New Castle News,
May 23, 1924Charles Barrett, Quarterback, Dead
Pittsburgher Loses in Fight For Health - Buried in PittsburghTUCSON - Ariz. May 23 - Losing his fight for health, Charles Chuck Barrett, aged 30, Cornell All-American Quarterback in 1914 and 1915, died Thursday. He came here seven months ago from Los Angeles where had had been in the realty business. He was graduated from Cornell in 1916 as a mechanical engineer and served as an insign in the Navy during the World War. He leaves his widow and two daughters.
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The following is quoted from the program of the Cornell-Pennsylvania football game which was held at Franklin Field:IN MEMORY OF CHARLES BARRETT, CORNELL: 6 Members of Rival Football Teams Pay Tribute to Cornell's 1915 Captain Twenty-five years ago on Thanksgiving Day, on Franklin Field, Charles Barrett, of the Class of 1916, played his last football game for Cornell. One of the greatest players who ever wore the colors of Cornell, Barrett was the mainstay of the great 1915 team which swept everything before it, including the mighty Haughton-coached Harvard team, and finally winding up in a blaze of glory by defeating Pennsylvania, 24 to 9.
"Charlie" Barrett and the other members of the Class of 1916, who made the Varsity squad, enjoyed the distinction of being the first to overcome the former "Franklin Field Jinx," for after winning by a narrow margin from the Pennsylvania freshman team, they went on to three consecutive victories over the Pennsylvania varsity. Barrett chose the plays, called the signals, and was a triple threat man in every respect. He threw forward passes, ran around the ends, and could buck the line when necessary. He did the punting for his team, kicked points after touchdowns, and in addition he was a drop kicker of no mean ability. As a broken field runner he was unsurpassed, many times in his career running back kickoffs or punts for touchdowns (see records of the 1914 game against Pennsylvania), and once in the clear Barrett was never overhauled.
As captain of the team in his Senior year, he was an inspiring leader, often turning the tide in favor or his team through some personal achievement. That his abilities were recognized is evidenced by the fact that he was chosen All-American Quarterback by Walter Camp, a high honor, for in those pre-huddle days the generalship of the team rested on the quarterback.
When our country entered the World War, Charlie Barrett enlisted in the Navy. As the result of an explosion on board ship, he contrated an illness from which he subsequently died.
In the Schoellküpf Memorial Building at the entrance to the football stadium at Cornell may be found a bronze tablet inscribed as follows:
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IN MEMORY OF CHARLES BARRETT* 16
Who died May 21, 1914 [sic], as a result of illness contracted in an explosion on the U. S. S. Brooklyn in Yokahama Harbor, Japan, during the World War. As a tribute to his splendid loyalty and leadership and as homage to a most worthy gridiron adversary, we respectfully dedicate this tablet to Cornell University.His Team Mates and Friends and The 1915 Pennsylvania Football Team