centre college vs harvard football
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The Danville Advocate, mourning that no worlds remained to be conquered, was even less restrained. "Harvard wins, but Centre great," announced the Boston Sunday Post. For a college to be the Harvard of anyplace, it does not necessarily need to be as selective in admissions as Harvard. Centre began the 1921 season by defeating Clemson, Virginia Tech, and Xavier. These things all made good press for Reynolds, and, as a result of the publicity, Harvard invited Centre to play at Cambridge in the 1920 season. He played college football at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, where he was a three-time All-American at quarterback, and led the Centre Praying Colonels to an upset victory over Harvard in 1921. A capacity crowd … Our teams still give their all on the field. According to faculty statements, the ban was necessary because dismissing school for a football game was a violation of the regulations of the Southern Intercollegiate Association. As for the work of the team's linemen, the paper's delirious congratulations knew no limits: "The Line! Though the Colonels were ahead 14-7 at one point, they were a far smaller team in size and numbers than Harvard, and they eventually succumbed, 31-14. Harvard was rated a 3-1 favorite and was by its own admission looking ahead to the next week's game with Princeton, but the fans were entranced with the eager team from the small Southern college. 1.1m members in the CFB community. 156 votes, 71 comments. New Englanders were particularly struck by their guests' homespun appearance. Gradually the determination to play and defeat the premier teams in the nation lapsed into dreams and memories. Use your ← → (arrows) to browse. Centre obligingly swamped Georgetown 77-0, and, in a story almost too good to be true, Mahan discovered Moran fixing cleats in the locker room and mistook him for a trainer. Thus over the years, the glory days of 1921 have gradually faded away. $649.99. Until its recent renovation, the C6-HO on the front of Old Centre was, though painted over, still visible; and buildings near the rail yard may still be found that bear the C6-HO mark. $15.00 to $35.00 - apply Price filter. On this day in 1921, Centre College defeated Harvard 6-0 in one of the greatest upsets in College Football History, C6H0 I know this is the Wildcat sub but I thought as Kentucky fans you'd all appreciate a story about a Kentucky school. The team was hustled into the town's fire engine to begin a parade in which most of the citizens joined. All around Danville students painted the "impossible formula" of C6H0. Off The Fancy Stuff For Fair: The Harvard Game of 1920, In many ways the 1920 Centre-Harvard game was a preview of the more famous 1921 contest. Hump was Centre College’s starting quarterback during the famous October 29, 1921 college football game between Centre College vs. Harvard. Only once in the remainder of the game did Harvard come close to scoring, and then its gain was nullified because the Crimson team had been offside on the play. He left behind the remaining men to have a shot at him, and, surviving a near fall over his own shoelace, scored the most famous touchdown in Centre College history. All of those factors worked together in the team's success. The faculty makes equal academic demands of all students. Unbelievable as it seems today, Knute Rockne traveled to Danville's Busy Bee Cafe that fall to ask Moran to play Notre Dame at Soldier Field in Chicago. As Marie watched from the team bench, Bo proceeded to play the worst game of his life, and the Aggies, inspired by the opportunity to slay a giant of their own, upset the Colonels 22-14. "The issue before us is whether Harvard's limited use of race in its admissions process in order to achieve diversity in the period in question is consistent with the requirements of Supreme … "Hysteria, madness, insanity, none of these words do justice to the malady with which this town was stricken late this afternoon." Anticipating the coming battle with Princeton, Harvard allowed a number of regulars not in the best of shape to sit on the bench for much of the game, but eventually all but three of the first string played. For the general public, Centre's victory was a heroic act of almost metaphysical proportions: it was the triumph of a poor small group over a large rich one; it was the American dream come true; it was David over Goliath. Hump was Centre College’s starting quarterback in the infamous October 29, 1921 college football game between Centre College vs. Harvard. The squad was weakened, however, when the faculty voted not to permit "Lefty" Whitnell, the team's punter and star end who had dazzled the New England fans with his touchdown reception in the 1920 game, to play because of his poor grades. Ed Kubale, who later coached the Colonels, replaced Weaver at the center position and proved to be an outstanding player. The Lexington Herald contented itself with the observation that the Colonels were, in many respects, the greatest football team the world had ever known. "I would smoke a cigar under a gasoline shower to see you beat Harvard, and I would climb barelegged up a honey-locust tree, with a wildcat under each arm, to have you hand the same kind of dose to the rest of them.". Charmed by their guests, Bostonians entertained the team with luncheons, dances and trips to the Ziegfield Follies. In a feat unheard of for an obscure Southern college with an enrollment of 270, two men - Bo McMillin at quarterback and Red Weaver at center - were selected to Pop Warner's first string All-America team, and another player, Red Roberts, was picked for the third string. The team's personnel was essentially the same as in 1920, though All-American Red Weaver, who had set a record of 99 consecutive extra point kicks, left Centre to take a high school coaching position. Roberts entered Centre in 1918, and was the most prominent Kentucky native on the 9–0 1919 team and the 1921 team which upset Harvard. As Bo explained later, it had become apparent to the Colonels that they were in better shape than Harvard. Billy Reed, writing for Sports Illustrated, reported that before the Harvard game the team's jerseys had become so shredded that Moran finally went out on his own initiative and bought plain white tops at a rummage sale. Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, swears by the Centre Commitment: all students will study abroad, have a research opportunity or internship, and graduate within four years, or else they’re given an additional year at the college tuition-free. Centre College was also a member in 1921, which is the year they defeated Harvard with a bunch of Texas recruits and have a legitimate claim to a National Title. - Centre College action by Boston Public Library Harvard stadium: Stanford scores 3rd TD vs. Dartmouth to win 32-6 by Boston Public Library Harvard … Founded in 1636, Harvard is the oldest university in the US. 1921 Harvard vs Centre College Football Upset of Century Ticket Stub: Condition:--not specified. The town of Danville did not see the matter in quite that light. No one receives scholarships to participate in athletics at Centre anymore. Along the way, Centre plays in three of the first four ever post season "bowl" games, two of which were in the same season, while having to turn down other games with Rockne & playing in the Rose Bowl. The casually attired Colonels may have been sharper than their hosts realized. When you become a Centre man, you confer a sort of knighthood upon yourself and become in a sense a man apart from the rest." The teams first met in 1920, at Harvard Stadium in the Boston neighborhood of Allston, with Harvard coming off a Rose Bowl victory and an undefeated national championship season in 1919 (the school's fourth national championship in the prior ten years). This year Bo had sent Gus King, a student, up to Harvard a week before the game in order to scalp tickets and bet the money on the game. He and Eddie Mahan, the Harvard captain of 1915, went to Danville to scout the Colonel's talent. It's hard to believe, but Harvard was once a national powerhouse. In 1921 Bo McMillin-led Centre upset defending national champion Harvard 6 to 0 in what is widely considered one of the greatest upsets in college football history. Back in Danville, of course, stranded fans could neither see the game nor enjoy the halftime show. When play finally resumed after halftime, the break Centre had been waiting for came early in the third quarter. Players who tore their uniforms in a game realized that no new ones were forthcoming; the old ones would simply have to be repaired. The year after Bo's premature death from cancer in 1952, Centre added to its campus a McMillin Memorial Room, marked by a large portrait of Bo in his college uniform. I tried posting it in r/cfb but if keeps disappearing. Centre vs. Harvard As practically anyone who grew up in Kentucky knows, the Centre College football team defeated Harvard in 1921 by a score of six to nothing. In addition to their coaching duties, Myers and Moran served as the team's trainers, tailors, and cobblers. On October 29, 1921, Moran guided Centre College to a historic 6–0 upset of Harvard, which had been unbeaten the previous two seasons. Eventually more Texans - Matty Bell, Sully Montgomery, Bill James, and Bob Mathias - enrolled at Centre as well. As in the case of the Centre players' homespun traveling clothes, behind Roscoe's eccentric behavior lay calculating intelligence. In 2006, ESPN named it the third-biggest upset in the 138-year history of college football. ... 1968 Yale vs. Harvard football game. The faculty made itself even more unpopular as the rematch with Harvard approached by announcing that it would regard all student absences that occurred as a result of attendance at the Harvard game as unexcused. In Whitnell's situation, the faculty minutes rather whimsically noted, "The case of Mr. Whitnell's eligibility was brought up by President Ganfield and [he] stated that in his opinion nothing could be done for him.". In the morning, the team watched Bo marry his Fort Worth high school sweetheart. After the game Bo tearfully refused to accept the game ball offered by Captain Horween of Harvard, promising instead to return in 1921 to win the football rightfully. Eventually Bo, "Red" Weaver, and Thad McDonald left Fort Worth for Somerset, Kentucky, recruited by boosters of Somerset High School. Centre is an energetic, close-knit community that encourages curiosity with an international scope. ... Centre College vs Harvard 1921. Roscoe Arbuckle Conklin Breckinridge, Centre's African-American masseur and water carrier, was accustomed to dressing up and "cake walking" for the crowd at the intermission. In losing to the smallest college it had ever played, Harvard suffered its first intersectional defeat in four decades. remain at the College without making satisfactory progress toward graduation. Centre College football record from the first game played in 1880 to the present, including opponents, scores, dates, and locations. Centre vs Harvard Poster 1921 Football Poster, Centre vs Harvard 1921 Poster. Bo McMillin and Red Roberts had long since acquired the habit of trading coats with one another when the team went on trips so that each of them was dressed in ill-fitting clothing. Tom Bartlett returned a Harvard punt to midfield, where Harvard was penalized 15 yards for piling on. His performance at the Harvard game was so striking that the Kentucky Advocate of October 29, 1921, proudly reported that Roscoe's act "brought down the house." Not surprisingly, Kentuckians made outlandish claims about their team. The town, in short, was in utter pandemonium. Held The Bridge, So Harvard's Mightiest Could Not Cross It - The Line, The Line, Drink Hardy, The Line! "McMillin, The Hero of the Football World, President of the United States for Time Being. And yet. In 2005, The New York Times called it "arguably the upset of the century in college football.". 54 results for centre college football. With later renovations to athletic facilities, however, the McMillin Room disappeared, leaving the campus with no visible reminder of its most revered athlete. In losing to the smallest college it had ever played, Harvard suffered its first intersectional defeat in four decades. From start to finish, the Kentuckians were a dream team, and New England hearts went out to them. As practically anyone who grew up in Kentucky knows, the Centre College football team defeated Harvard in 1921 by a score of six to nothing. As in 1921, so today we remain a small group, dwarfed by larger neighbors. Bo would go on to a distinguished coaching career, defeating Harvard again as coach of tiny Geneva College, and bringing Indiana University its first Big Ten championship. As he noted, the story - "an unbeatable combination of sure-fire wow, the more gripping because they were founded on fact, and not trumped up by publicity agents" - had all the elements necessary to create a legend. No results were forthcoming, leaving the Kentucky Advocate to fume bitterly that "the college should not be 'crabbed,' the spirit of the student body should not be dampened, nor should the pride of Danville be humbled in such a manner. Roscoe used to sit on the sidelines on a bucket which had C-E-N-T-R-E spelled in large letters around it. Moran would tell Roscoe which play he wished the team to run, and Roscoe, the "communications expert extraordinary," would rotate the bucket until the letter signifying that play was facing the field where the players could see it. In the spring of 1921, the governor of Kentucky named him a Kentucky Colonel, and the students of Centre "promoted" him from Colonel to Carnival King. It is older than all of the states in the country. The play of the line as a whole was much improved by the addition of "Tiny" Thornhill as line coach. Without their knowledge and against their later protests, he went in search of a coach who could do the team justice. Bitterly disappointed with their performance, the Colonels finished their season of glory with a 10-1 record. In the fall, when the wind blows with a chill, and the leaves blaze red and orange, we of Centre return to campus, and we remember. The history of the 1921 Centre team was just as colorful and unbelievable as any fantasy or tall tale that has emerged as part of the lore surrounding the team. The team regularly prayed together before every game, and it was not at all unusual for the players to be so moved that they ran onto the field in tears. Football Programs (1919-1921) Programs from football games with Harvard, West Virginia, and University of Kentucky. Over $35.00 - apply Price filter. ", The team's reception in Boston was just as warm as the previous year's. Do you own this website? "In every nook and cranny of the universe where deeds of mighty men of Caucasian races are recited, its achievements are known," trumpeted the Louisville Herald. And yet the memory lingers on, a tribute to a time when teams from Ivy League schools and small Southern colleges were the powerhouses of the nation. Then, when the team arrived at its destination, Bo and Red would go to the town pool hall and, capitalizing on their poverty-stricken appearance, try to hustle the local sharks into placing large bets against Centre. Meanwhile, Centre College, a tiny school of 300 students in Kentucky, had little history of success in football before their current coach, Charley Moran, and star quarterback, Bo McMillin, arrived on campus in 1917. The team spent the summer receiving exhortations from Chief Myers. Academics. The College had little money to spend on athletics, and all resources had to be carefully husbanded. To the fans surprise, the team emerged from the train dressed not in suits and ties, but in blue flannel shirts and khaki trousers ("off the fancy stuff for fair," noted the Post). Even more importantly, Centre defeated an excellent West Virginia team 14-6 the week before Princeton, a perennial Eastern power, lost to the West Virginians. Centre beat Harvard 6-0, in what is widely considered one of the greatest upsets in college football … The Centre-Harvard game needed no mythical embellishments. The 1921 Centre–Harvard game resulted in one of the most shocking upsets in college football, with the Colonels winning, 6–0. From our hearts, year after year, we return Centre's loyalty to us by placing Centre first in the nation in the percentage of alumni donations. As Bo put it, everyone on the team knew "that the college is behind us to the last ditch, and that the city of Danville looks upon us as its own adopted children. But Centre's teams, within a few years of his departure, were no longer able to compete with teams of national championship caliber. Next 5 of 11 Prev. It references the Joyce Collection's holdings of American college football game programs issued prior to 1940, … Howard G. Reynolds, the sports editor of the Boston Post, made Centre famous in New England by running headlines in which he called Centre the "Mysterious Football Team of 1919." Now, however, the time had come to run the play he had planned for weeks: the cut-in play, which Chief Myers claimed Bo ran better than any other man who ever did it. In 1921 Bo McMillin-led Centre upset defending national champion Harvard 6 to 0 in what is widely considered one of the greatest upsets in college football history. His nimbleness in getting off and on the gridiron between plunges belied his years.". Their only defeat was a 22–14 loss to powerful Texas A&M in the 1922 Dixie Classic (forerunner of the Cotton Bowl), in Dallas, Texas, on January 2, 1922 (the game where A&M's famous "12th man" was born). Centre Harvard swept through their next 3 patsies with ease, and then the real season began in game 5 with a home date against press darling Centre college of Kentucky. For those on a limited budget, Louis Mannini announced the results free of charge in front of his news stand on Main Street, as did W. L. Lyons and Company, local Danville brokers. Professor David Newhall noted in his 1994 commencement address at Centre that all the College's graduates put together would not come close to filling Rupp Arena. The Harvard Crimson of October 31, 1921, gave the following account of his performance: "Attired in tall silk hat with yellow vest, and just about three shades darker than any other colored man in Greater Boston, he looked like a Kentucky tobacco ad. ", In their team prayers, the players did not pray for victory; rather, they humbly asked that "we might fight like men to the last ditch, and live up to the traditions of Old Centre." Hump was Centre College’s starting quarterback in the infamous October 29, 1921, college football game between Centre College vs. Harvard. 1 Playing history 1.1 Centre College 1.2 Milwaukee Badgers 2 Coaching history 2.1 Centenary College 2.2 Carroll College … At the players' insistence, Myers stayed to help, occupying the position of athletic director. For our legacy is also our future. Ward by Boston Public Library 2 B.C. It was a combination of good fortune, hard work, talented players, and inspired coaching that produced a team of championship caliber. © 2021 Centre College Athletics - 600 West Walnut Street, Danville, KY 40422 Perhaps Bo himself told the rest of the story best: The end of the game was just the beginning of the bedlam which was to follow. Centre's improved line and secondary were key factors on defense, as was the excellent interference that the line provided on offense. His wife and a few other Danville women dyed the jerseys gold and painted white stripes on them so that, as Bo graphically stated, "we could look respectable like while we whaled the stuffin' out of our opponents. Harvard's Buell, the first string quarterback, badly missed dropkicks of 11 and 35 yards in the first half, which ended in a scoreless tie. To come from a small college and to do it proud; to put it on the academic map time and time again; to go to Ivy League graduate schools and hear people say with respect, "Oh, you went to Centre"; to become civic leaders of vision and compassion - this is our tradition, this is our legacy, this is the 1921 celebration that has not abated. No one, not even a star quarterback, would be permitted to If the players thought after looking at all that money that they had seen everything, however, they had yet to see the heights to which a frenzied Danville could aspire. Colloquial name for a 1991 college football game between the Miami Hurricanes and Florida State Seminoles. Centre was 4-0 coming in, had been 9-0 in 1919, and they had not lost a game since early in the 1917 season, a 24 game winning streak. The players vowed to train for the entire year until at last they could defeat Harvard. To recognize Centre in such a manner was to shoot the Colonels into the national limelight. 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