| Wabash Little Giants | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| First season | 1884 | ||
| Location | Crawfordsville, Indiana | ||
| Conference | North Coast Athletic Conference | ||
| Colors | Scarlet and white | ||
The Wabash Little Giants football team represents Wabash College in the sport of college football at the NCAA Division III level.
In 1884, Wabash played its first game of intercollegiate football when it defeated a team from Butler University on October 25, 4–0. [1] The first intercollegiate game in the state took place on May 31, between Butler and DePauw University. [2] From the 1890s to the 1910s, the Wabash football team played schedules against many much larger colleges, such as Illinois, Indiana and Purdue, against whom the Little Giants occasionally won impressive upsets. For instance Wabash won all five games against Purdue between 1906 and 1911. [3]
In 1903, the Wabash football team fielded its first black player, Samuel S. Gordon, and the following season added another, Walter M. Cantrell. Many opposing teams threatened boycotts, but school president William Patterson Kane insisted the men be allowed to play. Some opponents did cancel their games, but Gordon and Cantrell continued to play for Wabash. The 1904 football team adopted the nickname the "Little Giants", which was the first time that moniker was used by the school. That season, Wabash won decisive victories over Hanover, 81–0, Butler, 51–0, and Earlham, 35–0, and they lost close contests to Illinois, Notre Dame, Purdue, and Michigan Agricultural (Michigan State). [4]
The Little Giants' most prominent football game came against Notre Dame at South Bend, Indiana on October 21, 1905. Wabash took a first-half lead, 5–0, through a dominating performance by their backfield and linemen. In the second half, Notre Dame advanced inside the Wabash five-yard line three times, but was repelled on each occasion. The Little Giants won, 5–0, [3] and it proved the only Notre Dame home-field loss in 125 games between 1899 and 1928. [5] [6] The Little Giants and Fighting Irish played several more times after that, and the last game took place in 1924. [3] Incidentally, both head coaches that season, Pete Vaughan of Wabash and Knute Rockne of Notre Dame, had played college football together for the Fighting Irish. [7] [8] A further connection between the schools was College Football Hall of Fame inductee Jesse Harper, who coached Wabash from 1909 to 1912, and then Notre Dame from 1913 to 1917. [6] [9] Century Milstead played for the 1921 team.
Ralph Robert "Curley" Jones was an American high school and college football and basketball coach. He also served as the head coach for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) from 1930 to 1932, leading them to the 1932 NFL championship.
The Purdue Boilermakers football team represents Purdue University in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football. Purdue plays its home games at Ross–Ade Stadium on the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. The head coach of Purdue is Jeff Brohm, the 36th head coach in program history. The Boilermakers compete in the Big Ten Conference as a member of the West Division. Purdue had most recently been a part of the Leaders Division of the Big Ten, but moved to the West Division in 2014 due to conference expansion.
Jesse Clair Harper was an American football and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Alma College (1906–1907), Wabash College (1909–1912), and the University of Notre Dame (1913–1917), compiling a career college football record of 57–17–7. Harper was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1971.
The 1967 NCAA University Division football season was the last one in which college football's champion was crowned before the bowl games. During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for the major college football teams in the University Division, later known as Division I-A and now as the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
The 1929 college football season saw a number of unbeaten and untied teams. Purdue, Tulane, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh all finished the regular season with wins over all their opponents. Notre Dame was recognized as national champion under the Dickinson System and by a United Press writer while Pitt was considered a national champion by several others due to Pitt possessing a greater scoring differential over the two teams' only common regular season opponent. Following the season, Pitt traveled to Pasadena to meet USC in the Rose Bowl, at that time the only postseason college football game and held between the perceived best teams of east and west. Despite Pitt's losing 47–14 to the Trojans, as bowls were still considered exhibitions by many, college football historian Parke H. Davis, whose national championship selections are recognized by the official NCAA records book, named the Panthers as that season's national champion while several other retroactive selectors recognized by the NCAA records book have selected Notre Dame. Both Notre Dame and Pitt claim a national championship for the 1929 season and both are recognized in the NCAA Records Book and by College Football Data Warehouse.
The 1931 college football season saw the USC Trojans win the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy as national champion under the Dickinson System. Rockne, who had coached Notre Dame to a championship in 1930, had been killed in a plane crash on March 31, 1931. For the first time, the champion under the Dickinson system also played in a postseason game. The Rose Bowl, promoted as an unofficial championship matchup between the best teams of East and West, matched USC and Tulane, #1 and #2 in the Dickinson ratings. USC won, 21-12. Also for 1931, historian Parke Davis, through research, selected Pittsburgh and Purdue as National Champions and these selections, along with USC, are all recognized by the official NCAA records book. Both USC and Pitt claim national championships for 1931, and both are recognized by College Football Data Warehouse.
The 1932 college football season saw the Michigan Wolverines win the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy as national champion under the Dickinson System. Because the "Big Nine" conference didn't permit its teams to play in the postseason, however, the Wolverines were not able to accept a bid to the Rose Bowl. As such, the Pasadena game matched the #2 and #3 teams, USC and Pittsburgh, with the USC Trojans winning the East-West matchup 35-0.
Edwin R. Taber was an American football coach. He was the first head football coach at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana, serving for one season, in 1884 season, and compiling a record of 1–0.
Robert E. "Pete" Vaughan was an American football player, coach of football and basketball, and college athletics administrator. He served was head football coach at Wabash College for 27 seasons, from 1919 to 1945, compiling a record of 118–85–24.
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The Wabash Little Giants are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent Wabash College, a small private school for men in Crawfordsville, Indiana, United States. The college belongs to the National Collegiate Athletic Association and participates in Division III sports. The Little Giants compete as members of the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). Despite the college's small enrollment and that it is "not a jock school", the Little Giants have had success in several sports. The most popular among Wabash fans are football and swimming. The Little Giants also have a well-respected cross-country team. In football, Wabash has an important rivalry with DePauw University, and each season they meet for the Monon Bell Classic. Wabash and DePauw compete annually to win the trophy, the Monon Bell, and as of 2015 the two teams have played 122 games in the series with Wabash holding a 60-53-9 advantage.
The 1994 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame in the 1994 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Lou Holtz and played its home games at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.
Clinton Larue Hare was a manager, organizer, and coach of American football, and a lawyer and grocer. He served as the head football coach at Butler University for three seasons, at Purdue University for one season in 1890, and at DePauw University for one season in 1891, compiling a career college football coaching record of 13–5–1.
The 1889 Purdue football team was an American football team that represented Purdue University during the 1889 college football season. The team compiled a 2–1 record in the university's second season fielding an intercollegiate football team. Archaeologist and Harvard alumnus, George Andrew Reisner, was the team's coach. The team opened its season on November 16, 1889, with a 34–10 victory over DePauw for the first victory in Purdue football history and the first game played in Lafayette, Indiana. Purdue defeated Wabash the following week, 18–4, and concluded its season on November 29 with a 14–0 loss against Butler. J. M. Sholl was the team captain.
The 1890 Purdue football team was an American football team that represented Purdue University during the 1890 college football season. The team compiled a 3–3 record in the university's third season fielding an intercollegiate football team. Clinton L. Hare, a Yale alumnus who had been the coach of the Butler football teams that handed Purdue its sole losses in 1887 and 1889, was hired as Purdue's football coach in 1890. On November 1, 1890, Purdue lost to Michigan, 34–6, in the first football game between two teams that would later become members of the Big Ten Conference. Three weeks after losing to Michigan, Purdue defeated Illinois, 62–0. The team concluded its 1890 season with a loss to Butler, leaving Purdue 0–3 in three games against Butler football teams since 1887.
The 1891 Purdue football team was an American football team that represented Purdue University during the 1891 college football season. The team compiled a 4–0 record in the university's fourth season fielding an intercollegiate football team. For the 1891 season, Purdue hired Knowlton Ames as its football coach. Ames played for Princeton from 1886 to 1889 and was considered one of the greatest players ever to play college football, after scoring 730 points for Princeton. The 1891 Purdue team shut out all four opponents, outscoring Wabash, DePauw, Indiana, and Butler by a combined score of 194 to 0. Purdue's 60–0 victory over Indiana was the first installment in a rivalry which later became noted for the award of the Old Oaken Bucket trophy.
The 1905 Notre Dame football team was an American football team that represented the University of Notre Dame in the 1905 college football season. In its first season with Henry J. McGlew as coach, the team compiled a 5–4 record and outscored its opponents by a combined total of 312 to 80.
The 1893 Indiana Hoosiers football team was an American football team that represented Indiana University Bloomington during the 1893 college football season. Indiana played sixt games and compiled a 1–4–1 record, winning a game against the Danville Athletic Club (18–0), tying with Kentucky (24–24), and losing games to Purdue (0–64), Butler (0–38), Wabash (12–24), and DePauw (0–34).
The 1905 Wabash Little Giants football team represented Wabash College during the 1905 college football season. Although the team ended the season with six wins and six losses, the team managed one of its most impressive upsets when it defeated Notre Dame, 5–0, at South Bend. It proved to be the Fighting Irish's only home-field loss in 125 games between 1899 and 1928. Notre Dame had originally considered the game a "practice game" and expected to win easily when the game was scheduled the previous year, but began to take the team more seriously as the 1905 season developed.
The 1920 Big Ten Conference football season was the 25th season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference and was a part of the 1920 college football season.
