John Henry Outland (March 17, 1871 – March 24, 1947) was born in Hesper, Kansas to Thomas Outland and Mahala Outland, into a Quaker family who settled in Kansas from Indiana around 1860 during the Bleeding Kansas period as part of a larger Quaker immigration to Kansas in support of the Free State cause. He grew up mostly in Johnson County, Kansas in the towns of Lexington, Kansas (present day DeSoto, Kansas) and Edgerton, Kansas though. He was a member of the first football team at Penn College in Oskaloosa, Iowa in 1891. Outland captained the team in 1892, scoring 32 of the team's 36 points.
After starring in football and baseball at the University of Kansas in 1895 and 1896, Outland went to Philadelphia to complete his medical education at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. There he became one of the few men ever to win All-American football honors as both lineman and the backfield player. He was picked by Walter Camp as a first-team All-American in 1897, as a tackle. In 1898, he was selected again, this time as a halfback. He was captain of the 1898 Pennsylvania team and was voted "Most Popular Man" at the University of Pennsylvania.
Outland worked his way through college and spent his last two summers as a companion to rich young men who were alcoholics. To keep them away from alcohol, Outland took them on camping trips in the Wyoming mountains.
While practicing medicine in the Kansas City region, Dr. Outland served for many years on the athletic board of the University of Kansas alongside other notable KU alumni,
Dr. James Naismith and
Dr. Forrest "Phog" Allen amongst others. Dr. Outland also served as a referee for college football games, including the 1907 Iowa State - Nebraska game in which he rendered the decision that negated an Iowa State field goal and preserved a 10-9 Nebraska victory.
The FG was short but bounced through the crossbars. Upon his retirement he moved to Laguna Beach, California. He also served as a major in the United States Army Medical Corps during World War I.
Outland conceived the idea of the Outland Trophy because of his belief that interior lineman were not given enough recognition in college football. The trophy is the third oldest college football trophy.
UGA has Two.