gardner, who stood just under six feet and 172 pounds at the time, played end, tackle, and fullback from 1904 to 1907, helping the little school defeat the powers of the time, which were yale, harvard, princeton and pennsylvania—known as the "big four". he also set a school record in track for the half mile, and also played basketball and baseball. gardner enrolled in dickinson school of law his senior year in 1907. "pop" warner described his 1907 team as "nearly perfect", but was upset that walter camp had left gardner off his all-american team. later in the 1930s, knute rockne named gardner to his all-time all-american team for "collier's".