by Michigan's William Dennison Clark who attempted to run the ball out. He advanced the ball forward to the one-yard line, but was hit hard by Art Badenoch and then was brought back inside his own end zone by Mark Catlin for a two-point safety. Under the rules of the time, forward progress was not credited, and a ball carrier could be carried backwards or forwards until he was down. The rest of the third and fourth quarters continued as a defensive stalemate. Chicago's 2–0 victory snapped Michigan's 56-game unbeaten streak and gave Chicago the national championship for 1905.[12][13] It is one of the first game's referred to as a "Game of the Century."[14]

As a tragic note to this game, Clark received the blame for the Michigan loss, and in 1932 he shot himself through the heart. In a suicide note to his wife he reportedly expressed the hope that his "final play" would be of some benefit in atoning for his error at Marshall Field.[15]

Eckersall's boozing and carousing often contradicted Stagg's prescription of football as a surefire builder of moral character. Stagg gradually distanced himself from his greatest player, especially when Eckersall reneged on a $20 debt and was later featured in a national ad campaign for cigarettes—a habit Stagg regarded as sinful. In March 1930, Eckersall was hospitalized for illnesses associated with his hard living, Stagg came to his bedside with the firm advice to "turn over a new leaf." "Eckie" promised his old coach that he would; however, the former football star died of cirrhosis of the liver and pneumonia on March 24 at the age of 43.[18][19] The cause of death was reported as a heart attack in the Chicago Tribune the next day.[1]

Eckersall's funeral on March 27 at Holy Cross Church, five blocks south of the university, was attended by fifteen hundred. At 65th & Maryland, the parish church was built on the site where he first played sandlot football as a child. (41.777°N 87.6043°W / 41.777; -87.6043)   He was buried at nearby Oak Woods Cemetery, next to his parents.[20]

In 1949, The Chicago Public Schools constructed a sporting facility in South Chicago at 2423 East 82nd Street, named "Walter Eckersall Stadium."[21] (41.745°N 87.565°W / 41.745; -87.565)