Sports editor of the Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger from 1916 until his untimely death in an auto accident at age 38, Maxwell had been a star football lineman at the University of Chicago and Swarthmore. A photo of the battered 250-pound Maxwell leaving the field after the University of Pennsylvania team had concentrated its efforts on him was said to have been influential in bringing reforms to football, including the legalization of the forward pass in 1906. Maxwell played pro football in 1906 with the champion Massillon (Ohio) Tigers, and later became a famous game official. He entered newspaper work in 1906 with the Chicago American and moved to Philadelphia six years later. Maxwell was vice-president of the BBWAA. The Maxwell Club, which gives annual awards to the nation’s outstanding football stars, was founded in his honor in 1937.
