Bert Smyers

Bert Smyers

Smyers at Varsity Letter Club banquet in 1940 Owl yearbook
Pittsburgh Panthers
Position	Quarterback
Career history
College	Pittsburgh (1889)
Personal information
Date of birth	March 1872
Place of birth	Marion Center, Pennsylvania
Date of death	June 18, 1953(1953-06-18)

Bertrand "Bert" Hunter Smyers (March 1872 – June 18, 1953) was an attorney and, along with fellow student John Scott, founder of the University of Pittsburgh's football program. Smyers is also considered to be the University's first quarterback.

Born in Marion Center, Pennsylvania, Smyers attended Bucknell University when it was a college preparatory school during his senior year of 1888-89. At Bucknell, he had an academic average of 9 out of a scale of 10, considered an outstanding academic achievement, in course that included Natural Philosophy, Rhetoric, Algebra, Caesar, Scriptural History, Composition, Declamation, and Elocution. While there, Smyers was involved in an informal football team, not part of the school's regular sports, which was probably learned from older brothers attending other schools and then taught to pals after school.

In the fall of 1889, the 130 pound Smyers enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh, then called the Western University of Pennsylvania (WUP), to continue his education. He and senior student John Scott assemble a football team of which only three of the players had previously witnessed the sport. Smyers made himself quarterback and Scott was the center and one informal game was played, a loss to Shadyside Academy in 1889. In preparation for the following season, the first official football season of football recognized by the University of Pittsburgh, Smyers and his teammates took up a collection and purchased a football for practices and games, however players were responsible for their own uniforms and Smyers' own uniform was pieced together by his mother and sister.

The first official game for the University was held on October 11, 1890 when the Allegheny Athletic Association's opponent, Shadyside Academy, failed to appear for its game at Exposition Park. Allegheny A.A. called Smyers who brought the WUP team as a replacement. WUP was defeated 38-0. Smyers' team next faced Washington & Jefferson College, losing 32-0, but closed out its inaugural three game season with a win over Geneva College 10-4.

The following season saw Smyers suffer a broken nose in a 40-6 losing effort against Washington and Jefferson and the team finished 2-5 with wins over Western Pennsylvania Medical College, which became affiliated with WUP in 1892 and later merged with the University in 1908 to become its medical school, and Geneva College, who WUP lost two other contests to that same season. Perhaps the most important development for the second season of football had been Smyers recruitment of Joeseph Trees from Normal University of Pennsylvania, who at 210 pounds became WUP's first subsidized athlete. Later in life, Trees made millions in the oil industry and became an important benefactor for the University and athletic department. Today, an athletic facility named Trees Hall still bears his name on the University of Pittsburgh's Oakland campus.