History
Although Walter Camp is usually credited with "inventing" the All-American team, the credit actually belongs to his friend, Caspar W. Whitney. The part owner of a magazine called This Week's Sport, Whitney in 1889 decided to list the eleven college football players who were best at their positions.
He came up with the name "All-America Team," even though the players selected came from only three schools, all in the East: Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. It's quite likely that Whitney enlisted Camp's help, but the team appeared under Whitney's name in 1889 and 1890.
Whitney joined the staff of Harper's Weekly in 1891 and continued selecting All-America teams for that magazine through 1896. Camp filled in for him in 1897, when Whitney was on a world tour.
In 1898, Whitney was back on the job, and Camp also picked an All-America football team for Collier's magazine that year. But Camp confused the issue by listing all the previous All-America teams without crediting Whitney (although he didn't claim credit for himself).
Whitney may have complained, because in January of 1899 Camp wrote in Collier's, "In giving the list of All-America teams for a number of years in a recent issue it was my intention to state that the selections were those of Mr. Caspar Whitney in Harper's Weekly."
Less than a year later, though, Camp once again reprinted the list of previous All-America without giving Whitney credit. And this time there was no disclaimer or apology.
In the meantime, Whitney joined the staff of Outing magazine and selected All-America teams for that publication through 1908, while Camp continued to make the selections for Collier's through 1924.
Other magazines and newspapers got into the act early. By 1909, the Official Football Guide listed 35 different All-America teams. Some newspapers had also begun printing all-sectional and all-conference teams.
Grantland Rice took over the Collier's All-America team after Camp's death in 1925. The Associated Press and United Press (now United Press International) also began publishing their own lists that year.
The craze for choosing All-America teams died down somewhat during the 1930s, but two major organizations began naming teams in the following decade. The Football Writers' Association of America (FWAA) selected its first All-America team in 1944 and the first American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) team appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1945.
Although there were a few earlier attempts at picking All-America basketball teams, the Associated Press selections for the 1947-48 season made up the first generally accepted list. United Press began naming basketball All-Americans the following year.
Practically every sport now has All-Americans, though few of them are widely publicized. The NCAA even names All-Americans in individual sports, such as golf and tennis, based on national championship performances.
In the following lists of consensus all-America football teams, I have used the Camp and Whitney selections from 1889 through 1908; Camp's selections from 1909 through 1912 and from 1921 through 1923; and on the teams chosen by Camp and Frank G. Menke from 1913 through 1920.
From 1924 on, I have drawn from a variety of sources, including teams chosen by Grantland Rice, the Walter Camp Foundation, the Associated Press, United Press, International News Service, UPI, the Football Writers' Association, the American Football Coaches' Association, and the All-America Board.
In cases where one player was a clear-cut consensus choice at a position, that player was listed. In many cases, however, two or more players were chosen by a large number of selectors; in such cases, I have listed all of those selected.