1.
Lynn Bomar
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Robert Lynn Bomar was an American football end in the National Football League. The latter season included a first-team All-American selection by Walter Camp, a paralyzing injury ended Bomars college career, but he quickly recovered and sat on the bench for all of his teams games. He played for the New York Giants in 1925 and 1926, Bomar was nicknamed the Blonde Bear. He had a career in law enforcement. In his position as Tennessees Commissioner of Public Safety and Patrol chief and he was the warden of Tennessee State Prison from 1955 until his death, and oversaw several executions. In 1956, Bomar was the first Vanderbilt football player elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, Bomar was born on January 21,1901, in Bell Buckle, Tennessee to Oliver Eugene Bomar, a blacksmith, and Elizabeth May McAdams. Vanderbilt records indicate that he spent part of his youth in Gallatin, Bomar attended Webb School in his native Bell Buckle, and spent a year at Castle Heights Military Academy. Bomar then attended school at the Fitzgerald and Clarke Military Academy in Tullahoma. In 1920, he was a member of teams which won the state football and basketball championships. In both sports Bomar played under head coach Wallace Wade, while Wade coached at Fitzgerald and Clarke, the schools overall football record was 15–2. With him on the team was future college teammate and All-American Hek Wakefield. Bomar played for head coach Dan McGugins Vanderbilt Commodores football team at Vanderbilt University from 1921 to 1924, Wallace Wade was hired as Vanderbilt footballs assistant and line coach for 1921 and head coach of the basketball and baseball teams for 1922. Bomar and Wakefield enrolled at the school in the same class and he was prominent on Commodore teams which compiled a win–loss–tie record of 26–5–4 and three straight conference titles during his four seasons. Bomar was an All-Southern and All-American selection in 1922 and 1923, in addition to playing end and tackle, he made the kickoffs. Bomars play was described, The Blonde Bear was one of the worlds greatest football players, when one considers he made Walter Camps All-America team when he was backing up the line on defense and blocking and catching passes on offense, his greatness is realized. Plucked passes out of the ozone that seemed impossible to get, often he started games at fullback, shifted to halfback or end, and finished at tackle. In backing up the line, hurled back all comers with the same savage vigor and his favorite refrain to opponents was, I hope you dont like it. During Bomars freshman season at Vanderbilt, he was already a player as a starting fullback
2.
Walter Camp
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Walter Chauncey Camp was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the Father of American Football. Among a long list of inventions, he created the line of scrimmage. With John Heisman, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Pop Warner, Fielding H. Yost and he attended Yale College, where he played and coached college football. Camps Yale teams of 1888,1891, and 1892 have been recognized as national champions, Camp was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1951. Camp wrote articles and books on the gridiron and sports in general, by the time of his death, he had written nearly 30 books and more than 250 magazine articles. Camp was born in the city of New Britain, Connecticut, Walter Camp was of English descent. He attended Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, entered Yale College in 1875, at Yale he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, the Linonian Society, and Skull and Bones. He attended Yale Medical School from 1880 to 1883, where his studies were interrupted first by an outbreak of typhoid fever, in 1873, he attended a meeting where representatives from Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton, and Yale universities created the intercollegiate football association. They created the rule that each team is only allowed 15 plays per drive and he played as a halfback at Yale from 1876 to 1882. Harvard player Nathaniel Curtis took one look at Camp, then only 156 pounds and he worked for the New Haven Clock Company beginning in 1883, working his way up to chairman of the board of directors. On June 30,1888, Camp married Alice Graham Sumner, sister of sociologist William Graham Sumner and they had two children, Walter Camp, Jr. who attended Yale as well and was elected as a member of Scroll and Key in 1912, and Janet Camp Troxell. Camp served as the football coach at Yale from 1888 to 1892 before moving to Stanford University. On Christmas 1894, he and Amos Alonzo Staggs Chicago Maroons organized an early intersectional contest, Camp was on the various collegiate football rules committees that developed the American game from his time as a player at Yale until his death. English Rugby rules at the time required a player, when the ball was fairly held. College Football 1880 rules convention that the contested scrimmage be replaced with a line of scrimmage where the team with the ball started with uncontested possession and this change effectively created the evolution of the modern game of American football from its rugby football origins. This is significant as rugby union has no point value award for this action, the NCAA emerged from the national talks, but worked to Yales disadvantage relative to rival Harvard, according to Branch. By the time of his death, he had written nearly 30 books and his stories also appeared in major daily newspapers throughout the United States. He also selected an annual All-American team, by the age of 33, twelve years after graduating from Yale, Walter Camp had already become known as the Father of Football
3.
American football
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The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs, or plays, or else they turn over the football to the opposing team, if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs. Points are primarily scored by advancing the ball into the teams end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponents goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins, American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of association football and rugby football. The first game of American football was played on November 6,1869, during the latter half of the 1870s, colleges playing association football switched to the Rugby Union code, which allowed carrying the ball. American football as a whole is the most popular sport in the United States, Professional football and college football are the most popular forms of the game, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. As of 2012, nearly 1.1 million high school athletes and 70,000 college athletes play the sport in the United States annually, almost all of them men, in the United States, American football is referred to as football. The term football was established in the rulebook for the 1876 college football season. The terms gridiron or American football are favored in English-speaking countries where other codes of football are popular, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, American football evolved from the sports of association football and rugby football. What is considered to be the first American football game was played on November 6,1869 between Rutgers and Princeton, two college teams, the game was played between two teams of 25 players each and used a round ball that could not be picked up or carried. It could, however, be kicked or batted with the feet, hands, head or sides, Rutgers won the game 6 goals to 4. Collegiate play continued for years in which matches were played using the rules of the host school. Representatives of Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Rutgers met on October 19,1873 to create a set of rules for all schools to adhere to. Teams were set at 20 players each, and fields of 400 by 250 feet were specified, Harvard abstained from the conference, as they favored a rugby-style game that allowed running with the ball. An 1875 Harvard-Yale game played under rugby-style rules was observed by two impressed Princeton athletes and these players introduced the sport to Princeton, a feat the Professional Football Researchers Association compared to selling refrigerators to Eskimos. Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Columbia then agreed to play using a form of rugby union rules with a modified scoring system. These schools formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, although Yale did not join until 1879, the introduction of the snap resulted in unexpected consequences. Prior to the snap, the strategy had been to punt if a scrum resulted in bad field position, however, a group of Princeton players realized that, as the snap was uncontested, they now could hold the ball indefinitely to prevent their opponent from scoring. In 1881, both teams in a game between Yale-Princeton used this strategy to maintain their undefeated records, each team held the ball, gaining no ground, for an entire half, resulting in a 0-0 tie
4.
College Football All-Southern Team
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The College Football All-Southern Team was an all-star team of college football players from the Southern United States. The honor was given annually to the best players at their respective positions and it is analogous to the All-America Team and was most often selected in newspapers. Notable pickers of All-Southern teams include John Heisman, Dan McGugin, Grantland Rice, W. A. Lambeth, Reynolds Tichenor, Nash Buckingham, Innis Brown, virginias 115–0 drubbing by Princeton in 1890 signaled footballs arrival in the south. For example, North Carolina was in both the SIAA and SAIAA at different points in its history, and Virginia Tech had one year in the SIAA. Clemson, today in the ACC, was in the SIAA, the SIAA was the oldest of these, founded in the winter of 1894 by Vanderbilt chemistry professor William Lofland Dudley. This organization really represents the south, as its scope is wider. V. P. I. can scarcely be figured in the calculation as that institution hasnt played any of the S. I. A. A. representatives. South Atlantic writers of course were not fond of this, and would sometimes critique the latest All-Southern selection with titles such as Virginia, in 1922 teams from the SIAA and SAIAA left for the Southern Conference and All-Southern teams become effectively All-Southern Conference teams. By 1933 the contemporary Southeastern Conference was established, Walter Camps annual official All-America first team had been historically loaded with college players from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn, and other Northeastern colleges. Many selectors picked only Eastern players, in 1894, Michigan defeated Cornell and lobbied for its center Fatty Smith to be the first Western All-American. Notably the University of Michigan claims for their center Fatty Smith the supremacy in his position, but the western institutions have not yet mastered the eastern knowledge of all the details and fine points of the game. Smith has made a record against the west and even against Cornell. When brought to face a man like the Stillman of today or the Bulliet of last year, Smith would simply be lost, so it would be with all of the claimants for line positions from western teams. And no one claims for a moment that western back field men could play in the class with eastern men. The selectors were typically Eastern writers and former players who attended games in the East. The article noted, Eastern sporting editors must be devoid of all sense of humor, what man in the lot that have picked All-American elevens this fall, saw a single game outside the North Atlantic States. With a conceit all their own they fail to recognize that the United States reaches more than 200 miles in any direction from New York, suppose an Ohio football writer picked All-American teams. Ohio readers would not stand for it, but apparently the eastern readers will swallow anything
5.
1923 Vanderbilt Commodores football team
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The 1923 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University during the 1923 Southern Conference football season. The teams head coach was Dan McGugin, who served his 19th year in that capacity, Vanderbilt won its conference for the third straight year, tying with Washington & Lee for the Southern Conference championship. Most sportswriters listed the Commodores as the winner of the mythical Southern crown. It is to date the last conference title for Vanderbilt football, the team suffered losses to the national champion Michigan Wolverines and the undefeated Texas Longhorns. The offense was led by captain and quarterback Doc Kuhn and All-Southern halfback Gil Reese, the defense which averaged 2.33 points per game at home, was anchored by All-Southern ends Lynn Bomar and Hek Wakefield. Bomar was also a consensus All-American, even selected such by Walter Camp, of Wakefields performance during the game with the Wolverines, Michigan head coach Fielding Yost said I never saw a greater exhibition of end play. As was common in 1923 and the days of one platoon football, following two unbeaten seasons, Wallace Wade left his position at assistant coach to be head coach at Alabama, where he went on to win three national and four SoCon titles. He was replaced at Vanderbilt with former All-American tackle and Vanderbilt alumnus Josh Cody, Vanderbilt faced a hard schedule through the month of October. Quarterback Doc Kuhn was elected captain at the end of last year, lengthy end Tot McCullough was ruled ineligible for the coming season. Those who played for baseball in the South Georgia league, or any other unrecognized one, were disallowed from participating in varsity athletics in the Southern Conference, Tot had played with the Albany club. The Commodores opened the season at Dudley Field against the Howard Bulldogs on October 6 and were considered heavy favorites, Vanderbilt won by a score of 27–0. The regulars played only in the first quarter, scoring 20 points, Captain Doc Kuhn once returned a kickoff 80 yards. To the woe of Commodore fans, tackle Tex Bradford was ruled ineligible on October 10 and his loss was lamented so near the eve of the Michigan game, for his line work against them was materially responsible for the 0 to 0 tie of last year. In the second week of play, Vanderbilt traveled to Ann Arbor for a rematch of last years scoreless tie with the Michigan Wolverines. There was much optimism among the Vanderbilt faithful, for last year its team had many injuries when it tied Michigan, Michigans A. J. Sturzenegger had scouted Vanderbilt shortly before the game, and found the Commodores to have good reason for thinking they could win. He was not alone in this view, the Commodores were regarded as having fully as strong an aggregation as last year, Vanderbilt lost the hard fought game 3-0, handing the Commodores their first loss in two years. Much like last year, the game featured little offense and stalwart defense, Vanderbilt handcuffed the Wolverines running and passing game and had a defense which became nothing less than a stone wall whenever her goal was threatened. Both Commodore halfback Gil Reese and Wolverine halfback Harry Kipke were marked men, Reese and Doc Kuhn were said to raise fans to their feet with the showcase of speed, but the Wolverines kept it confined to sideways runs of little gain
6.
Southern Conference
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The Southern Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision, member institutions are located in the states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The Southern Conference ranks as the fifth-oldest major college conference in the United States. Among conferences currently in operation, the Big Ten and Missouri Valley are indisputably older, the Pac-12 Conference did not operate under its current charter until 1959, but claims the history of the Pacific Coast Conference, founded in 1915, as its own. The Southwest Conference was founded in 1914, but ceased operation in 1996 once the Big 12 Conference began play, the Southern Conference is considered one of the stronger football conferences in the Football Championship Subdivision and is considered a mid-major conference in basketball. In 2015, Furman defeated UCF 16–15 and The Citadel topped South Carolina 23–22 for their win over the Gamecocks in the past three meetings. The SoCon also frequently sees multiple teams selected to participate in the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, talks of a new conference for southern athletics had started as early as fall of 1920. The conference was formed on February 25,1921 in Atlanta as fourteen member institutions split from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, in 1922, six more universities – Florida, LSU, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tulane, and Vanderbilt joined the conference. The first year of competition for the conference was in 1922, the new rules banned freshman play. Later additions included Sewanee, Virginia Military Institute, and Duke, the SoCon is particularly notable for having spawned two other major conferences. In 1932, the 13 schools located south and west of the Appalachians all departed the SoCon to form the Southeastern Conference, in 1953, seven additional schools withdrew from the SoCon to form the Atlantic Coast Conference. The SoCon became the first league to hold a basketball tournament to decide a conference champion. Although first played in 1921, it did not become official until 1922, held at the Municipal Auditorium in Atlanta from February 24 – March 2,1922, the first meeting was won by North Carolina who defeated non-member Mercer in the Finals 40-25. The SoCon Basketball Tournament continues as the nations oldest conference tournament, the next-oldest tournament overall is the SEC Mens Basketball Tournament, founded in 1933, but that event was suspended after its 1952 edition and did not resume until 1979. The all-sports membership changed to 10 schools in 2014 following the departure of Appalachian State, Davidson, Elon, and Georgia Southern, plus the arrival of East Tennessee State, Mercer, the current football membership stands at nine. UNC Greensboro does not sponsor football, while ETSU, which relaunched its previously dormant football program in 2015, on January 9,2014, the SoCon and Atlantic Sun Conference announced a new alliance in lacrosse that took effect with the 2014–15 school year. Under its terms, sponsorship of mens lacrosse shifted from the ASUN to the SoCon, bellarmine, which had announced it would join the ASUN for mens lacrosse for the 2015 season, instead joined the SoCon. The most recent additions to the associate membership came with the start of the 2016–17 school year, Full members Full members Other Conference Other Conference Due to space limitations, one portion of Washington and Lees affiliation history is not indicated in the table
7.
1923 Florida Gators football team
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The 1923 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida during the 1923 Southern Conference football season. This was Major James Van Fleets first of two seasons as the coach of the Florida Gators football team. Van Fleets 1923 Florida Gators finished 6–1–2 overall, and 1–0–2 in the Southern Conference, notably, Florida alumni and students celebrated their first-ever Homecoming with a 19–7 victory over the Mercer Baptists. The 1923 team was built on sophomores, the 1922 Florida freshmen won the southern crown for freshmen squads. The team included Cy Williams, Goldy Goldstein, Edgar Jones, a new dummy was brought out but it is predicted that it will not last long under the fierce tackling of the Gators gridders. Primary source,2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide, in the seasons first game, the Gators to the surprise of many held coach John McEwans Army team scoreless in the first half, but managed to lose the game 20–0 in the second. Edgar Garbisch missed two field goals. In the third quarter Armys passing game began to work, leading to a touchdown by William H. Wood, a blocked punt led to another Wood score. In the fourth quarter, Tiny Hewitt broke through the line for a 35-yard run, the starting lineup was, Lightsey, Williams, Goldstein, Cornwall, Norton, Robinson, Merrin, Newton, Middlekauff, Case, Jones. The Gators contest with coach Bill Alexanders Georgia Tech Golden Tornado brought interest after the weeks game with Army. In front of 12,000 at Grant Field, the Gators were up 7–0 until a rush of substitutes in the fourth quarter got Tech the tying score, the tie knocked the Golden Tornado. off of its pedestal as the top team in Southern football. The tie excited fans and provided more positive national for Florida football than it had ever received, Florida scored after a 25-yard Ark Newton interception return. A Newton pass to Edgar C. Jones then got the ball to Techs 3-yard line, from there, Bill Middlekauff hit the line for a touchdown. The starting lineup was, Lightsey, Williams, Norton, Cornwall, Goldstein, Robinson, Merwin, Jones, Brown, Newton, Florida scored three touchdowns in the first quarter against the Rollins Tars and eased up afterwards, winning 28–0. The big score was as expected, the Stetson Collegiate said the Gators rank as the best in the South. Rollins did not manage a first down the entire first half, the starting lineup was, Merrin, Williams, Smith, Cornwall, Goldstein, Robinson, Lightsey, Jones, Brown, Pomeroy, Middlekauff. On Plant Field in Tampa, the Gators defeated the Wake Forest Demon Deacons 16–7, Wake Forest was held scoreless in the first half while Florida scored two touchdowns with one extra point and a field goal. The Demon Deacons scored in the quarter on a series of runs
8.
Ark Newton
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Robert Dee Ark Newton, Jr. was an American college football for the Florida Gators football team of the University of Florida. Newton was also a member of the Florida Gators baseball, basketball, Newton was born on January 31,1903 in Camden, Arkansas to Robert Dee Newton, Sr. and Cornelia Ellen Newton. His father was an estate agent. Newton was called Ark by his teammates because he came from Arkansas, before and after college. He first starred as a tackle at Camden High School in Camden. While there he worked as a man and driver of an eight-wheeled truck in the oil fields of Arkansas. The first university Newton attended was Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas and he was a member of the football, baseball, basketball, and track teams, earning a medal as the best all-around athlete at the school. Many of the engineers he worked with had attended the University of Florida, Newton was an engineering major before changing to law. He won a total of 14 varsity letters at Florida and twice lettered in football, baseball, basketball, at the time he set a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association record in the broad jump at 22 feet,5 inches. He also once held the Southeastern Pentathlon championship, Newton was a prominent halfback for coach William G. Kline and James Van Fleets Florida Gators football team from 1921 to 1924. The coming of coach Kline brought players from the University of Oklahoma, Newton allegedly first attended a practice just to watch, and the mere sight of him was so impressive, he was offered a uniform and coaxed onto the field by captain Tootie Perry. Newtons punts sailed over the head of the men. Former Tampa Tribune sports editor Pete Norton called Newton Floridas greatest football player, coach Van Fleet said of Newton, Id have to judge him my best. He had an unorthodox style, and we tried to change it. He went back to his own style, and was often a savior to us, Newton booted a 92-yard punt against Goat Hale led Mississippi College. He made two points in a win over Oglethorpe. In 1922, Florida suffered a setback early with a 7–6 loss on opening day to Furman due to Newtons missed extra point, the 1922 season featured the Gators first game a traditional northeastern power as the team traveled to play Harvard. Newton was one of the standouts in the 24–0 loss, in a 58–0 defeat of the Mississippi College Choctaws 58–0. The highlight of the game was Newtons run of 72 yards in the second quarter, one sportswriter claimed Newton threw 13 completions in a row in a 27–6 win at Tulane
"All Star Eleven To Be Awarded By Atlanta Paper". Times-Picayune. December 9, 1923. (password-protected)
