Today’s post celebrates the death anniversary of another Pigskin Pioneer named Jay Love who died in 1935. Mr. Jay Mack Love came to Michigan from Arkansas City, Kansas to play football for the Wolverines. He is listed on the official 1904 roster as a reserve and was listed on the 1905 roster as a guard.
(Note - Jay Love did not appear in the official team photo of the 1904 team. However, he was pictured in an informal “practice” photo which is displayed above. Note, that Jay Love is standing in the middle (6th man from right or left) of the second row - next to Michigan football legend Germany Schultz and just behind another legend, team captain, Willie Heston. Coach Fielding Yost is seated in the front row - second man from the right.)
According to the Wikipedia article below about the 1905 Michigan football team, Jay Love started five games at right guard and one game at left guard during the thirteen game season. Not only that, he is credited with three touchdowns during the season. Unfortunately for Love, Yost had some very high standards for awarding a letter and Love did not meet them in 1905. He was not pictured in the official team photo for 1905 and he probably wasn’t feeling any “love” for his coach at that time, either.
Fielding Yost took Ann Arbor by storm in 1901 and only lost one game in his first five years at Michigan. Photo courtesy of the Bentley Historical Library at The University of Michigan.
Jay Love is not listed in the team rosters for the 1903 or 1906 seasons. Apparently, he was on the Michigan football team for two seasons – 1904 and 1905. Those were two of Michigan’s greatest teams. Look at these numbers:
| Year | Won | Lost | Tied | Points Scored | Points Allowed | Difference +/- |
| 1904 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 567 | 22 | +545 |
| 1905 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 495 | 2 | +493 |
| Total | 22 | 1 | 1 | 1.062 | 24 | +1,038 |
The 1904 team extended Michigan’s undefeated streak to forty-four games (43-0-1) from the 1901 season and won a fourth consecutive National Championship. The streak reached fifty-six games before the Wolverines lost a heartbreaker to Chicago (0-2) to end the 1905 season.
Jay Mack Love might not have been a “star” at Michigan, but he was a player. He might not have been good enough to earn a letter, but he was on the team. Jay Love was not a famous player, but was another man who contributed to the great history of Michigan football. So, on the eighty-sixth anniversary of his death, let’s remember Jay Mack Love. Rest in peace Wolverine!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1905_Michigan_Wolverines_football_team
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Mack_Love
