Plainfield Teachers College

Partial newspaper listing of college football scores from October 27, 1941—the fictitious win by Plainfield Teachers College ("Plainfield T.") over Winona is listed immediately below Penn State's legitimate win over Lehigh.

Plainfield Teachers College was a fictitious college football team created as a hoax. During the 1941 college football season, several co-conspirators called several prominent American newspapers reporting the college's supposed dominance in football. These reports were initially widely believed, with the school's scores and victories published in regional Philadelphia newspapers and The New York Times sports department,[1] before being exposed.

The hoax

Stockbroker Morris Newburger and radio sales executive Alexander "Bink" Dannenbaum jointly planned the hoax in 1941.[2][3] Using the name Jerry Croyden, Newburger phoned several New York papers while Dannenbaum contacted Philadelphia papers, reporting Plainfield's dominant victories over several other fictitious schools.[4] Early reports in Philadelphia and New York featured conflicting scores, though later reports were consistent.[5]

Newburger and Dannenbaum later invented other details about the team, including a sophomore running back named Johnny "The Celestial Comet" Chung, who supposedly ate rice on the sideline to gain an advantage.[5][3] Reports listed "Hop-Along" Hobelitz as the team's coach. There was even speculation that Plainfield might secure a bid to a small-college bowl game; in fact, Newburger had already planned for the team to "play" in the non-existent "Blackboard Bowl" in Atlantic City at season's end.[5]

Reporter Red Smith from the Philadelphia Record (one of the papers reporting the fake results) later went to Plainfield, New Jersey, to search for the school. (At the time, New Jersey had real teacher colleges in Jersey City, Newark, Paterson, Montclair, Glassboro, and Trenton; none of them fielded football teams, as most of their students were female.) After finding no such school, the hoax came to light.

Newburger and Dannenbaum confessed the hoax afterwards, later releasing a false press release from school administrator Jerry Croyden stating that Plainfield had cancelled its remaining schedule as Chung and several other players were declared academically ineligible due to failed exams. The hoax was generally well received afterwards, with several newspapers that had reported on Plainfield publishing tributes and acknowledgements. Columnist Franklin Pierce Adams of the New-York Tribune wrote a song for Plainfield, to the tune of Cornell's "Far Above Cayuga's Waters": "Far above New Jersey's swamplands / Plainfield Teachers' spires! / Mark a phony, ghostly college / That got on the wires...!"[6]

1941 season

All games and opponents are fictitious.

Week Day Date Opponent Result Ref.
1 Benson Institute W
2 Scott W 12–0 [7]
3 Chesterton W 24–0 [7]
4 Fox W
5 Saturday October 25 Winona W 27–3 [8]
6 Saturday November 1 Randolph Tech W 35–0 [9]
7 Saturday November 8 Ingersoll W 13–0 [10]
8 Saturday November 15 Appalachian Normal cancelled [7]
9 Saturday November 22 Harmony Teachers cancelled [7]
10 Blackboard Bowl at Atlantic City cancelled

See also

  • Maguire University, a fictitious college invented in 1963 for the sole purpose of receiving free tickets to basketball games
  • H. Rochester Sneath, a fictional character created in a series of hoax letters starting in 1948
  • North Central College, founded as Plainfield College in 1861 and known as such until 1864

References

  1. ↑ Christine, Bill (January 15, 2016). "The Greatest Hoax in Sports Reporting History (Yes, The Times Fell for It, Too)". The New York Times. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  2. ↑ Levy, R. T.; Hamburger, Philip; Ross, Harold (November 22, 1941). "Plainfield Teachers". The New Yorker.
  3. 1 2 Barra, Allen (January 18, 2013). "The Meaningless Hoax Before Manti Te'o's Meaningless Hoax". The Atlantic.
  4. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 30, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. 1 2 3 Eyman, Scott (October 26, 1986). "THE GREAT GRIDIRON HOAX". Sun-Sentinel.com.
  6. ↑ "All the News That's Fit to Fake : In Days Gone By, the Terminally Mischievous Could Take Pride in Seeing the Flying Figments of Their Imaginations Make Their Way Into Print". Los Angeles Times. October 11, 1987.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Kirksey, George (November 15, 1941). "Telephone Calls Check 'Plainfield' Win Streak". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. UP. p. 16. Retrieved April 13, 2026 – via newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Saturday Grid Results: East". The Scranton Times-Tribune. Scranton, Pennsylvania. October 27, 1941. p. 20. Retrieved April 13, 2026 – via newspapers.com. Plainfield T. 27, Winona 3
  9. ↑ "Grid Results: College". Daily Sentinel. Rome, New York. November 3, 1941. p. 11. Retrieved April 13, 2026 – via newspapers.com. Plainfield T. 35, Randolph Tech. 0
  10. ↑ "College Football Results Yesterday: East". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. November 9, 1941. p. 3C. Retrieved April 13, 2026 – via newspapers.com. Plainsfield [sic] Teachers 13, Ingersoll 0
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