Dr. Todd Harburn's passion for Hope College, history and college football runs deep like a go route.
The 1978 Hope graduate and former football student-athlete for the Flying Dutchmen has authored "'Every college ought to have a…football eleven': Hope College Football, Earliest coaches and teams 1893-1919", a 152-page book about how the now-proudly NCAA Division III and Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association program kicked off.
Dr. Harburn, who also served as the team physician for the Flying Dutchmen for two decades before retiring in 2022, is proud to provide a "small supplement" to previous Hope Athletics history books authored by Gordon Brewer '48 and Tom Renner '67.
"I hope the readers, particularly fellow Hope football alumni players, coaches and administrators, will not only enjoy the new findings in the history of this rather complicated story of how football came to be at the college and biographies of the earliest coaches," Dr. Harburn wrote in the preface, "but that they will also find it a worthy effort within the context it is intended as to football's place within the perspectives of our college's mission."
"Every college ought to have a…football eleven" can be purchased through the Hope College Bookstore, both online and in person in the DeWitt Center, 141 E. 12th St. The cost is $25. All proceeds benefit the Hope Athletics Orange and Blue Fund, which supports the college's pursuit of academic success, competitive excellence and transformational experiences for student-athletes.
Dr. Harburn's research revealed that Hope football's history began earlier than anyone realized. The first Flying Dutchmen football game was played in 1893, not 1902, as previously believed.
Renner noted in the book's preface that Dr. Harburn, pictured at right with Director of Athletics Tim Schoonveld in 2023, also discovered the names of early coaches who had been absent from college records, including the first coach, Erasmus A. Whitenack (1893, 1895).
Dr. Harburn, Renner said, also found that Hope had the distinction of having two football coaches of Native American descent with distinguished playing careers: Jonas Smoke Mitchell (1909) and Ray Smith (1970-94).
"This work also presents in detail the struggles of integrating intercollegiate sports, notably football, into the fabric of the Hope College student life," Renner wrote. "At the center of early endeavors, as it should be, was the desire by students to broaden their college experience. Todd's advocacy of the Division III Student-Athlete model is apparent throughout the chapters."
Hope joined the MIAA in 1926 and the NCAA in 1957 as a member of the college division. The college transitioned to the Division III level for athletics in 1973. The Flying Dutchmen won a share of their first MIAA football title in 1934 and earned their 23rd league championship in the sport this past fall.
Dr. Harburn graduated from Hope with a degree in biology. A standout football student-athlete, he was selected as an All-MIAA First Team defensive back in 1977 as a senior and led the MIAA in interceptions that season.
A native of Flint, Michigan, Dr. Harburn graduated from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1982 and worked as an orthopedic surgeon and in sports medicine for 36 years. He served as Alma College's team physician for 16 seasons before returning to Hope to serve in the same role.
"Every college ought to have a…football eleven" is Dr. Harburn's ninth book. He has published other history books, including "A Life Cut Short at the Little Big Horn: U.S. Army Doctor George E. Lord" in 2023 (University of Oklahoma Press), winner of the prestigious John M. Carroll Literary Award from the Little Big Horn Associates.
Dr. Harburn also co-authored "The Illustrated Gridiron History of MIAA Football" and "A Tradition of Excellence: Alma College's Centennial Football History, 1894-1994".
