1.
Vanderbilt Commodores baseball
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The Vanderbilt Commodores baseball team is an American National Collegiate Athletic Association college baseball team, and a former Division I national champion. From Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, the team participates in the Eastern division of the Southeastern Conference, the Commodores are coached by two-time SEC Coach of the Year, Tim Corbin. Vanderbilt first fielded a team in 1886, though it would be 1968 before it became a scholarship sport. The Commodores secured only three NCAA appearances in the 20th century—in 1973,1974, and 1980 and they would have only three other winning seasons in SEC play in the first 35 years of the scholarship era. However, they have been to every NCAA Tournament but one since 2004, the Commodores were ranked first in most polls for a majority of the 2007 season and earned the #1 national seed for the 2007 NCAA tournament. The original venue for the Commodores ball club was Dudley Field, currently, the Commodores play their home games at Hawkins Field, which is an on-campus facility with a 3,700 seat capacity. Temporary outfield bleachers were installed for the 2007 Regionals and all of the 2008 season and these additions increased the size of Hawkins Field to its current capacity of 3,700 seats. It is adjacent to both Vanderbilt Stadium and Memorial Gymnasium and is across the street from the McGugin Center, Hawkins Field opened in 2002 and is named after a donor who gave $2 million to help finance construction. The stadium was also the site of the first NCAA Baseball Tournament Regional that Vanderbilt ever hosted when it was the site of the Nashville Regional in 2007. Vanderbilt and Hawkins Field again hosted Regionals in 2011,2013,2014, and 2015, and hosted Super Regionals in 2011,2013, Records are through the end of the 2011 Season Records taken from the 2011 Vanderbilt baseball media guide. The NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament started in 1947, the format of the tournament has changed through the years
2.
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
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The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS football programs were members of this conference at some point, the SIAA was founded on December 21,1894, by Dr. William Dudley, a chemistry professor at Vanderbilt, at the Kimball House in Atlanta. Dudley was a member of the Vanderbilt Athletic Association, formed in 1886 with Dr. W. M. Baskerville as president, most students at Vanderbilt were members. The early sports played on the Vanderbilt campus were baseball, bicycling, Dudley was primarily responsible for the formation of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Sewanees opposition stopped it from occurring, the original members were Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Johns Hopkins, North Carolina, Sewanee, Vanderbilt, and Virginia. Virginia and North Carolina soon dropped before the inaugural 1895 season, the conference was originally formed for the development and purification of college athletics throughout the South. In 1903, a single-game football playoff occurred, but it seems to have been coordinated more so by the two competing schools than the conference itself, several other efforts over the years by individual schools to hold a conference title game fell through. Most SIAA titles claimed by schools in sports were actually more mythical in nature than officially sanctioned by the league. In 1915, a disagreement arose within the conference regarding the eligibility of freshman athletes, generally, the larger universities opposed the eligibility of freshman players, while the smaller schools favored it. As a result, some of the universities formed the Southern Intercollegiate Conference. At the conferences annual meeting on December 10,1920, the SIAA rejected proposals to ban freshman athletes, in protest, some schools that had voted in favor of the propositions immediately announced they would seek to form a new conference. In 1922, the Southern Conference underwent an expansion and added six more members, all at the expense of the SIAA, Florida, Louisiana State, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tulane, and Vanderbilt. With the departure of most of the colleges, the SIAA became a de facto small college conference in 1923. In the 1920s and 1930s, the SIAA increased its membership with the addition of additional small universities. The conference eventually disbanded in 1942 with the onset of American involvement in World War II, original charter members are denoted in boldface. Invited charter members are denoted with an asterisk, in the era in which the SIAA operated, teams tended to join in December, therefore, the first year of conference play in a given sport was often the following calendar year. Conference affiliations reflect those for the 2016–17 school year
3.
Vanderbilt Stadium
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Vanderbilt Stadium is a football stadium located in Nashville, Tennessee. Completed in 1922 as the first stadium in the South to be used exclusively for college football, Vanderbilt Stadium hosted the Tennessee Oilers and the first Music City Bowl in 1998 and also hosted the Tennessee state high school football championships for many years. Vanderbilt Stadium is the smallest football stadium in the Southeastern Conference, the first facility was named for William Dudley, Dean of the Vanderbilt University Medical School from 1885 until his death in 1914. Dudley was responsible for the formation of the SIAA, the predecessor of the Southern Conference and Southeastern Conference, in 1895, in 1922, after a 74.2 winning percentage during the 18-year tenure of Coach McGugin, the Commodores had outgrown old Dudley Field. The football team played two games on the renamed Curry Field before moving to New Dudley Field in 1922, the new stadium, the first in the South built solely for football, was christened Dudley Field, and its capacity was 20,000. As evidence of Vanderbilts stature at the time, it dwarfed rival Tennessees Shields-Watkins Field, the first game played at Dudley Field was between the home-standing Commodores and the powerful Michigan Wolverines. A goal-line stand by the Commodores preserved a 0-0 tie, the following Friday, nearby Hume-Fogg High School played a game at Dudley. Senior Jimmy Armistead returned the kick for a touchdown, providing the first touchdown ever recorded in the stadium. Armistead would go on to a career at Vanderbilt and was the captain. In 1949, Vanderbilt officials built a press box at Dudley Field. Additional seating was added to the western side of stadium. On September 25,1954, Vanderbilt hosted the No, 10-ranked Baylor Bears in the first night game ever played on the Dudley Field surface. The lights had been installed so that Dudley Field would be able to host the Billy Graham Crusade on campus, in 1960, nearly 7,000 more seats are added to the stadium, with an expansion on the east side of the stadium near Memorial Gym. At a price of $250,000, officials installed what was then a state-of-the-art Astroturf synthetic surface in 1970, over the winter and spring of 1980–81, most of the Dudley Field grandstand was demolished. The 12,088 seats on each sideline—the only vestige of the old stadium—were raised ten feet through the use of 22 hydraulic jacks on each side of the stadium, the new venue was rechristened Vanderbilt Stadium. However, the surface itself is still called Dudley Field. The rebuilt stadium and its Fred Russell Press Box were designed to resemble a United States naval vessel slicing through the water—a nod to Vanderbilts naval themed-mascot, accordingly, the color scheme picked for the exterior of the stadium was battleship gray. The stadiums maximum capacity after the 1980–81 renovation was 41,000, the project cost $10.1 million, and the Commodores celebrated a sold-out dedication by taking a 23–17 comeback win over Maryland on September 12,1981
4.
Vanderbilt University
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Vanderbilt University is a private research university founded in 1873 and located in Nashville, Tennessee. It was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt hoped that his gift and the greater work of the university would help to heal the sectional wounds inflicted by the Civil War. Today, Vanderbilt enrolls approximately 12,000 students from all 50 U. S. states and over 90 foreign countries in four undergraduate and six graduate, despite its urban surroundings, the campus itself is a national arboretum and features over 300 different species of trees and shrubs. Vanderbilt is ranked as one of the top universities for its teaching, research opportunities. It is ranked 15th on the list of best national universities generated by U. S. News & World Report, however, lack of funds and the ravaged state of the Reconstruction Era South delayed the opening of the college. Indeed, the McTyeires had met at St. Francis Street Methodist Church in Mobile, Cornelius Vanderbilt, who was the wealthiest man in the United States at the time, was considering philanthropy as he was at an advanced age. He had been planning to establish a university on Staten Island, New York, however, McTyeire convinced him to donate $500,000 to endow Central University in order to contribute to strengthening the ties which should exist between all sections of our common country. The endowment was increased to $1 million and would be only one of two philanthropic causes financially supported by Vanderbilt. Though he never expressed any desire that the university be named after himself, McTyeire, Vanderbilt died in 1877 without seeing the school named after him. One of the trustees, Hezekiah William Foote, was a Confederate veteran. The Treasurer of the Board of Trust from 1872 to 1875, Alexander Little Page Green, whose portrait hangs in Kirkland Hall, was a Methodist preacher and a former slave owner. His son-in-law, Robert A. Young, was a Methodist minister who served as the Financial Secretary on the Board of Trust from 1874 to 1882, retiring from the board in 1902. The first building, Main Building, later known as Kirkland Hall, was designed by William Crawford Smith, in the fall of 1875, about 200 students enrolled at Vanderbilt, and in October the university was dedicated. Bishop McTyeire was named Chairman of the Board of Trust for life by Vanderbilt as a stipulation of his endowment, McTyeire named Landon Garland, his mentor from Randolph-Macon College in Virginia and then-Chancellor of the University of Mississippi, as chancellor. Garland shaped the structure and hired the schools faculty, many of whom were renowned scholars in their respective fields. However, most of this faculty left after disputes with Bishop McTyeire, when the first fraternity chapter, Phi Delta Theta, was established on campus in 1876, it was shut down by the faculty, only to be reestablished as a secret society in 1877. Meanwhile, Old Gym, designed by Dutch-born architect Peter J. Williamson, was built in 1879–1880, by 1883, the Board of Trust passed a resolution allowing fraternities on campus, and more chapters were established in 1884. During the first 40 years, the Board of Trust, and therefore the university, was under the control of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, conflicts escalated after James H. Kirkland was appointed chancellor in 1893
5.
Princeton Tigers
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The Princeton Tigers are the athletic teams of Princeton University. The school sponsors 31 varsity sports, the school has won several NCAA national championships, including one in mens fencing, six in mens lacrosse, three in womens lacrosse, and eight in mens golf. Princetons mens and womens crews have won numerous national rowing championships. The field hockey team made history in 2012 as the first Ivy League team to win the Division I NCAA Championship in field hockey and it is nicknamed the perennial giant killer, a nickname that it acquired during Pete Carrils coaching career from 1967–1996. Its most notable upset was the 1996 defeat of defending NCAA champion UCLA in the opening round. In 1989, the team almost became the only #16 seed to win, losing to Georgetown 50-49, during that 29-year span, Pete Carril won thirteen Ivy League championships and received eleven NCAA berths and two NIT bids. Princeton placed third in the 1965 NCAA Tournament and won the NIT championship in 1975, the deliberate Princeton offense is a legacy of his coaching career. It is employed by a number of collegiate basketball teams. From 1992–2001, a span, the mens basketball team entered the NCAA tournament four times. Notably, the Ivy League has never had an entry in the NCAA tournament. Princeton tied the record for fewest points in a Division I game since the 3-point line started in 1986–87 when they scored 21 points in a loss against Monmouth University on December 14,2005. The 1924–25 team was named the national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation. Princetons Varsity Womens basketball program is the strongest in the Ivy League, courtney Banghart, a Dartmouth graduate, is entering her tenth season as the Tigers highly esteemed head coach. The football team has competed since 1869 and played in the first game against Rutgers University and they have won 24 national championships when the school competed in what is now known as the FBS. Twenty-one former players have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, the game, between Rutgers College and the College of New Jersey, took place on November 6,1869 at College Field in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Rutgers won by a score of six runs to Princetons four, the 1869 game between Rutgers and Princeton is notable because it is the first documented game of any sport called football between two American colleges. It is also noteworthy because it occurred two years before a codified rugby game would be played in England, the Princeton/Rutgers game was significantly different from American rules football today but, nonetheless, it was the first inter-collegiate football contest in the United States. Another similar game took place between Rutgers and Columbia University in 1870 and a notable game took place between Tufts University and Harvard University in 1875
6.
1921 Vanderbilt Commodores football team
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The 1921 Vanderbilt Commodores football team was an American football team representing Vanderbilt University during the 1921 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. It was Dan McGugins 17th season as coach, and Wallace Wades first season as assistant coach. Vanderbilt outscored its opponents 161–21 for a record of 7–0–1 and a share of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship, the teams leading scorer was halfback Rupert Smith and its captain was Pink Wade, father of future Vanderbilt star Bill Wade. The Commodores played their games at Dudley Field. The season included the first of a series with the Texas Longhorns at the Texas State Fair. It also featured the first time the Kentucky Wildcats were able to score on the Commodores, Vanderbilt tied the Georgia Bulldogs on an onside kick to win a share of the conference title. Vanderbilt was the undefeated contender, and selector Clyde Berryman retroactively awarded the Commodores a national championship. 1921 was Wallace Wades first year as a assistant coach for the Commodores. Wade had played guard on a Brown Bruins football team represented the East in the 1916 Rose Bowl. Before coming to Vanderbilt Wade coached at the Fitzgerald & Clarke School in Tullahoma, Tennessee, also moving from Fitzgerald & Clarke were Lynn Bomar, Hek Wakefield, Pos Elam, and Red Williams. Other Commodore players debuting on the team included Putty Overall and Rupe Smith, returning veterans included Neely, Frank Godchaux, Doc Kuhn, Tot McCullough, Pink Wade, Alvin Bell, Alf Sharpe, and Percy Conyers. Godchaux was the first player to follow in his fathers footsteps as a Vanderbilt football player, captain Pink Wade, father of future Vanderbilt quarterback Bill Wade, moved from fullback to guard. Tackle Tex Bradford had played for Texas Christian University for two years, after sitting out a year at Vanderbilt, he was eligible to play for the Commodores. According to sportswriter Ferguson Fuzzy Woodruff, While prospects seem fair to middling in most of the big southern colleges, Dan McGugin expects nothing of Vanderbilt this year. Dan has lost Berryhill, his only reliable backfield man, through the matrimonial route, coach Dan McGugin was elected to the Tennessee state senate, beginning his term in 1921. Vanderbilt opened the season at Old Dudley Field against the Middle Tennessee State Normal School of Murfreesboro, Normal was coached by Alfred B. Commodore touchdowns were scored by Tot McCullough, Thomas Ryan, Rupert Smith, Percy Conyers, two extra points were scored by Smith, and one by Bell. During the game, Vanderbilt began using substitutes, the Commodore, Vanderbilts yearbook, reported on the passing game, Practically the only thing of note was the aerial efficiency—Kuhn to Ryan and Kuhn to McCullough
7.
Frank Godchaux
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Frank Area Godchaux Jr. was an American football and baseball player for the Vanderbilt Commodores of Vanderbilt University. Frank Area Godchaux Jr. was born on December 27,1901 in Abbeville, Louisiana to Frank Godchaux Sr. His father was a letterman and quarterback for the Commodores on the 1899 team, transferring from LSU in 1897, and once President of the Louisiana Rice Milling Company, Godchaux Hall at Vanderbilt University was named for his wife, Mary Ragland Godchaux. A Gothic building constructed in 1925 as a home for the School of Nursing, it now houses faculty and administrative offices, the Center for Nursing Research, and it was named for Mary Ragland in 1971. He was a member of the 1921 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association champion football and baseball teams, Godchaux was a prominent running back for Dan McGugins Vanderbilt Commodores football teams. On the 1921 football team Godchaux was its leading scorer behind Rupert Smith. Godchaux was the first son to follow in his fathers footsteps as a Vanderbilt football player, on the 1921 baseball team, Frank Jr. was a catcher. Detailed and extensive document of the farms of Frank A. Godchaux Jr
8.
Oliver Kuhn
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Oliver Wall Kuhn, nicknamed Doc Kuhn, was an American football, baseball and basketball player for the Vanderbilt University Commodores and later a prominent businessman of Tampa, Florida. As a college quarterback, Kuhn led Vanderbilt to three consecutive Southern titles in 1921,1922, and 1923 – the most-recent conference titles for Vanderbilt football. In 1922, Vanderbilt tied Michigan at the dedication of Dudley Field, during his senior year, Kuhn was the captain of Vanderbilts football and basketball teams and received the Porter Cup, awarded to Vanderbilts best all-around athlete. Kuhn played guard on the team and was a shortstop on the baseball team which won a 1921 conference championship. He was known as a hitter but a star defensive player and was selected All-Southern in 1921 and 1922. Kuhn moved to Tampa after graduation, where he helped start the program at the University of Tampa. Doc, who played old cat as a child, attended school at Cathedral High School. At MBA, he won two football titles, first in 1915 as a sub and then in 1917 as a starter. Kuhn lost just a game as MBAs starting quarterback. According to Kuhns draft registration, he worked for DuPont as an engineer in Jacksonville. He also spent time at Camp Taylor and he was also a member of Phi Kappa Psi, and chaired the Vanderbilt University dances. In a close game, and Alabamas first victory over the Commodores, Kuhn substituted for now-injured quarterback Latham and he also had a 60-yard kick return, and accumulated 94 yards in all. According to The Atlanta Constitution, Doc Kuhn, subbing for the injured Latham, was the brilliant star of the day, Kuhn was practically unstoppable by the Alabamians and, time after time, threatened to lead the team to victory. In a 7–7 tie game against Virginia the following week, starting quarterback Kuhn was cited as an offensive standout, the Commodores tied for the 1921 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football championship with an overall record of 7–0–1, Kuhn and Frank Godchaux took turns starting at quarterback. The season opened with a 34–0 victory against the Middle Tennessee State Normal School of Murfreesboro, the Commodore, Vanderbilts yearbook, described the lopsided win, Practically the only thing of note was the aerial efficiency—Kuhn to Ryan and Kuhn to McCullough. The 1921 Texas team was considered possibly the best in Longhorns history, dan McGugin invoked the late former Vanderbilt quarterback Irby Curry, who was killed in the war, before the game. According to Edwin Popes book, Footballs Greatest Coaches, The Texas game, sparked by McGugins unforgettable oratory, was the big one, and Vandy got out of the year without a loss. In the last scoring drive, Kuhn completed a pass to end Tot McCullough at the 8-yard line to put the ball in scoring position for Godchaux after an offside penalty, the next week Vanderbilt played the Tennessee Volunteers on a wet Old Dudley Field
