Pete Overfield
Overfield during his football days at Penn
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| Date of birth | April 12, 1874 |
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| Place of birth | Pennsylvania |
| Date of death | July 1, 1959 (aged 85) |
| Place of death | San Diego, California |
| Career information | |
| Position(s) | Center |
| College | Penn |
| Career history | |
| As player | |
| 1900–1901 | Homestead L. & A. C. |
| 1903 | Sigma Chi All-Star team |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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Peter Delome "Pete" Overfield (April 12, 1874 – July 1, 1959) was an All-American and professional football player, federal judge and rancher. Overfield played center for the University of Pennsylvania and was a first-team All-American in 1898 and 1899. He served as a federal district judge in Alaska from 1909 to 1917. In 1917, he moved to Casa Grande, Arizona where he lived for the remainder of his life, owning a large ranching operation.
Overfield played center for the Penn Quakers from 1897 to 1899 and was selected as a first-team All-American in both 1898 and 1899. Overfield was known as a fierce competitor. After Harvard defeated Penn 16–0 in 1899, Overfield tried to prevent Harvard from securing the ball as a trophy in accordance with a custom. A scuffle spread into the stands, and Penn's coach ultimately secured the ball from Overfield and made Overfield apologize to the Harvard players.
After graduating from Penn, Overfield remained active in football. He was a football coach for a time at Multnomah College and also remained active as a professional football player. Overfield played a total of nine years of college and professional football without ever suffering an injury. He played on the famed 1900 and 1901 Homestead Library & Athletic Club football teams in Pittsburgh. The 1901 Homestead team consisted of former college football All-Americans, including Overfield, Bemus Pierce (Carlisle) and Arthur Poe (Princeton). The team beat Lafayette 66–0 in two ten-minute halves. On November 23, 1901, the Homestead Library team featuring Overfield defeated the Blondy Wallace's Philadelphia professionals for the professional football championship of the United States. The game was played at the Philadelphia park, and Homestead won by a score of 18 to 0. The New York Times reported on the game as follows:
"Against the well-trained, concerted team work of Homestead they were like so many pigmies. Their line could not hold the fast onslaught of the Western contingent, and after the first ten minutes of play a lack of good physical condition began to assert itself. … The 5,000 spectators present shivered through thirty minute halves and at no time during the game was a real opportunity offered to get enthusiastic over the work of Wallace's [Philadelphia’s captain] team. It was an eleven made up of stars against well-trained team work, and the latter triumphed."
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