In 1890, Crawford played for the Chicago All-University team alongside
Knowlton Ames, who had played at
Princeton University, and Frank G. Peters, a fellow Yale alumnus who was captain of the 1885 Yale team. Crawford scored a touchdown in a 12–8 loss to
Cornell on Thanksgiving Day. In 1890, Crawford coached the football team at
Butler University, leading the team to the
Indiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association title. He succeeded
Clinton L. Hare, who had left Butler to coach at
Purdue University in 1890. Crawford was determined to "get back" at Hare, with whom he had a personal rivalry dating back to a political fight at Yale. He returned to coach at Butler in 1891. In 1892, Crawford coached the football team at the University of Wisconsin—now known as the
University of Wisconsin–Madison. ==Legal career, family, later life, and death==