Oregon Intercollegiate Football Association

Last updated
Oregon Intercollegiate Football Association
Founded1893
Ceased1897
Sports fielded
No. of teams4–7

The Oregon Intercollegiate Football Association (OIFA) was the pioneer governing committee which coordinated games of football between various colleges in the American state of Oregon. The committee agreed upon common rules of play, scheduled games, and provided a framework for an annual champion in the years 1893 and 1897. [1]

Contents

The conference was relaunched for the 1899 season but was abruptly scuttled by the withdrawal on November 14 of two league teams over allegations that Willamette University had enrolled "ringers" for the sole purpose of playing football.

Organizational history

1893 season

There were four teams participating in the OIFA in 1893. Oregon Agricultural College Aggies were crowned 'Champions'

The teams finished the 1893 season with the following records:

TeamWinsLossesTiesSource
Oregon Agricultural College 300 [2]
Pacific University 200 [2]
Albany College 010 [3]
Oregon Normal School 040 [2]

1894 season

There were seven teams participating in the OIFA in 1894. Portland University were crowned 'Champions.'

The teams finished the 1894 season with the following records:

TeamWinsLossesTiesSource
Portland University 400 [3]
Oregon Agricultural College 310 [3]
Willamette University 241
Pacific University 121 [3]
University of Oregon 121 [3]
Pacific College 130
Oregon Normal School 040 [3]

1895 season

A meeting of college representatives was held in Salem on Saturday, October 5, 1895 to organize a schedule for the coming year. [4] Attending were representatives of Portland University, Oregon Agricultural College, the University of Oregon, Pacific University, and new participant Willamette University. [4] The 1894 season marked the first year of organized football for Willamette and the 1895 campaign would be their second. Oregon Normal School (today's Western Oregon State College) did not participate.

President E. E. Washburne of Portland University was selected as president of the conference by virtue of his school having won the championship in 1894. [4] The conference representatives agreed to accept the Harvard–Pennsylvania–Cornell rules for the 1895–96 season [5] and adopted the Spalding No. J football as the official ball of the league. [4] The University of Oregon Webfoots won their 1st football Conference/League Championship.

The teams finished the 1895 season with the following overall records:

TeamWinsLossesTiesSource
University of Oregon 400
Pacific University 101
Willamette University 220
Portland University 010
Oregon Normal School 010
Oregon Agricultural College 021

1896 season

There were seven teams participating in the OIFA in 1896. Willamette University were crowned 'Champions.'

The teams finished the 1896 season with the following records:

TeamWinsLossesTiesSource
Willamette University 201
Pacific College 200
Pacific University 100
Oregon Agricultural College 120
Portland University 000
Oregon Normal School 000
McMinnville College 030

1897 season

There were six teams participating in the OIFA in 1897. Oregon Agricultural College Aggies were crowned 'Champions.' [6] They also went on the beat the Oregon Webfoots and Washington Sun-Dodgers and with those two wins, the team proclaimed themselves the "Champions of the Northwest".. [7]

The teams finished the 1897 season with the following records:

TeamWinsLossesTiesSource
Oregon Agricultural College 500
Pacific College 220
McMinnville College 220
Pacific University 110
Albany College 010
Oregon Normal School 010

1899 season

The OIFA was relaunched for the 1899 football season but was abruptly scuttled midseason by the November 14 withdrawal of two conference members, the University of Oregon and Oregon Agricultural College, behind charges that Willamette University was enrolling "ringers" on its books for the sole purpose of playing football. [8]

A story in the Eugene Guard declared:

"It is said that no less than eight of Willamette's eleven are 'grafters.' 'Spike' Young occupies a fat job in the state house; Ruben Sanders comes up from Chemawa for daily practice; Savage, a Salem blacksmith; two practicing physicians, two asylum employees. These are samples of the 'students' that play under Willamette colors." [8]

From Salem came claims that OAC had developed a case of "cold feet" and that rather than face the "humiliation of defeat" at the hands of a superior Willamette squad the Orangemen had enlisted the University of Oregon to go along with the "juvenile prank" of quitting the association. [9] "The Salem team ... entered the league in good faith, organized a team of the very best material available, employed a competent coach, and has been practicing very assiduously," it was noted — only to face the withdrawal of its two leading in-state competitors. [9] Willamette therefore claimed the pennant of the Oregon Intercollegiate Football Association as champion as its own by default. [9]

The declaration by Oregon and OAC that all agreement between them and the league were consequently "null and void" and a refusal to play further games with Willamette spelled a final end for the OIFA. [8]

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References

  1. ↑ "the football rage".
  2. 1 2 3 "Football," Corvallis Gazette vol. 30, no. 45 (Dec. 22, 1893), p. 1., quoting the Corvallis Gazette.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Football," Daily Eugene Guard, vol. 8, no. 21 (Jan. 1, 1895), p. 1, quoting the Corvallis Gazette.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Pig-Skin Punchers," Corvallis Times, vol. 8, no. 34 (Oct. 9, 1895), p. 3.
  5. ↑ The Harvard–Pennsylvania–Cornell rules were a specific set of amendments to the basic rules published in Spalding's Official Football Guide for 1895, by Walter Camp. See: "The Official Football Rules," Harvard Crimson, Sept. 23, 1895.
  6. ↑ "football team, 1897".
  7. ↑ Welsch, Jeff (January 2003). Tales from Oregon State Sports. Sports Publishing. pp. 1–10. ISBN   978-1-58261-706-0 . Retrieved January 3, 2008.
  8. 1 2 3 "For Clean Sport: U of O and OAC Withdraw From the Football League: Dirty Work at Willamette," Eugene Guard, Nov. 15, 1899, p. 3.
  9. 1 2 3 "Forfeited the Pennant: The "Cold Feet" Affliction is Contagious: UO Withdraws from Race," Oregon Statesman, Nov. 16, 1899, p. 5.
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