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1897 VPI football team

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1897 VPI football
ConferenceIndependent
Record5–2
Head coach
CaptainHoward Archer Johnson
Home stadiumSheib Field
Seasons
← 1896
1898 →
1897 Southern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Oklahoma     2 0 0
Arkansas     2 0 1
Navy     8 1 0
Virginia     6 2 1
Add-Ran     3 1 0
Washington and Lee     3 1 0
VPI     5 2 0
North Carolina     7 3 0
VMI     3 2 0
Guilford     2 1 0
West Virginia     5 4 1
Davidson     1 1 0
Georgia Tech     1 1 0
Columbian     4 5 1
Richmond     3 5 0
North Carolina A&M     1 2 0
Texas A&M     1 2 0
Delaware     1 5 1
William & Mary     0 1 0
Marshall     0 3 0
South Carolina     0 3 0

The 1897 VPI football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute in the 1897 college football season. The team was led by their head coach Charles Firth and finished with a record of five wins and two losses (5–2).

Scoring

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The scoring in 1897 was:

Schedule

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DateTimeOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
October 16KingW 54–0[1]
October 303:30 p.m.vs. North Carolina
W 4–0500[2][3][4]
November 2Roanoke
  • Sheib Field
  • Blacksburg, VA
W 41–0[5]
November 6vs. University of Maryland, Baltimore
L 4–18500[6]
November 133:30 p.m.at RichmondW 36–0300–500[7][8][9]
November 159:30 a.m.at Hampden–Sydney
W 16–0[10][11]
November 253:30 p.m.vs. Tennessee
L 0–181,200[12]

Game summaries

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King

[edit]

North Carolina

[edit]
North Carolina vs. VPI
1 2Total
UNC 0 0 0
VPI 4 0 4
  • Date: October 30, 1897
  • Location: Athletic Park
    Danville, VA
  • Game start: 3:30 p.m.
  • Game attendance: 500
  • Referee: Douglass

The starting lineup for VPI was: Johnson (left end), Herbert (left tackle), Cox (left guard), Stull (center), Pelter (right guard), Wood (right tackle), Lewis (right end), Bell (quarterback), Barnett (left halfback), Cochran (right halfback), Whitehurst (fullback). The substitutes were: Painter, Rorebeck and Rucker.

The starting lineup for North Carolina was: William White (left end), Frank Bennett (left tackle), Seaton Borland (left guard), H. B. Cunningham (center), Cromartie (right guard), Simmons (right tackle), Warren Kluttz (right end), Frank O. Rogers (quarterback), Cameron Buxton (left halfback), Paul Collins (right halfback), Arthur Belden (fullback). The substitutes were: Edward Abbott, E. V. Howell, Jim MacRae and Willie Turner.

Roanoke

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Maryland, Baltimore

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The starting lineup for VPI was: Johnson (left end), Herbert (left tackle), Cox (left guard), Stull (center), Pelter (right guard), Wood (right tackle), Lewis (right end), Bell (quarterback), Barnett (left halfback), Cochran (right halfback), Whitehurst (fullback).

The starting lineup for Maryland, Baltimore was: Denson (left end), Billingsbea (left tackle), Cathell (left guard), Messmore (center), Craig (right guard), Lewis (right tackle), Allen (right end), Barrow (quarterback), Roach (left halfback), Frasher (right halfback), Reddington (fullback). The substitutes were: Hicks.

Richmond

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VPI at Richmond
1 2Total
Richmond 0 0 0
VPI 30 6 36

The starting lineup for VPI was: Johnson (left end), Herbert (left tackle), Cox (left guard), Stull (center), Pelter (right guard), Wood (right tackle), Lewis (right end), Jones (quarterback), Barnett (left halfback), Cochran (right halfback), Whitehurst (fullback). The substitutes were: Bell, Rucker and Saunders.

The starting lineup for Richmond was: N. H. Pope (left end), William Powell (left tackle), William Thraves (left guard), Samuel Stone (center), Bonnie Daughtry (right guard), Benjamin Bloxton (right tackle), Charles Scott (right end), John Kaufman (quarterback), John Frazer (left halfback), Burnley Lankford (right halfback), John McNeil (fullback). The substitutes were: A. W. Parke.

Hampden–Sydney

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VPI at Hampden–Sydney
1 2Total
VPI 10 6 16
HS 0 0 0

The starting lineup for VPI was: Painter (left end), Herbert (left tackle), Cox (left guard), Stull (center), Pelter (right guard), Wood (right tackle), Lewis (right end), Bell (quarterback), Barnett (left halfback), Cochran (right halfback), Whitehurst (fullback). The substitutes were: Rucker.

The starting lineup for Hampden–Sydney was: Frederick McClure (left end), Murray (left tackle), Samuel Osbourne (left guard), Eskridge (center), Williams (right guard), Charles Hudson (right tackle), Eugene Douglass (right end), David Stuart (quarterback), Thomas Blake (left halfback), Bull (right halfback), John Earhart (fullback). The substitutes were: James Kuykendall.

Tennessee

[edit]
Tennessee vs. VPI
1 2Total
Tenn 6 12 18
VPI 0 0 0
  • Date: November 25, 1897
  • Location: Athletic Park
    Roanoke, VA
  • Game start: 3:30 p.m.
  • Game attendance: 1,200
  • Game weather: Drizzling rin
  • Referee: Donovan

The starting lineup for VPI was: Johnson (left end), Herbert (left tackle), Cox (left guard), Stull (center), Pelter (right guard), Wood (right tackle), Lewis (right end), Bell (quarterback), Barnett (left halfback), Cochran (right halfback), Whitehurst (fullback). The substitutes were: Painter and Rucker.

The starting lineup for Tennessee was: Henry Smith (left end), Arthur Watkins (left tackle), Robert Baird (left guard), Charles Rogan (center), John Rice (right guard), James Baird (right tackle), Arthur Tarwater (right end), Sammy Strang (quarterback), Charley Moran (left halfback), Henry Edmonds (right halfback), Jones (fullback).

Players

[edit]

The following players were members of the 1897 football team according to the roster published in the 1898 and 1903 editions of The Bugle, the Virginia Tech yearbook.[13][14]

VPI 1897 roster
Quarterback
  • William Frazier Bell

Guards

Tackles

  • Richard Ainsworth Herbert
  • Charles Morton Wood

Center

  • John Walter Stull
Ends
  • Howard Archer Johnson (Capt.)
  • Harold Benjamin Lewis

Halfbacks

  • Thomas Roy Barnett(e)
  • Charles Weedon Cochran

Fullback

  • Obediah Francis Whitehurst
Substitutes
  • Charles Whitfield Painter
  • Curtis Grant Rorebeck
  • Bayard Ambrose Rucker
  • Fleming Saunders
  • Robert Mayo Scott
  • Edward Colston Taylor

Coaching and training staff

[edit]

References

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  1. ^ "King College Beaten". The Richmond Dispatch. Library of Virginia. October 17, 1897. p. 16. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  2. ^ "Carolina Loses to Va. Poly". The Tar Heel. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. November 2, 1897. p. 1. Retrieved February 21, 2022.
  3. ^ "V.P.I. and N.C." The Richmond Dispatch. Library of Virginia. October 31, 1897. p. 15. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  4. ^ "A Great Victory". The Times. Library of Virginia. October 31, 1897. p. 5. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  5. ^ "Roanoke Defeated". The Roanoke Times. Library of Virginia. November 3, 1897. p. 8. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  6. ^ "Maryland, 18; Blacksburg, 4". The Times. Library of Virginia. November 7, 1897. p. 2. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  7. ^ "The V.P.I. Wonders". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Library of Virginia. November 7, 1897. p. 2. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
  8. ^ "V.P.I.'s Victorious". Richmond Dispatch. Library of Virginia. November 14, 1897. p. 15. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  9. ^ "The Polytechs Win". The Times. Library of Virginia. November 14, 1897. p. 14. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  10. ^ "H.S. and V.P.I. - A Hotly-Contested Game of Foot-Ball". Richmond Dispatch. Library of Virginia. November 16, 1897. p. 6. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  11. ^ "V.P.I., 16; Hampden-Sidney 0". The Times. Library of Virginia. November 16, 1897. p. 2. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  12. ^ "Tennessee Shuts Out Blacksburg". The Times. Library of Virginia. November 26, 1897. p. 1. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  13. ^ "The Bugle 1898". Virginia Tech Bugle. 1898. p. 139. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
  14. ^ "The Bugle 1903" (PDF). Virginia Tech Bugle. 1903. p. 129. Retrieved November 5, 2015.