Sewanee Tigers football

Last updated
Sewanee Tigers football
Sewanee Tigers logo.svg
First season1891
Athletic directorJohn Shackelford
Head coach Andy McCollum
1st season, 3–7 (.300)
Stadium McGee Field
(capacity: 1,200)
Field surface Artificial turf
Location Sewanee, Tennessee
Conference Southern Athletic Association
All-time record48953939 (.477)
Conference titles15
Rivalries Vanderbilt Commodores
Tennessee Volunteers
Rhodes Lynx
ColorsPurple and gold [1]
   
Website sewaneetigers.com

The Sewanee Tigers football team represents Sewanee: The University of the South in the sport of American football. The Tigers compete in NCAA Division III as members of the Southern Athletic Association (SAA).

Contents

Three Sewanee Tigers are members of the College Football Hall of Fame: Henry Seibels, Henry D. Phillips, and Frank Juhan.

History

The Sewanee Tigers were pioneers in American intercollegiate athletics and possessed the Deep South's preeminent football program in the 1890s. Ellwood Wilson is considered the "founder of Sewanee football." [2] Their 1899 football team had perhaps the best season in college football history, winning all 12 of their games, 11 by shutout, and outscoring their opponents 322-10. Five of those wins, all shutouts, came in a six-day period while on a 2,500-mile (4,000 km) trip by train. Ten of their 12 opponents, including all five of their road trip victims, remain major college football powers to this day. [3] In 2012, the College Football Hall of Fame held a vote of the greatest historic teams of all time, where the 1899 Iron Men beat the 1961 Alabama Crimson Tide as the greatest team of all time. [4]

Sewanee was a charter member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1894, and also a charter member of the Southeastern Conference upon its formation in 1932, but by this time its athletic program had declined precipitously and Sewanee never won a conference football game in the eight years it was an SEC member. The Tigers were shut out 26 times in their 37 SEC games, and were outscored by a combined total of 1163–84. [3]

When vice chancellor Benjamin Ficklin Finney, who had reportedly objected to Sewanee joining the SEC, left his position in 1938, the leading candidate was Alexander Guerry, a former president of the University of Chattanooga. According to a university historian, Guerry agreed to come to Sewanee only if the school stopped awarding athletic scholarships. In 1940, two years after Guerry's arrival, Sewanee withdrew from the SEC and subsequently deemphasized varsity athletics. Guerry's stance is sometimes credited as an early step toward the 1973 creation of NCAA Division III, which prohibits athletic scholarships. [3]

Yea, Sewanee's Right!

"Yea, Sewanee's Right!" is the surviving last line of an old football cheer: "Rip `em up! Tear `em up! Leave `em in the lurch. Down with the heathen. Up with the Church.Yea, Sewanee's Right!" The heathen may have been the Methodists of Vanderbilt which would date the cheer in the 1890s; the cheer was sometimes also used against Hampden-Sydney. [5] Now used as an alternative motto and often shouted at the end of the Alma Mater. When used with the Alma Mater it is preceded by the transitional formula of an extended pause followed by "Yea, Sewanee's Right!"

Conference history

Conference championships

Sewanee has won 15 conference championships, nine outright and six shared. [6] [7]

SeasonCoachConferenceOverall recordConference record
1898 J. G. Jayne Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association 4–03–0
1899 Billy Suter Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association12–011–0
1909 Harris G. Cope Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association6–14–0
1963 Shirley Majors Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference 8–04–0
1964 † Shirley Majors Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference8–13–1
1965 Shirley Majors Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference7–14–0
1967 Shirley Majors Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference5–33–1
1975 † Shirley Majors Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference6–34–0
1976 Shirley Majors Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference5–44–0
1978 † Horace Moore Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference4–43–1
1979 †Horace MooreSouthern Collegiate Athletic Conference7–23–1
1982Horace MooreSouthern Collegiate Athletic Conference7–24–1
1990 † Bill Samko Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference6–33–1
1992Bill SamkoSouthern Collegiate Athletic Conference8–14–0
2000 † John Windham Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference6–44–2

† denotes shared championship

All-Time Sewanee Tigers football team

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southeastern Conference</span> Collegiate athletics conference operating primarily in the southeastern United States

The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ten states, three additional public land-grant universities, and one private research university. The conference is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The SEC participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I in sports competitions; for football it is part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sewanee: The University of the South</span> Private university in Sewanee, Tennessee

The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee, is a private Episcopal liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee. It is owned by 28 southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, and its School of Theology is an official seminary of the church. The university's School of Letters offers graduate degrees in American Literature and Creative Writing. The campus consists of 13,000 acres (53 km2) of scenic mountain property atop the Cumberland Plateau, with the developed portion occupying about 1,000 acres (4.0 km2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vanderbilt Commodores</span> Intercollegiate sports teams of Vanderbilt University

The Vanderbilt Commodores are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt fields 16 varsity teams, 14 of which compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Vanderbilt's women's lacrosse team plays in the American Athletic Conference. The bowling team plays in Conference USA (C-USA), which absorbed Vanderbilt's former bowling home of the Southland Bowling League after the 2022–23 season. The University of Tennessee Volunteers are Vanderbilt's primary athletic rival, and the only other SEC team in Tennessee.

The University of Alabama is a school with many traditions. This article describes several of these traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missouri Tigers</span> Intercollegiate sports teams of the University of Missouri

The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the Fighting Tigers of Columbia who, in 1864, protected Columbia from Confederate guerrillas during the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auburn Tigers football</span> Football program

The Auburn Tigers football program represents Auburn University in the sport of American college football. Auburn competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1899 Sewanee Tigers football team</span> American college football season

The 1899 Sewanee Tigers football team represented Sewanee: The University of the South in the 1899 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. Sewanee was one of the first college football powers of the South and the 1899 team was one of its best. The 1899 Tigers won 12 games and lost none, outscored opponents 322–10, and won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) title.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers</span> Athletic program of Louisiana State University

The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association</span> Defunct American college athletic conference

The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS football programs were members of this conference at some point, as were at least 19 other schools. Every member of the current Southeastern Conference except Arkansas and Missouri, as well as six of the 15 current members of the Atlantic Coast Conference plus future SEC member University of Texas at Austin, currently of the Big 12 Conference, formerly held membership in the SIAA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets</span> Intercollegiate sports team

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology, located in Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Ramblin' Wreck, Engineers, Blacksmiths, and Golden Tornado. There are eight men's and seven women's teams that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I athletics and the Football Bowl Subdivision. Georgia Tech is a member of the Coastal Division in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry D. Phillips</span> Bishop of Southwestern Virginia (1882–1955)

Henry Disbrow Phillips was an American Episcopal bishop (1938–1955) and college American football player and coach (1900–1909). Sportswriter Fuzzy Woodruff called him "the greatest football player who ever sank cleated shoes into a chalk line south of the Mason-Dixon line."

The 1896 Alabama Crimson White football team represented the University of Alabama in the 1896 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. The team was led by head coach Otto Wagonhurst, in his first season, and played their home games at The Quad in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In what was the fifth season of Alabama football, the team finished with a record of two wins and one loss.

The 1917 Alabama Crimson Tide football team represented the University of Alabama in the 1917 college football season. It was the Crimson Tide's 25th overall and 22nd season as a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA). The team was led by head coach Thomas Kelley, in his third year, and played their home games at University Field in Tuscaloosa, at Rickwood Field in Birmingham and at Soldiers Field in Montgomery, Alabama. They finished the season with a record of five wins, two losses and one tie.

The 1915 Alabama Crimson Tide football team represented the University of Alabama in the 1915 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. It was the Crimson Tide's 23rd overall and 20th season as a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA). The team was led by head coach Thomas Kelley, in his first year. It was in 1915 Alabama moved its on campus home games from The Quad, where all on-campus home games had been played since 1893, and to a new location, University Field. Home games were also played at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. They finished the season with an overall record of 6–2 record and mark of 5–0 in the SIAA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sewanee–Vanderbilt football rivalry</span> American college football rivalry

The Sewanee–Vanderbilt football rivalry was an American college football rivalry between the Sewanee Tigers and Vanderbilt Commodores. They were both founding members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA), the Southern Conference, and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Both teams' histories feature some powerhouses of early Southern football, e.g. 1899 Sewanee Tigers football team and 1906 Vanderbilt Commodores football team. It was the oldest of Vanderbilt's rivalries; dating back to 1891 when Vanderbilt played its second ever football game and Sewanee played its first. Vanderbilt leads the series 40–8–4. It used to be claimed as the oldest rivalry in the south, older than the "South's Oldest Rivalry" between North Carolina and Virginia. Usually played towards the end of the season on Thanksgiving Day, the two teams have not met again since 1944.

The 1907 Sewanee Tigers football team represented Sewanee: The University of the South during the 1907 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. The team competed in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) and was coached by Arthur G. Erwin in his first year as head coach, compiling a record of 8–1 and outscoring opponents 250 to 29. Vanderbilt coach Dan McGugin in Spalding's Football Guide's summation of the season in the SIAA wrote "The standing. First, Vanderbilt; second, Sewanee, a might good second;" and that Aubrey Lanier "came near winning the Vanderbilt game by his brilliant dashes after receiving punts."

The 1899 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season was the college football games played by the member schools of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association as part of the 1899 college football season.

The Vanderbilt Commodores football team represents Vanderbilt University in the sport of American football.

The 2022 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association season was the season of college football played by the seven member schools of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) as part of the 2022 NCAA Division III football season.

References

  1. Sewanee Tigers | Athletics Visual Identity Guidelines (PDF). Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  2. "Founder of Tiger Football Tells How". Sewanee Alumni News. 8 (1): 7. December 1941.
  3. 1 2 3 Dorsey, Patrick (September 23, 2011). "Sewanee, long-lost member of the SEC". Page 2. ESPN.com . Retrieved September 29, 2011.
  4. Martin, Cam (9 May 2012). "Sewanee puffs out chest with historic title - Sports Fans, Teams, Stadiums, Page 2 - Fandom Blog - ESPN Playbook - ESPN". Espn.go.com. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
  5. "A Sewanee Glossary". Archived from the original on February 20, 2010.
  6. http://www.scacsports.com/inside_athletics/record_book_files/2017-18/2017_Fall_Record_Book.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  7. "Football Coaching Records - Sewanee Athletics". Archived from the original on 2018-03-04. Retrieved 2018-03-03.
  8. "Sewanee's All-Time Football Team". Sewanee Alumni News. February 1949.