Tampa Spartans football | |
---|---|
First season | 1933 |
Last season | 1974 |
Stadium | Plant Field (1933–1936) Phillips Field (1937–1966) Tampa Stadium (1967–1974) |
Location | Tampa, Florida |
Conference | NAIA (1933–1970) NCAA D-I Ind. (1971–1974) |
All-time record | 201–160–12 (.555) |
Bowl record | 3–0 (1.000) |
Colors | Black, red, and gold [1] |
The Tampa Spartans football program was an intercollegiate American football team for the University of Tampa (UT) located in Tampa, Florida, that began play in 1933. The program competed against other small college programs in the forerunner of today's NCAA Division II for almost forty years before moving to the top level of NCAA Division I as an independent in 1971. Successfully competing against top college programs as a much smaller school put an enormous strain on the university's finances, and the school decided to discontinue football after the 1974 season. [2]
When the University of Tampa was founded as Tampa Junior College in 1931, [3] St. Petersburg Junior College was expected to be their top athletic rival. Since St. Pete JC's mascot was the Trojans, founding Tampa Junior College president Frederic H. Spaulding decided that his school's mascot would be the Spartans in reference to the Trojan War between Troy and Sparta in Homer's the Iliad . The classically inspired cross-bay rivalry never developed. Tampa Junior College moved to its current location in the former Tampa Bay Hotel and became the University of Tampa in 1933, and it soon established a football program that would compete against other small southern four-year colleges. Meanwhile, St. Petersburg Junior College deemphasized athletics and, several years later, changed its mascot to the Titans. [4]
Most of the University of Tampa's early students were from Tampa, and most of its early athletes were graduates of the first two public high schools in the area, Hillsborough and Plant. Hillsborough's colors are red and black and Plant's colors are gold and black, so Nash Higgins, "Tampa U"'s first football coach, decided that the Spartans would combine the colors and wear red, gold, and black. [5]
The University of Tampa Spartans football program kicked off on October 12, 1933, with a 28–0 win over Bowdon College in LaGrange, Georgia. [6] They played their first home game a week later at Plant Field, which they used for their first three seasons. However, the Spartans shared Plant Field with many other community events, so the school built Phillips Field on nearby land donated by local businessman I. W. Phillips. The Spartans moved to the new facility for the 1937 season and would call it home for three decades. [7]
For over 30 years, the Spartans competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and its forerunners, mostly against other small colleges in the south. Tampa U usually fielded competitive teams and won two Cigar Bowls, a bowl game for NAIA programs played in Tampa. The Spartans scheduled eleven games against the Florida State Seminoles in the 1940s and 1950s soon after FSU founded its football program and was playing in the lower division of college football. Tampa went 2–9 against the Seminoles, with the last meeting coming in 1959. [8] The UT football program occasionally scheduled games against NCAA Division I teams in its early years including the University of Florida Gators, whom they played on five occasions in the 1930s and 1940s but never defeated. [9]
In 1963, head coach Fred Pancoast encouraged the university to move its football program to the top tier of college football, NCAA Division I, but the university leadership did not feel that the school could support the move at the time, and Pancoast left to become an assistant with the Florida Gators. However, after the program moved its home field from Phillips Field to newly-constructed Tampa Stadium in 1967, the school decided to compete as an independent at the Division I program beginning with the 1971 season.
Tampa U. quickly became competitive at the highest level of college football. The Spartans earned wins over established programs such as Ole Miss and Miami and won the 1972 Tangerine Bowl to cap a 10-2 season. They were led by several stars who went on to play professional football, including Leon McQuay, Freddie Solomon, Noah Jackson, and John Matuszak, who was the first overall pick in the 1973 NFL draft. [2]
Although the Spartans enjoyed success on the field against Division I opponents from much larger universities, the University of Tampa had an enrollment of about 1,300 in the early 1970s and the football program was putting an increasing financial strain on the school's limited resources. In early 1975, university president B.D. Owens and the UT finance committee surprised the university community by proposing that the school drop football due to unsustainable expenses. A financial report released by the committee revealed that the football program had run a deficit of almost $200,000 in 1974 ($993,401 today) and that the school had borrowed over $750,000 ($4,411,871 today) from its endowment to subsidize the sport since its move to Division I. Owens also expressed concern that Tampa's new NFL franchise would erode attendance at Spartans' games, potentially pushing the entire university into bankruptcy. (The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were organized in 1974 and took the field in 1976.) To the disappointment of Spartan players and coaches and the Tampa community in general, the UT Board of Trustees voted on February 20, 1975, to immediately end the football program, cancelling the already scheduled 1975 season. [2] [10]
The Spartans played their last game on November 11, 1974, a 35–10 win over Florida A&M, though no one knew at the time that it would be their final contest. The football program finished with an all-time record of 201–160–12.
Other notable players from the University of Tampa to play professional football are quarterback Jim Del Gaizo, linebacker Ted Greene, tight end M.L. Harris, defensive back J.C. Wilson, linebacker Mike Woods.
Tampa participated in three bowl games, garnering a 3–0 record.
Season | Date | Bowl | Opponent | Result | Coach |
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1952 | December 13, 1952 | Cigar Bowl | Lenoir–Rhyne | W 21–12 | Chelo Huerta |
1954 | December 17, 1954 | Cigar Bowl | Charleston | W 21–0 | Chelo Huerta |
1972 | December 29, 1972 | Tangerine Bowl | Kent State | W 21–18 | Earle Bruce |