George Dygert

George Burlingame "Dygie" Dygert (November 25, 1870 – April 4, 1957) was an American football player and coach and lawyer. Dygert played college football for the University of Michigan for five years, from 1890 to 1894, and was captain of the 1892 and 1893 teams. He played professional football for the Butte, Montana, football team in 1896 and 1897 and practiced law in Butte and Chicago from 1896 to 1953.

Dygert was born on November 25, 1870, and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He attended Ann Arbor High School where he played two years on the high school's football team, including one year as the team's captain.

Dygert enrolled at the University of Michigan and played five years at the fullback and halfback positions for the Michigan Wolverines football team from 1890 to 1894. As a freshman in 1890, Dygert played on the first racially integrated Michigan football team, a team that featured Dygert and George Jewett, both of whom grew up in Ann Arbor, playing in the same backfield. (After Jewett, another African-American did not play football at Michigan until Willis Ward did so in the 1930s.) The 1890 Michigan team photograph shows Dygert and Jewett seated next to each other. (Cropped image at right.)

In November 1891, after Dygert's second year playing for the Wolverines, the Chicago Daily Tribune wrote:

"Dygert, full-back, has received his football as well as his intellectual education in Ann Arbor. He is short and thickset, having 158 pounds of muscle attached to five feet seven and one-half inches of length. He tackles low and hard and can be found at the bottom of almost every heap."

Dygert was elected as the team captain of the 1892 and 1893 Michigan football teams that compiled records of 7–5 and 7–3, respectively. He was also one of the leaders of the 1894 team that compiled a record of 9–1–1, outscoring opponents 244 to 84. Dygert authored an article on the 1894 season for The Michigan Alumnus in which he credited the team's manager Charles A. Baird, head coach William McCauley and trainer Keene Fitzpatrick for the team's success:

"The fall semester opened under the most favorable conditions for as fine an eleven as Michigan has ever had. Manager Charles Baird was particularly fortunate in securing the services of Mr. Macauley, tackle on Princeton's championship eleven of last year, as coach, and Mr. Keene Fitzpatrick, of Detroit's M.A.A., as trainer. The work of both these enthusiasts can be seen in the practice of the team from day to day. At a mass meeting held last month great enthusiasm was shown by the students, and several hundred dollars was raised for the team. Thus, for the first time in the history of Michigan football, the manager was enabled to secure the necessary equipment for a first-class eleven. Lack of money has been the cry hitherto."

After earning his bachelor's degree in 1893, Dygert enrolled in law school for an additional two years at the institution. When he received his undergraduate degree in June 1893, the Detroit Free Press wrote: