Scrapbooks containing clippings and photographs largely relating to the University of Michigan football team, 1914-1916, also game programs and other athletics memorabilia, as well material relating to Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and campus social life. The scrapbooks include extensive coverage of the 1914 Harvard and Penn games in which Maulbetsch starred and gained a national reputation. The photos include formal and informal team photographs, posed shots of individual players, and game action images. Many of the scrapbook photographs have annotations and comments by Maulbetsch. One of 1914 scrapbooks mainly relating to football, was compiled by Ida E. Cappon, Maubetsch's future wife. The 1911-1912 volume documents his one year on the Adrian College football team. The 1950 scrapbook consists of letters, telegrams, and sympathy cards to Ida Cappon Maulbetsch following her husband's death. The Photographs series includes additional football photos (including an Ann Arbor High School photo and an Adrian College team photo), portraits and family photos, and photos of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house (then located at 621 S. State St.)
John Maulbetsch was a University of Michigan student and football player 1913-1916. He was the star player in Michigan's 1914 7-0 loss to Harvard in Cambridge and 37-3 win over Penn in Ann Arbor. He was named All-American halfback in 1914 and was captain of Michigan's 1916 team.
Maulbetsch was born June 20, 1890 in Ann Arbor and attended Ann Arbor Public Schools. He enrolled at Adrian College for one year, 1911-1912, and played one season of football. He returned to Ann Arbor where he worked and played football on the local Ann Arbor Independents team before enrolling at Michigan in 1913. "Mauly", as he was commonly referred to, was nicknamed "The German Bullet" (or "The Human Bullet") in reference to his low to the ground, powerful style of running the football, despite being just 5'7" and 155 pounds. Maulbetsch graduated in June 1917 with a Pharmaceutical Chemist degree. He coached football at Phillips College (in Texas, now defunct) 1917-1920, Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College 1921-1928, and Marshall College 1929-1930. Maulbetsch retired from coaching and opened a pharmacy in Huntington West Virginia. He returned to Michigan to work at the Willow Run Bomber Plant during World War II. Following the war he operated a car dealership in Adrian. Maulbetsch died September 9, 1950 in Ann Arbor. He was posthumously elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1973. Michigan football's John F. Maulbetsch Award is given to the outstanding freshman at spring practice each year. Ida Cappon was born in 1892 in Holland, Michigan. She married John Maulbtesch May 27, 1917. They had a daughter Barbara (Archcker) (1920-2016) and a son John (1923-2002). Ida Maulbetsch died in 1992 in Holland, Michigan.
