|
By "King of the
Nineties" we are referring to the 1890s
and 1990s... so let's consult the record books, noting that some of
the schools with top records in the 1990s either did not play in the 1890s
(e.g., Florida did not start football til 1906; Miami, 1926; Florida
State, 1947; St. Johns--MN, 1910) or did not play over half of the ten
years of the 1890s decade (e.g., Marshall University and Mount Union).
As longtime students of football may know, the Ivy League was the gridiron
leader for most of the sport's early years, so it is no surprise to find
that Yale was No. 1 in the 1890s with a record of 114 wins and only eight
losses, to go with five ties, for a 93.4 winning percentage. Right behind
the Eli were Princeton (107-8-2, 93.0 pct), Harvard (103-12-2, 89.6 pct),
and Penn (121-15-3, 88.9).
Thus all the top four were Ivy Leaguers... what about Notre Dame, you ask?
Well, the Fighting Irish hadn't found Knute Rockne yet, and their record
for the 1890s was 29-12-4 (70.1 pct), giving them 16th place. Michigan?
The Wolverines were among the leaders, with a 70-20-3 record (77.8), good
for 8th...
But guess who comes in at No. 5? In the 1890s decade W & J posted 65
wins against ten losses and eight ties, or 86.7 pct. No. 6 is also a
surprise, University of Buffalo -- 17 wins, four losses, and five ties
(81.0). Next is Stanford at 30-9-7 (77.9), then the aforementioned
Michigan at 8, Texas 20-6-0 (76.9) at No. 9, and (wow!) Oberlin 44-14-4
(75.9) to finish our top 10..
Rounding out our 1890s top 20 are VMI, Kansas, Bates, Navy, Wisconsin,
Notre Dame, Oregon, Grove City, North Dakota, and Vanderbilt.
W & J a Deserving No. 5 in 1890s
So little Washington and Jefferson College, averaging less than five
hundred students a year, was FIFTH in the 1890s, ahead of such grid powers
as Notre Dame, Pitt, West Virginia, Michigan... but, one might ask, was
that not accomplished against "minor-league" opposition? Well,
not exactly -- W & J beat Pitt (then Western U of Pennsylvania) five
times in five meetings (1890-94); West Virginia (five of five), and played
Penn State, Duquesne, Penn, Lafayette, Princeton, and Cincinnati, all much
larger schools.
OK, what does all that have to do with the Nineteen-nineties? Back
to the record book... Our early No. 1, Yale, tallied 46 wins and 54 losses
in the latter decade (46 pct); Princeton did better (59-40-1, 60 pct),
while Harvard was 44-56-1(44 pct) and Penn tallied 57-42-0 (57 pct). W
& J easily overtook them with a 86-19-0 record, or 82 pct. More
importantly, the Presidents' overall winning percentage for both '90s
decades becomes 83.9 pct. Yale's overall percentage is 72; Penn's, 76;
Harvard, 68.3; Princeton, 78.
Nebraska, Notre Dame, Texas et al
So W & J overtook the four teams which had ranked ahead of them, but
what about other powerhouses such as Nebraska, Notre Dame, Stanford,
Texas, Southern Cal... ?? Nebraska went an amazing 109-16-1 in the 1990s,
but in the 1890s the Cornhuskers were a modest 42-25-4, so their overall
pct. reckons at 78.6. Notre Dame, as noted earlier, won 29 and lost 12
(with four ties) in the 1890s; in the 1990s, the Irish went 69-37-1, thus
their overall pct is 64.2. Stanford's total for the two decades is
94-68-10, or 58 pct. Texas? 96-47-2 (67 pct). Southern Cal's two-decade
total is 85-61-7, or just 57.8 pct. Penn State was 139-47-5 (74.7). Ohio
State posted a 120-69-7 record (63.5). Oklahoma was 70-52-3 (57.4).
Wyoming, with a fine 1990s, posts an overall 81-50-2 record (61.8).
Some other teams with top 1990s records did not play the necessary years
of the 1890s decade to qualify -- Montana, for instance, with a 95-31-0
(74.2 pct) record for the 1990s, did not start football til 1897. St.
John's of Minnesota had a sensational 1990s run, won the Stagg Bowl in
2003, and claims the best record all-time in Division III, but did not
play football in the 1890s, starting in 1910. Mount Union, the terror of
Division III in recent years, played only half of the 1890s decade (going
10-11). Pittsburg State in Kansas (Div. II), had a sensational 1990s
record of 103 wins and 18 losses (85.1) but played no football til 1910.
Grove City, one of the leaders in the 1890s, fell back in the 1990s,
finishing with an overall 85-70-3 mark (54.8).
Winningest Wittenberg
The small college with the most wins in football history is Wittenberg of
Ohio (over 650 at this writing). The Tigers won national championships in
1962,'64, '69, '73, and '75. Their record for the 1990s was 86-17-1; but
for the 1890s, it was 27-28-2, for an overall Nineties 113-45-3 (71.5
pct). Another fine football program is Augustana Ill., which posted a
71-23-0 mark in the 1990s, but only played two years in the 1890s.
University of Colorado posts an interesting record -- 126-56-4, or a 69.2
winning pct. -- but forfeited all 11 games in 1997; their record would
have been well over 70 pct otherwise. Many schools experienced this
forfeit problem, because of using illegal players.
Other leaders include Union College (NY) (82-18-0, 82 pct, in 1990s,
unable yet to find the 1890s info if there is any). Also, Renssalaer (RPI),
73-21-2 in the 1990s, but 7-33-4 in 1890s for overall 80-54-6 or 59.7 pct;
Ithaca, with an 80-28-0 record in the 1990s (won the NCAA title in 1991),
but no record of the 1890s yet; Williams and Cortland could also impact
our final figures...
We have NOT included a few of the leaders from the 1890s because they had
losing records in the 1990s -- Buffalo, VMI, and Vanderbilt
are examples.
King of the Nineties, Final Reckoning
So, re-establishing our "King of the Nineties" with the
combined two-decade totals... here they are:
No. 1 - W & J (83.9 pct)
2- Nebraska, 78.6; 3- Princeton, 78.0; 4-Tennessee, 77.6; 5- Penn, 76; 6-
Penn State, 74.7; 7- Yale, 72; 8- Wittenberg, 71.5; 9- Colorado, 69.2; 10-
Villanova, 68.4; 11- Harvard, 68.3; 12- North Carolina, 67.7; 13- U.
Washington, 67.4; 14- Texas, 67.0; 15- Washigton- Mo., 66.7; 16- Kansas,
66.4; 17-Auburn, 65.2; 18- Alabama, 64.4; 19- Notre Dame, 64.2; 20-
Syracuse, 64.1; 21 (tie) - Ohio State, Wyoming, 63.5; 23- Georgia, 62.9;
24- Cornell, 61.1; Note that the following schools fall below 60pct:
Stanford, 58.0; U. Southern Cal., 57.8; Oklahoma, 57.4; West Virginia,
57.0; California, 56.0; LSU, 50.1; and Boston College, 50.0.
Had enough statistics? Let's move on to flesh and blood and exciting
football...
More about Washington and Jefferson College
It's a small college located in Washington, Pa., about 30 miles SW of
Pittsburgh. While current enrollment (2004) is about 1300 students,
through the years of its football greatness described herein, average
enrollment was about 500. But W & J has managed a school spirit the
equal of much larger institutions. Co-eds were not admitted until 1970,
the first graduating class with girls being 1974. Currently, some 48 pct
of the enrollment is female.
The full story of W & J's remarkable first century of football is
presented in "BATTLING THE INDIANS, PANTHERS, AND NITTANY LIONS: a
100-Year History of W & J Football": Daring Press, Canton, OH
1991. Pat Harmon, curator of the National College Football Hall of Fame,
wrote, "I've seen a lot of volumes about a school's hundred years,
and this is the best, the most complete." Copies are available at the
College's Book Store.
Football began at W & J in 1890. For whatever reason, this small
college would always present a tough, Pennsylvania-type football
aggregation. But a young fellow matriculated to W & J in 1902 who
would move the college to the heights of the football world.
Robert Martin Murphy not only attended and graduated from the College, he
so loved W & J that as a student he beat the bushes to find recruits
-- not just athletes -- to keep the school solvent. Frankly, W & J
needed students so badly that they were often in danger of closing their
doors. Murphy used his spare time, as student solicitor and then graduate
manager starting in 1906, to convince other men and boys to come to W
& J.
The position of graduate manager in those days was akin to "athletic
director" today. He somehow convinced great players and coaches to
come to W & J -- Pete Henry, Coach Bob Folwell, the great players of
the Folwell and Rose Bowl eras... He even saved the football program in
1910 when it was about to be shut down for lack of funds. He proposed a
one-dollar student levy and then sold it to the student body.
As "athletic director," Murphy scheduled games with the best
teams in the country-- Pitt, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn, Notre Dame,
Army, Navy, Penn, Penn State, Syracuse... To do battle, he somehow
encouraged super players and coaches to come to little Washington, Pa.--
his coaches read like a Who's Who from the Hall of Fame -- Earl
"Greasy" Neal, John W. Heisman, Andy Kerr, Sol Metzger, Dave
Morrow, and the greatest of all, Bob Folwell. His recruits Pete Henry and
Bill Amos served as coaches later on, and Henry was athletic director for
many years.
Bob Murphy went beyond the expected throughout his career -- somehow he
had Forbes Field snowplowed one year before a big Pitt game. Other times,
to get the team away from distraction, he had them transported to the
beautiful, spacious 365-acre estate of his in-laws, the Wylies in Canton
Township, a few miles outside Washington. The Wylies hosted this
"secret hideaway" several times, e.g.; before big Pitt games and
the Rose Bowl.
When the team was invited to the Rose Bowl, did Bob Murphy sit back and
gloat like a modern -day CEO to wallow in publicity and credits? Murphy
mortgaged his house to take his family to California and not charge the
cost to the W & J program.
Unfortunately Bob Murphy developed pernicious anemia and died in 1925, at
the age of 48. He left a loving family of widow Marion and youngsters
James B. Wylie Murphy and Helen Margaret Murphy (Donnan).... Dr. Dave
Scarborough, ex-VP of Student Affairs at W & J, summed up Murphy's
contributions to his alma mater in his "Intercollegiate Athletics at
Washington and Jefferson College: A Tradition." -- Pittsburgh: Univ
of Pittsburgh Thesis, 1979.
Scarborough wrote "[Murphy] was the architect of W & J football
prominence... he gave heart, mind, and physical powers to the best
interests of his alma mater for almost two decades... one tribute he might
have appreciated above all others was presented to W & J at half-time
of the 1925 Pitt game. The Athletic Council of University of Pittsburgh
said...
"His gallant sportsmanship, unfailing courtesy, and Christian ideals
of conduct set a new and higher standard of college-athletic relationship
in this community, and won the love and respect of all who value courage,
loyalty, industry, and truth."
Murphy's tradition has been nurtured by W & J presidents through the
years. It was earlier that Rev. Dr. James D. Moffat (1881-1914),
introduced this new game of "foot-ball" at the college in 1890;
Presidents such as Dr. Howard J. Burnett (1970-1999) and Dr. Brian
Mitchell (1999-2004) kept it moving.
Bob Murphy's W & J football tradition lives on... for the Washington
Pa. Observer, this aging reporter/alumnus recently picked his
"greatest games" (but many would disagree -- and do let us
know).
W & J's Ten Greatest Games
1/ The Rose Bowl of 1922, W & J 0, U. California 0. Of course, this
will always be the lowest score in RB history, but a record was also set
by the Presidents, playing only eleven men the entire game. Cal was such a
powerhouse (they never lost from 1919 through 1923) that some Eastern
teams refused to play in the Bowl).
2/ W & J 9 Harvard 10 (1914) Harvard was a national powerhouse --
supposed to be a warm-up for them.
3/ W & J 13 Yale 6 (1914) Yale was the second member of The Big Three
of the day (with Princeton the third), this probably W & J's biggest
win to that date.
4/ W & J 17 Penn State 0 (1913) And this the biggest win to THAT date.
5/ W & J 6 Pitt 7 (1919) The famous "Pitt won't play if Pete
Henry plays" game. Most concede that had All-American Henry played, W
& J would have won.
6/ W & J 20 Rowan 18 (1992 Div. III playoffs, winner to go to the
Stagg Bowl). Windchill must have been below zero, wind gusts over 50 mph
at times. Chris Babirad shoved the Profs' deprecations down their throats
with a 70-yard game-winning td run. [Poetic justice personified, as
Rowan's players had said Babirad was overrated.]
7/ W & J 14 Lafayette 13 (1922, at a packed Polo Grounds in NY --
picture on cover of W & J's 100-yr history).
8/ W & J 0 Notre Dame 3 (1917, probably the biggest game ever at
College Field, with over 10 thousand fans crowding around the field).
9/ W& J 23 Allegheny 17 (Overtime) -- (1987 Div. III playoffs - - Allegheny's
Media Guide called it the greatest playoff game ever; it was played in
snow and below-zero wind chill).
10/ W & J's first Stagg Bowl contest, at Bradenton, FL, in 1992. W
& J lost to Wisconsin-LaCrosse in a close contest,16-12, as a
potentially game-winning pass dropped off the receiver's fingertips..
10B/ W & J 35 John Carroll 30 (1971, Dan Kasperik and Rich Pocock led
the Presidents in a hard-fought win, perhaps the Red and Black's tops from
the hard-time nineteen forties to the eighties).
11/ W & J 34, WUP (Pitt) 0, Nov. 1, 1890 (W & J's first game
ever).
12/ W & J 72, WVU 0, Nov. 28, 1891 (WVU's first game ever).
[Just had to add those three to our top "ten."]
Man, that's tough! There are a hundred other games that could be included,
including two wins in three games at Syracuse!
Top Players and Coaches to Play at College Field
1/ Wilbur F. "Pete" Henry, Hall of Fame (an entire chapter
about Herny in the W & J hundred-year history).
2/ Jim Thorpe, Oct. 5, 1912... W & J held him and his Carlisle Indians
to a scoreless tie at College Field, though "the greatest athlete in
the world" led the nation that year with 198 points.
3/ Coach Robert Folwell, W & J Coach, 1912-15 (36-5-3 against some of
the best teams in the nation).
4/ Coach John W. Heisman, coached Oberlin in a game at College Field in
1894 (scoreless tie) and coached W & J in 1923 (7-1-1). THE Trophy is
named for him.
5/ Coach Earle "Greasy" Neal, coached at W & J in 1921 and
'22, led W & J to Rose Bowl. He's the only man in the baseball and
football players' halls of fame and the college and pro coaches hall of
fame.
6/ Deacon Dan Towler, W & J RB, 1946-49, among nation's scoring
leaders, went on to all-pro career with Los Angeles Rams.
7/ John Luckhardt, W & J's winningest coach, 1982-1996.
8/ Coach Woody Hayes, coached Denison when his team played at W & J in
1947. Later coach at Ohio State for many years, he's in Hall of Fame.
9/ Hal "Swede" Erickson, RB for great W & J teams of
1919-22, perhaps most underrated of all W & J players.
10/ Chris Babirad, W & J RB 1989-92, one of national scoring leaders
in senior year, helped W & J get to the Stagg Bowl.
Note 1: Knute Rockne was with the Notre Dame team that played at W & J
in 1917, but as an assistant coach. George Gipp was on that team too, but
was injured and did not play.
Note 2: Of course, there were many other grid stalwarts W & J played
against, such as with WVU, Pitt, and Syracuse, but they never played in
Washington, Pa.
Note 3: Much of this data was gathered from the internet, particularly the
works of Chris Stassen, Don Hansen, James Howell, and the "College
Football Data Warehouse." The reporter also went to the websites of
many of the colleges. In some cases, there were ambiguities, and we are
sure there will be some complaints of missing or misinterpreted
data.
Background
photo: 1893 W&J Football Squad
|