1926 NYU Violets football team

1926 NYU Violets football
Conference	Independent
Record	8–1
Head coach	Chick Meehan (2nd season)
Captain	Frank Briante
Home stadium	Ohio Field Yankee Stadium
Seasons ←  1925 1927  →

1926 Eastern college football independents records

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 5 Lafayette			–					9	–	0	–	0
No. 10 Brown			–					9	–	0	–	1
NYU			–					8	–	1	–	0
No. 9 Army			–					7	–	1	–	1
Washington & Jefferson			–					7	–	1	–	1
Boston College			–					6	–	0	–	2
No. 10 Penn			–					7	–	1	–	1
Cornell			–					6	–	1	–	1
Princeton			–					5	–	1	–	1
Carnegie Tech			–					7	–	2	–	0
Springfield			–					6	–	2	–	0
Syracuse			–					7	–	2	–	1
Villanova			–					6	–	2	–	1
Colgate			–					5	–	2	–	2
Columbia			–					6	–	3	–	0
Pittsburgh			–					5	–	2	–	2
CCNY			–					5	–	3	–	0
Temple			–					5	–	3	–	0
Penn State			–					5	–	4	–	0
Tufts			–					4	–	4	–	0
Yale			–					4	–	4	–	0
Bucknell			–					4	–	5	–	1
Fordham			–					3	–	4	–	1
Harvard			–					3	–	5	–	0
Rutgers			–					3	–	6	–	0
Vermont			–					3	–	6	–	0
Drexel			–					2	–	5	–	0
Boston University			–					2	–	6	–	0
Lehigh			–					1	–	8	–	0
Franklin & Marshall			–					0	–	8	–	1
Rankings from Dickinson System

The 1926 NYU Violets football team was an American football team that represented New York University (NYU) as an independent during the 1926 college football season. In their second season under head coach Chick Meehan, the team compiled an 8–1 record, shut out six opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 172 to 25. NYU was rated No. 21 in a retroactive ranking of the best college football teams of 1926. ^[1] NYU back Ken Strong was later inducted into both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 25	Niagara	Ohio Field Bronx, NY	W 34–0	10,000	[2]
October 2	Allegheny	Ohio Field Bronx, NY	W 13–0	10,000	[3]
October 9	West Virginia Wesleyan	Ohio Field Bronx, NY	W 24–7		[4]
October 16	Tulane	Yankee Stadium Bronx, NY	W 21–0	25,000	[5]
October 23	Rutgers	Yankee Stadium Bronx, NY	W 30–0	20,000	[6]
October 30	vs. Fordham	Yankee Stadium Bronx, NY	W 27–3	25,000	[7]
November 6	Carnegie Tech	Yankee Stadium Bronx, NY	W 6–0	35,000	[8]
November 13	Davis & Elkins	Ohio Field Bronx, NY	W 10–0	10,000	[9]
November 20	at Nebraska	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	L 7–15	15,000	[10]

Season overview

Meehan took over as NYU's head football coach in 1925, after five years as head coach at Syracuse. Meehan recruited top players to the school by touting the school's educational advantages. ^[11] At least eleven of the team's players went on to play in the National Football League (NFL): Frank Briante, John Bunyan, Bob Dunn, Beryl Follet, Bing Miller, Dave Myers, Mike Riordan Ollie Satenstein, Jack Shapiro, Dave Skudin, and Ken Strong. Strong was later inducted into both the College Football Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Meehan also established a strict training regimen, resulting in a team that was described as a "husky outfit" that played with "clockwork operations" and "all the timing and rhythm of big league baseball." ^[11]

The team won its first eight games, including four consecutive victories over major football powers of the era, Tulane, Rutgers, Fordham, and Carnegie Tech - each game played in front of large crowds at Yankee Stadium. On defense, the team shut out six of its first eight opponents. The team's turnaround drew national attention, an Ohio sports writer noting:

One of the big surprises of the current season is [NYU] . . . In its first six games, Meehan's boys ran through the opposition in a reckless manner. Their unexpected achievement was the 21-0 triumph over Tulane, which last year boasted one of the strongest elevens in the entire country. ^[12]

The sole setback was against Nebraska, a 15–7 loss played in a snowstorm in Lincoln, Nebraska. ^[13]

In 1960, Art Daley wrote in The New York Times: "The Violet became the Violent Violet under Meehan. Although no national championships were won, NYU rarely missed by much from 1925 to 1931." ^[14] Meehan was elsewhere credited with "boosting the Violets into national prominence during seven seasons, 1925-1931." ^[15]

Personnel

• Earl Ashton, end from Easton, PA
• Frank Briante, fullback and captain
• John Bunyan
• Jack Connor, quarterback from Exeter, NH
• Bob Dunn, center from Waterbury CT
• Al Lassman, tackle from Cambridge, MA, 208 pounds, 6'4"
• John Miller
• Mike Riordan, end from Bristol, CT
• Arthur Roberts, back from Holyoke, MA
• Runyan
• Dave Skudin, guard
• Ken Strong, back from West Haven, CT

^[16]

Connor received first-team honors on the 1926 All-Eastern football team. ^[17]

References

1. "1926 College Football Top 25". tipto25. Retrieved February 12, 2025.
2. "N.Y.U. overwhelms Niagara U., 34 to 0". Daily News. September 26, 1926. Retrieved February 6, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
3. "N.Y.U. grinds out 13 to 0 victory over Allegheny". The Brooklyn Daily Times. October 3, 1926. Retrieved February 6, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
4. "West Virginia Wesleyan falls before powerful attack of N.Y.U. eleven". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. October 10, 1926. Retrieved February 6, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
5. "N.Y.U. eleven repels invasion of Tulane by 21 to 0 victory". The Brooklyn Daily Times. October 17, 1926. Retrieved February 6, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
6. "N.Y.U. breaks Rutgers jinx". The Brooklyn Daily Times. October 24, 1926. Retrieved February 6, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
7. "N.Y.U. defeats Fordham eleven in hot finish". Daily News. October 31, 1926. Retrieved February 6, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
8. "New York U. vanquishes Skibos, 6 to 0". Pittsburgh Gazette Times. November 7, 1926. Retrieved February 6, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
9. "N.Y.U. defeats Davis-Elkins by 10–0 for 8th win". Daily News. November 14, 1926. Retrieved February 6, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
10. "Nebraska smears New York U.'s unbeaten eleven". The Lincoln Star. November 21, 1926. Retrieved February 6, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
11. Lawrence Perry (November 18, 1926). "For the Game's Sake". p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "Chick Meehan's N.Y.U. Team Is Real Surprise". Piqua Daily Call . November 18, 1926. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
13. "Snow, Huskers Sink N.Y.U." New York Daily News. November 21, 1926. p. 43 – via Newspapers.com.
14. "N.U. Wilted the Violets". Omaha World-Herald. January 19, 1963. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
15. "Syracuse, NYU Coach John 'Chick' Meehan". Asbury Park Press. November 10, 1972. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
16. "Columbia Promises To Lead". The Evening News. October 21, 1926. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
17. "Injuries Keep Many Stars Off Brooklyn Times' All-Eastern Teams". The Brooklyn Daily Times. December 4, 1926. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.(Connor)