T. Diedricksen – Yale Program Illustrator

T. Diedricksen illustrated Yale covers in the early 1920s. Who exactly is this mystery illustrator who signed only with his first initial, but created some of the greatest covers in college football history? His full name is Theodore Diedricksen, Jr. and he lived from 1885-1967. He was born in Yale’s hometown of Yale and spent his life in Connecticut.

In addition to illustrating program covers for Yale, Diedricksen also painted with oil on canvas, illustrated books and did sketches in pencil. Not surprisingly, Diedricksen graduated from Yale in 1918 with a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts. After studying in Paris for two years, Diedricksen became a Professor of Drawings and Graphics at Yale. He taught at Yale for over thirty years and retired a Professor Emeritus.

Diedricksen had a real knack for capturing the essence of early 1920s football.

Diedricksen almost always had the big curved lines of the Yale Bowl as the back-drop of his drawings, as seen in all four examples shown here.

We have a nice selection of vintage football programs from the 1920s at our website:

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