Football at West Point JURNING back through the old records of the Military Academy in search of data in connection with the early history of football at West Point, one unexpectedly finds that which is sought in no less a place than the Record of Delinquencies the dreaded "skin list." On May 31, 1850 Cadet Philip H. Sheridan was reported for the terrible crime of "Kicking football in vicinity of barracks." It seems strange, in the light of recent athletic policies in the Army, that, even in those rough old days of the Academy's comparative infancy, the authorities did not look with favor upon the athletic efforts of the future Civil war leader. While a cadet Grant was once placed in arrest for maltreating a horse and Custer went him one better or worse-and maltreated a new cadet, but Sheridan seemed to have satisfied the inherent Army propensity for kicking with the aid of a football. Football was not a recognized sport at West Point until 1890 even though most of the colleges of the time adopted the game in its intercollegiate form much earlier. The first intercollegiate game, between Princeton and Rutgers, had been played in 1869, the famous "Big Three" championship series commenced in 1876 and the Naval Academy took part in its initial game, against Johns Hopkins, in 1883 but, because of the ancient idea that athletics were detrimental to discipline and the strict regulations of the time which prohibited a cadet from appearing outside of his quarters except in his tight fitting, many buttoned, full dress coat, athletics did not thrive at the Military Academy in the early days. Then, as now, West Point frequently obtained men who had made athletic reputations for themselves prior to becoming cadets. Gen. Peyton C. March the former Chief of Staff was one of these. Before entering the Academy he was rated as one of the best full backs and second basemen in college ranks. He had the distinction of making the first score in Lafayette's long football history-a field goal against Princeton in 1883. 1890 Football had taken well at the Naval Academy and, by 1887, the midshipmen had progressed far enough to unmercifully defeat the University of Pennsylvania (46-0). In 1890 an invitation was extended to the Military Academy to play a game at West Point. Although only two men in the Corps of Cadets-D. M. Michie and L. M. Prince had ever seen a football, the challenge was accepted and the game played on November 20. Permission had been obtained for the cadet team to play in regular football uniforms and it is recorded that the ladies of the Post made the uniforms with their own hands. A mammoth crowd, estimated at almost 100, witnessed the game. The Navy experienced little trouble winning (24-0). 1891 It has been claimed that the spirit of Old West Point was born again after the defeat of 1890. Certain it was that football had come to stay at the Military Academy. The authorities realized that the Army had blossomed out into a new field of activity and henceforth lent every effort toward the eradication of the stain of the previous defeat. H. L. Williams of Yale, who later gained such fame as coach at the University of Minnesota was then a young doctor at Newburgh, N. Y. Twice a week he went to West Point and coached the cadets. He devised the tackle back formation which became the chief weapon of offense in football for a number of years. The cadets defeated Fordham, Stephens and the Schuykill Navy, tied the Princeton reserves, lost decisively to Rutgers and then proceeded to even up old scores be administering a most satisfactory defeat to the Navy at Annapolis (32-16). Michie, Clark and Timberlake each scored two touch. downs for the Army. Dennis Michie the captain of both the '90 and '91 teams and the Army's first coach was later killed leading his company up San Juan Hill-a fittingly heroic death for the "Father of Football" at West Point. 1892 The Army opened the season with a draw with Wesleyan and then defeated Stephens, Trinity and the Princeton 2d Team. However, the Navy proved a little too strong and the cadets lost on their own grounds (4-12). Timberlake made the Army's touchdown. The Navy's star this season was Worth Bagley who was killed at the Naval Battle of Santiago. 1893 The Navy game was played at Annapolis and was even closer than in the preceeding season but the Army again lost (4-6), this time through failure to kick goal after touchdown. Carson scored the Army's touchdown and Stacy contributed a number of brilliant runs. During the preliminary season which was longer than in other years, the cadets defeated Lafayette, Amherst, Union and Trinity and lost to Princeton, Yale, Lehigh and the N. Y. Volunteers. Against Princeton, Duncan recovered a fumbled ball and, with Lott interfering, ran the length of the field to a touchdown. Gen. D. E. Aultman played tackle on this team. 1894 The War and Navy Departments restricted the playing of football by the Academy teams to their respective grounds thus preventing the further playing of the annual game which had already become a classic. The Army defeated Amherst, lost to Brown, defeated Massachusetts Institute of Technology, lost by a close score to Yale and ended the season with a victory over Union. Duncan scored on Yale with a field goal from the 40-yard line. 1895 The powerful team of the season lost only to Harvard and Yale and wrestled the leadership of the smaller colleges from Brown in the final game of the season (26-0). Other teams defeated were Trinity, Tufts and Dartmouth. The name "future Generals" which newspaper people so love to apply to West Point teams was no misnomer in 1895. The team included: E. L. King, W. D. Connor, D. E. Nolan, Malin Craig and R. J. Burt, all of whom be came General officers. Another member, L. Stacy, died as the result of exposure in the Santiago campaign. General King was the Army's first AllAmerican. 1896 The team again won the final game with Brown (8-6). Wesleyan was tied and Tufts and Union defeated. Games were lost to Princeton and Yale. 1897 The Army had gradually been forging to the front among the colleges of the country and in 1897 presented an unusually powerful team which lost only to Harvard. Yale was played to a standstill (6-6) and the chief rivals. literally swept off the field-Brown (42-0) and Lehigh (48-6). Games were also won from Wesleyan, Tufts and Trinity. The team was managed by the present Adjutant General of the Army-Maj. Gen. Robert C. Davis. 1898 The peculiar position of the Army in the Football World and the unsettled conditions due to the Spanish War, prevented the cadets from playing an extensive schedule. In the preliminary season, games were won from Tufts, Wesleyan and Lehigh and lost to Harvard and Yale. The final game found the Army at "top form" and the undefeated Princeton team was held to a draw (5-5). Romeyn evened the score with a drop kick from the 36-yard line. 1899 The season marked the renewal of the Army-Navy game and the development at West Point of one of the famous "fighting teams" that men who were cadets at the time love to speak about. Due to early graduation as a result of the Spanish War, the Army lost practically its entire team of the previous year. Lieut. H. J. Koehler built up a team from new material which experienced hard going all season. Five games were lost-to Penn. State, Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Columbia. Dartmouth, Syracuse and Tufts were barely beaten. In the meantime the Navy had lost only to the famous teams of Princeton and Lafay ette, by a single score each, and had defeated many strong teams, including Penn. State. When the teams met at Philadelphia, the Army showed the benefits to be derived from the School of Experience and won (17-5). Rockwell scored two touchdowns for the Army and Jackson one. 1900 The Army bowed to the Navy (7-11). The cadets scored as the indirect result of a blocked kick by Farnsworth. Farnsworth ran 20 yards after recovering the ball, Clark added 23 yards to the advance and then kicked a goal from placement from the 35-yard line. West Point also forced the Navy to a safety. The Army lost to Yale and Harvard, tied Penn. State and defeated Williams, Trinity, Bucknell and Hamilton. The game with Bucknell was the one in which Christy Mathewson kicked his famous field goal from the middle of the field. 1901 The Army this season displaced Pennsylvania as a member of the socalled "Big Four." The Army lost only one game-to the Harvard champions (0-6), through a long run in the closing minutes of play. Tie games were played with Yale (5-5) and Princeton (6-6). The Navy was defeated (11-5) and Pennsylvania over whelmed (24-0). Other teams downed were Trinity, Williams and Franklin & Marshall. Daly the former Harvard captain tied the Yale game with a field goal from the 50-yard line. Against the Navy, he ran back a kick off 98 yards to a touchdown, kicked a 35-yard field goal and averaged 40 yards, with his punts. 1902 the last named game the Army scored six touchdowns. Prince tallied four and Cooper and Davis one apiece. E. E. Farnsworth, the team captain, played against the Navy, as a regular, for the fifth time. 1904 The Army won two games that would stand out on any schedule-over Yale the season's champions (11-6) and the The Army, as in 1901, was the only Navy (11-0), but the cadets bowed to team able to withstand the attack of the season's champions. Yale was tied (6-6). The cadets lost by the usual close score to Harvard but won from the Navy (22-8), and all other teams played: Syracuse, Union, Williams, Dickinson and Tufts. The Army used Daly's unique four man tandem very effectively against the Navy and with it Bunker scored two touchdowns and Torney one. Hackett scored the other touchdown after a 65-yard run back of a punt. The cadets used no substitutes in the game with the Navy. Charles D. Daly who has since been so successful as Head Coach at West Point, completed his playing career this season. Brig. Gen. Douglas MacArthur the former Superintendent of the Military Academy was cadet manager of the team.. 1903 The Army grew stronger as the season advanced and, after being tied by Colgate and defeated in close games by Yale and Harvard, downed Tufts, Dickinson, Vermont and Manhattan and finished the season in a blaze of glory by defeating Chicago and her famous Eckersall (10-6) and the Navy as never before or after (40-5). Doe kicked a field goal from the 40-yard line against Yale and Davis one from the 25-yard line against the Navy. In Harvard (0-4) and Princeton (6-12). Other teams defeated were Syracuse, Williams, New York University, Tufts and Dickinson. In the Navy game, Tipton, the center, kicked a loose ball over the Navy goal line and then fell on it for a touchdown. This play has since been made illegal. The second touchdown was the culmination of a 50-yard march down the field, Doe scoring. Against Yale, Erwin a guard blocked a kick, seized the ball and ran 20 yards to a touchdown and, with the score tied, Torney, the full back, recovered a fumble and ran 105 yards to victory. 1905 The Army hardly measured up to the standard of the teams of the previous four years. The cadets went down to defeat before Yale, Harvard, Carlisle and Virginia Poly. Institute and the annual game with the Navy ended indecisively (6-6). Teams defeated were Syracuse, Colgate, Trinity and Tufts. Torney smashed out the touchdown against the Navy. 1906 The Army went through a heavy schedule and lost to Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Syracuse and the Navy and tied Colgate. Teams beaten were Tufts, Trinity and Williams. The Navy game was lost (0-10). Ingram, later the Navy's head coach, ran 30 yards to a touchdown and Northcroft kicked a field goal from the 48-yard line. Col. Palmer E. Pierce who served as a Brigadier General during the World War and who has been President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for the past number of years, completed his sixth year as Officer in Charge of Football at West Point. 1907 The tie with the Yale champions, (0-0) and close games with Cornell (10-14) and the Navy (0-6) marked the team of this year as a strong one. All games aside from those mentioned resulted in victory for the cadets: Syracuse, Tufts, Colgate, Rochester, Trinity and Franklin & Marshall. The brilliant work of Erwin the guard featured the game with Yale. Douglas the Navy's famous half back made the touchdown that defeated the Army after Dague, an end, had recovered a fumble. 1908 The Academy lost many of the strongest players of the previous year but, under the coaching of Lieut. H. M. Nelly, succeeded in getting together a good team which enjoyed a successful preliminary season. A game was lost by a single score to Yale (0-6), draws were played with Princeton (0-0) and Washington & Jefferson and games won from Syracuse, Tufts, Colgate, Villanova and Trinity. The Navy had met with phenomenal success, had outplayed and tied Harvard the champions of the year (6-6), defeated Penn. State, V. P. I., Lehigh and other strong teams and was a heavy favorite to win over the Army. The cadets fought out a victory (6-4). Chamberlain picked up a fumbled ball and ran 45 yards before he was stopped. Dean then made the touchdown which offset Lange's field goal for the Navy. The kicking of Greble saved the Princeton game, he punted once for 80 yards and again for 70 yards. 1909 A sad accident brought the season to an abrupt and premature ending. Cadet Eugene A. Byrne, a tackle, was killed while trying to stop Harvard's terrific smashes at tackle. The Army cancelled the remainder of the schedule out of respect for the memory of the dead player and therefore the annual meeting with the Navy did not take place. The Army lost to Harvard and Yale and won from Lehigh, Tufts and Trinity. In the Yale game a forward pass, Hyatt to Byrne, gained 40 yards. 1910 The Army lost bitterly fought games to the two most successful teams in the East-the Navy (0-3) through a 35yard kick by Dalton, and Harvard (0-6) through a blocked kick and long run for touchdown. The cadets defeated Yale (9-3) as well as Lehigh, Springfield, Trinity, Villanova and Tufts. Dean, the half back, kicked a 35-yard place kick against Yale. The Army's touchdown came after Browne had intercepted a forward pass and carried the ball 35 yards; a forward pass, Dean to Surles, then yielded the score. 1911 The annual Service game was a genuine championship affair. Both teams went to Franklin Field unbeaten. The Navy had tied Princeton, the champions (0-0) and won a number of impos |