Joe Trees
Joseph C. Trees, "a true Pitt man" according to the 1915 The Owl student yearbook.
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| Position: | Tackle, Center |
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| Personal information | |
| Date of birth: | 1870 |
| Place of birth: | Delmont, Pennsylvania |
| Date of death: | May 20, 1943 (aged 72–73) |
| Place of death: | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Weight: | 210 lb (95 kg) |
| Career information | |
| College: | Pitt |
| Career history | |
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Joseph Clifton Trees was a college football player at the University of Pittsburgh, the first athlete to receive an athletic subsidization at the school, and, possibly, an early professional football player. He later made millions of dollars in the oil industry and became a trustee and significant benefactor to the university and its athletic department. His hobbies included philanthropy, scientific research and agriculture. His 2,600-acre (11 km2) estate in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania was devoted to a large extent to fruit trees.
Trees was born near Delmont, Pennsylvania in Westmoreland County, where his grandfather, Thomas Trees, had established a flour mill and a sawmill after immigrating from England. His parents, Isaac and Lucy Johnston Trees, later operated the mills and, as a youth, Joe worked in them.
Trees first attended Indiana Normal School (now Indiana University of Pennsylvania). While playing in practice games against the Western University of Pennsylvania (WUP), now named the University of Pittsburgh, Trees impressed Bert Smyers, the founder and captain of the WUP football team. In order to facilitate Trees to switch schools and play football for WUP, Smyers helped to arrange for various classes at the university to pay for Trees' room, board, and tuition. Thus in 1891, Trees became Pitt's first subsidized athlete as a star 210 pound tackle on Pitt's football team.
Trees graduated from the university with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1895. Trees, also participated in the universities track and field team, and in 1894, additionally served as an Assistant Librarian at the university.
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