SWC75
Bored Historian
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(Apparently I first posted this in 2003, not 2008 as I said in the introduction.)
1925
Both Syracuse and Colgate were unbeaten going into this confrontation, each with a tie. Many were saying this was the battle to determine the best team in the East, (I have not noted in my reading of the newspapers of the time much interest in who the ‘national champion’ is: it seemed more important to be the best team in your section of the country.) Both teams scheduled small college teams the week before the big game, SU taking on Ohio Wesleyan and Colgate playing Providence. The “Maroon” as they were called at the time, had such disdain for the Friars they sent their three captains, star halfback Eddie Tryon, full back Duke Shaughnessey and quarterback Nick Mahar to Archbold stadium to scout the SU game. Meanwhile, in Hamilton, their back-ups ran mostly Syracuse plays against Providence to confound the SU scouts. This was enough to beat the Friars, 19-7. Meanwhile, SU had surprising trouble against the “Battling Bishops” from Ohio, stumbling to a 3-3 tie, the field goal being the first points SU had given up all year. That gave both teams the same record going into their game, six wins, no losses and one tie. Colgate’s tie was against Lafayette, then a big power, in Philadelphia. They had two nice wins against Princeton and Michigan State. SU had beaten Indiana and Penn State. Providence was the only common opponent, SU having waxed them 48-0 with their full complement of players.
And it was quite a group. While Colgate had Tryon, (Hall of Fame, class of ’63), SU had Vic Hanson, (HOF class of ’73), who called the signals for the team from end. Vic was quite a receiver, using his basketball skills to rise up and catch the ball and his speed to run with it after he made the catch. On defense, he seems to have been a sort of 1920’s version of Dwight Freeney, facing constant double teams to prevent his penetration into the opposing backfield. The Orange also had future Olympic sprinter Ray Barbuti in the backfield along with Harlan “Gotch” Carr, a fine open field runner. Colgate answered with Tryon, who had both power and speed and also did all the kicking for the team. It was said that he had to purposely line up well behind the line of scrimmage so his fast starts wouldn’t run him past his own blockers. He’d started from his freshman year; (Colgate joined other schools in denying freshman eligibility in 1923) scored 5 touchdowns as a freshman against Columbia, making him a national name probably second only to Red Grange at the time. He had selflessly sacrificed the national scoring lead by skipping the Providence game to sneak a peak at his real prey, the Orangemen. One advantage Colgate had was that Tryon and their big fullback, Shaughnessy, were power runners, although Tryon had speed, too. Syracuse’s attack was based primarily on speed. They needed a fast track while Colgate didn’t.
The team’s rosters were printed in the paper a couple of days before the game. Each had only 31 players, indicating why a school like Colgate could be a big power in those days. (SU’s 2003 roster had 92 players). The tallest player on either team was 6-3, the heaviest 215. The smallest guy was 5-7 145. Eddie Tryon was 5-8 180, his fullback Shaughnessy 6-0 190. They were both considered big, strong backs. Vic Hansen was 5-10 174. Syracuse had the more veteran team with Barbuti being the only sophomore starter, (meaning the rest were juniors and seniors). Colgate, on the other hand had 6 sophomores in its starting line-up, (out of 11).
Colgate came into the game favored for the first time in six years, primarily because of the Orange’s disappointing performance in the Ohio Wesleyan game. The Maroon had gotten off to a great start in the series that began in 1891, winning 12 of the first 17 games with two ties. But SU had had a strong comeback after that, beginning with the smashing 38-0 win of 1915. They won 7 of 9 games from 1915-24, (with no game being played due to the war in 1918). The game everybody remembered was the big upset of 1923, when Syracuse at 7-0, lost 7-16 to a 5-2-1 Colgate team. That was probably the best team Syracuse had had to that point, (I would pick them as the best team prior to the 1959 team – Howell actually has them as his national champion for that year: 1923 NCAA Division IA Football Power Ratings ). They were invited to the Rose Bowl but the chancellor was against it and they stayed home. SU had gotten revenge the next year, 7-3 and were anxious to further avenge themselves in 1925.
An article was devoted to the SU cheerleaders, especially the women, who were dressed in calf-length white dresses, white blouses with, (probably orange), ties and jackets. The article tells us that the experiment, begun in 1918 with women cheerleaders has been a big success and the women add something extra to the crowd’s enthusiasm. Before 1918, women were not allowed to be on the football field at all. The cheerleaders directed the singing of songs by the fans, as well as organized cheers. (These days they are more cheerers than cheerleaders.) “Football men say the words of the cheers never reach them but that the monotone of the great volume of vocal approbation creates a bulwark of encouragement that they subconsciously lean upon throughout the game.”
Lawrence J. Skiddy, beginning a lengthy run as Sports Editor of the Syracuse Herald, (the Syracuse Journal had just gone out of business and Skiddy’s paper would soon be known as the Herald Journal: he would be its sports editor until his death in 1951 - Arnie Burdick took over in 1955), wrote: “No event in the sporting world Saturday will carry more interest nationwide than the meeting of the Syracuse and Colgate football teams in Archbold Stadium. There will be a capacity crowd of 32,000 but easily 75,000 would come if they could be accommodated.” He compared the Colgate game to a Vaudeville headliner and said that the other games on the schedule were similar to the “chaser”: a singer who would be brought out after the headliner to serenade the audience as they were leaving.
In Hamilton, “the usual morning Chapel services have been discontinued to make room for student mass meetings and other practice sessions.” They were practicing their cheers. At a rally of some 800 students, Colgate coach Dick Harlow was given a five minute standing ovation, (I don’t recall Coach Pasqualoni getting one of those!). Eddie Tryon assured the crowd that they needn’t worry that he would ever sully his reputation by playing professional football. “I am in amateur sports for good.” Placards were passed out for the fans to wave saying things like “Squeeze the Orange!”, not unlike the ones SU has recently used in its own games. Frat houses and businesses competed over who could construct the best sign to urge the team on. The award went to a home owner, however, who had mowed his lawn into a gridiron, with two department store dummies clad in Orange and Maroon, the Orangeman lying prone of the “field” while the Colgate man stood over him, with his foot placed triumphantly on his rival’s torso.
At SU practices, the freshman imitated Colgate plays and the varsity could not seem to stop them. Despite this concern, SU “looked to be one of the most powerful teams the Orange has ever prepped for a college game. And, in the matter of spirit and pepper it is doubtful if any team has ever equaled the present outfit”, according to Skiddy. However, “at no time in the last ten years has there been such optimism in the Maroon camp. They feel they can’t be beaten.”
After conflicting weather reports during the course of the week, Saturday November 14th 1925 proved to be a dreary, wet day. The effect on the field and the contest was devastating. By game time the field consisted of “17 ponds, 5 quagmires and a dozen or so other water hazards…Nothing better described the field than to say it was a swamp.” Conditions were so bad that the Sunday paper reported that SU’s only touchdown was scored by back-up running back Mike Meister on a line-plunge. Monday’s paper apologized for this error, saying it was Gotch Carr who scored the TD. (All the players looked alike by that point in the game.)
Still it didn’t prevent 35,000 people from crowding into the Archbold Bowl, “The largest crowd ever assembled in Central New York”. SU was “smarter and peppier looking at the start but Colgate was cool and patient.” Actually, Colgate may have been smarter, too. Dick Harlow’s game plan was to punt as soon as the Maroon got the ball-if they got it in their territory. They would only try to move the ball if they had it in SU territory. They also never attempted a pass in the entire game. The ball in those days was a bit fatter than it is now and harder to pass-especially when wet. It was much easier to kick and that what Colgate did with it- 18 times. Syracuse was more stubborn and tried gamely to move the ball every time they got it. They punted 15 times themselves but Tryon was such a good punter that the Orange lost yardage with nearly every exchange. It didn’t help that there were 13 fumbles in the game. Seven were by Colgate but all thirteen of them occurred on Syracuse’ side of the 50 yard line. This gave the visitors many more opportunities to score than the home team.
SU fumbled on its own 20 late in the first period and a succession of runs by Tryon took it in, the last one from the seven yard line. “Colgate kept up the momentum the rest of the game: Syracuse never had a chance.” In the second period the Orange fumbled on their 37. Tryon made a 12 yard run to the 25 and on the next play broke through the line, cut to the sideline and was not touched before he reached the goal line. A blocked punt produced a third score in the third period and it was 0-19. Those were the first three touchdowns Syracuse had given up all year.
Syracuse blocked a punt of its own when Carr got his hand on Tryon’s kick and recovered at the Colgate 12 late in the game. Shortly afterwards, he pushed over the only score for the home team, (even if people thought he was Meister), and the final score was Syracuse 6 Colgate 19.
The game sounds like it was pretty much of an artistic and competitive disaster. One can imagine what modern fans and sportswriters would make of it. But in 1925, Skiddy wrote, “The players on each team carved their niche in the Hall of Fame by their wonderful showing.” SU quarterback Buster Friedman’s passing was described as “unusually good considering the conditions”. He completed one of his thirteen passes. Syracuse managed to outgain Colgate, 139 yards to 126, but they had farther to go to score.
Coach Harlow was more than pleased. “Victory in this game has been the main ambition of Eddie Tryon’s life and I am delighted not only because we won but because he was such a big part in it. And I want to add that I have never seen a team battle harder than did the Syracuse boys. They weren’t beaten until the last second. The fact that they plugged in the last touchdown is proof enough of the courage of one of the best rivals we have even known.”
Syracuse recovered from this disappointment to win its last two games over Niagara and Columbia to finish with a fine 8-1-1 record. Colgate was held to a tie by Brown to wind up 7-0-2. There was only one bowl game in those days- the Rose Bowl. But it was not uncommon for individual schools to agree to play an unnamed post season game in some warm location and the Maroon got offers from Alabama and Tulane to come south for a game. But they turned them down.
At Syracuse a committee was convened to examine the possibility of expanding the stadium to 50,000 seats, with an obvious eye to the popularity of the Colgate game, (no other game that year drew more than 20,000). Coach Pete Reynolds suggested they consider creating a permanent practice field so his team didn’t tear up the fragile turf before the games. In Hamilton, the only thing they decided to construct was a cartoon billboard featuring Eddie Tryon driving several players and fans in something identified as the “Hoodoomobile”.
The Hoodoo had begun!
1925
Both Syracuse and Colgate were unbeaten going into this confrontation, each with a tie. Many were saying this was the battle to determine the best team in the East, (I have not noted in my reading of the newspapers of the time much interest in who the ‘national champion’ is: it seemed more important to be the best team in your section of the country.) Both teams scheduled small college teams the week before the big game, SU taking on Ohio Wesleyan and Colgate playing Providence. The “Maroon” as they were called at the time, had such disdain for the Friars they sent their three captains, star halfback Eddie Tryon, full back Duke Shaughnessey and quarterback Nick Mahar to Archbold stadium to scout the SU game. Meanwhile, in Hamilton, their back-ups ran mostly Syracuse plays against Providence to confound the SU scouts. This was enough to beat the Friars, 19-7. Meanwhile, SU had surprising trouble against the “Battling Bishops” from Ohio, stumbling to a 3-3 tie, the field goal being the first points SU had given up all year. That gave both teams the same record going into their game, six wins, no losses and one tie. Colgate’s tie was against Lafayette, then a big power, in Philadelphia. They had two nice wins against Princeton and Michigan State. SU had beaten Indiana and Penn State. Providence was the only common opponent, SU having waxed them 48-0 with their full complement of players.
And it was quite a group. While Colgate had Tryon, (Hall of Fame, class of ’63), SU had Vic Hanson, (HOF class of ’73), who called the signals for the team from end. Vic was quite a receiver, using his basketball skills to rise up and catch the ball and his speed to run with it after he made the catch. On defense, he seems to have been a sort of 1920’s version of Dwight Freeney, facing constant double teams to prevent his penetration into the opposing backfield. The Orange also had future Olympic sprinter Ray Barbuti in the backfield along with Harlan “Gotch” Carr, a fine open field runner. Colgate answered with Tryon, who had both power and speed and also did all the kicking for the team. It was said that he had to purposely line up well behind the line of scrimmage so his fast starts wouldn’t run him past his own blockers. He’d started from his freshman year; (Colgate joined other schools in denying freshman eligibility in 1923) scored 5 touchdowns as a freshman against Columbia, making him a national name probably second only to Red Grange at the time. He had selflessly sacrificed the national scoring lead by skipping the Providence game to sneak a peak at his real prey, the Orangemen. One advantage Colgate had was that Tryon and their big fullback, Shaughnessy, were power runners, although Tryon had speed, too. Syracuse’s attack was based primarily on speed. They needed a fast track while Colgate didn’t.
The team’s rosters were printed in the paper a couple of days before the game. Each had only 31 players, indicating why a school like Colgate could be a big power in those days. (SU’s 2003 roster had 92 players). The tallest player on either team was 6-3, the heaviest 215. The smallest guy was 5-7 145. Eddie Tryon was 5-8 180, his fullback Shaughnessy 6-0 190. They were both considered big, strong backs. Vic Hansen was 5-10 174. Syracuse had the more veteran team with Barbuti being the only sophomore starter, (meaning the rest were juniors and seniors). Colgate, on the other hand had 6 sophomores in its starting line-up, (out of 11).
Colgate came into the game favored for the first time in six years, primarily because of the Orange’s disappointing performance in the Ohio Wesleyan game. The Maroon had gotten off to a great start in the series that began in 1891, winning 12 of the first 17 games with two ties. But SU had had a strong comeback after that, beginning with the smashing 38-0 win of 1915. They won 7 of 9 games from 1915-24, (with no game being played due to the war in 1918). The game everybody remembered was the big upset of 1923, when Syracuse at 7-0, lost 7-16 to a 5-2-1 Colgate team. That was probably the best team Syracuse had had to that point, (I would pick them as the best team prior to the 1959 team – Howell actually has them as his national champion for that year: 1923 NCAA Division IA Football Power Ratings ). They were invited to the Rose Bowl but the chancellor was against it and they stayed home. SU had gotten revenge the next year, 7-3 and were anxious to further avenge themselves in 1925.
An article was devoted to the SU cheerleaders, especially the women, who were dressed in calf-length white dresses, white blouses with, (probably orange), ties and jackets. The article tells us that the experiment, begun in 1918 with women cheerleaders has been a big success and the women add something extra to the crowd’s enthusiasm. Before 1918, women were not allowed to be on the football field at all. The cheerleaders directed the singing of songs by the fans, as well as organized cheers. (These days they are more cheerers than cheerleaders.) “Football men say the words of the cheers never reach them but that the monotone of the great volume of vocal approbation creates a bulwark of encouragement that they subconsciously lean upon throughout the game.”
Lawrence J. Skiddy, beginning a lengthy run as Sports Editor of the Syracuse Herald, (the Syracuse Journal had just gone out of business and Skiddy’s paper would soon be known as the Herald Journal: he would be its sports editor until his death in 1951 - Arnie Burdick took over in 1955), wrote: “No event in the sporting world Saturday will carry more interest nationwide than the meeting of the Syracuse and Colgate football teams in Archbold Stadium. There will be a capacity crowd of 32,000 but easily 75,000 would come if they could be accommodated.” He compared the Colgate game to a Vaudeville headliner and said that the other games on the schedule were similar to the “chaser”: a singer who would be brought out after the headliner to serenade the audience as they were leaving.
In Hamilton, “the usual morning Chapel services have been discontinued to make room for student mass meetings and other practice sessions.” They were practicing their cheers. At a rally of some 800 students, Colgate coach Dick Harlow was given a five minute standing ovation, (I don’t recall Coach Pasqualoni getting one of those!). Eddie Tryon assured the crowd that they needn’t worry that he would ever sully his reputation by playing professional football. “I am in amateur sports for good.” Placards were passed out for the fans to wave saying things like “Squeeze the Orange!”, not unlike the ones SU has recently used in its own games. Frat houses and businesses competed over who could construct the best sign to urge the team on. The award went to a home owner, however, who had mowed his lawn into a gridiron, with two department store dummies clad in Orange and Maroon, the Orangeman lying prone of the “field” while the Colgate man stood over him, with his foot placed triumphantly on his rival’s torso.
At SU practices, the freshman imitated Colgate plays and the varsity could not seem to stop them. Despite this concern, SU “looked to be one of the most powerful teams the Orange has ever prepped for a college game. And, in the matter of spirit and pepper it is doubtful if any team has ever equaled the present outfit”, according to Skiddy. However, “at no time in the last ten years has there been such optimism in the Maroon camp. They feel they can’t be beaten.”
After conflicting weather reports during the course of the week, Saturday November 14th 1925 proved to be a dreary, wet day. The effect on the field and the contest was devastating. By game time the field consisted of “17 ponds, 5 quagmires and a dozen or so other water hazards…Nothing better described the field than to say it was a swamp.” Conditions were so bad that the Sunday paper reported that SU’s only touchdown was scored by back-up running back Mike Meister on a line-plunge. Monday’s paper apologized for this error, saying it was Gotch Carr who scored the TD. (All the players looked alike by that point in the game.)
Still it didn’t prevent 35,000 people from crowding into the Archbold Bowl, “The largest crowd ever assembled in Central New York”. SU was “smarter and peppier looking at the start but Colgate was cool and patient.” Actually, Colgate may have been smarter, too. Dick Harlow’s game plan was to punt as soon as the Maroon got the ball-if they got it in their territory. They would only try to move the ball if they had it in SU territory. They also never attempted a pass in the entire game. The ball in those days was a bit fatter than it is now and harder to pass-especially when wet. It was much easier to kick and that what Colgate did with it- 18 times. Syracuse was more stubborn and tried gamely to move the ball every time they got it. They punted 15 times themselves but Tryon was such a good punter that the Orange lost yardage with nearly every exchange. It didn’t help that there were 13 fumbles in the game. Seven were by Colgate but all thirteen of them occurred on Syracuse’ side of the 50 yard line. This gave the visitors many more opportunities to score than the home team.
SU fumbled on its own 20 late in the first period and a succession of runs by Tryon took it in, the last one from the seven yard line. “Colgate kept up the momentum the rest of the game: Syracuse never had a chance.” In the second period the Orange fumbled on their 37. Tryon made a 12 yard run to the 25 and on the next play broke through the line, cut to the sideline and was not touched before he reached the goal line. A blocked punt produced a third score in the third period and it was 0-19. Those were the first three touchdowns Syracuse had given up all year.
Syracuse blocked a punt of its own when Carr got his hand on Tryon’s kick and recovered at the Colgate 12 late in the game. Shortly afterwards, he pushed over the only score for the home team, (even if people thought he was Meister), and the final score was Syracuse 6 Colgate 19.
The game sounds like it was pretty much of an artistic and competitive disaster. One can imagine what modern fans and sportswriters would make of it. But in 1925, Skiddy wrote, “The players on each team carved their niche in the Hall of Fame by their wonderful showing.” SU quarterback Buster Friedman’s passing was described as “unusually good considering the conditions”. He completed one of his thirteen passes. Syracuse managed to outgain Colgate, 139 yards to 126, but they had farther to go to score.
Coach Harlow was more than pleased. “Victory in this game has been the main ambition of Eddie Tryon’s life and I am delighted not only because we won but because he was such a big part in it. And I want to add that I have never seen a team battle harder than did the Syracuse boys. They weren’t beaten until the last second. The fact that they plugged in the last touchdown is proof enough of the courage of one of the best rivals we have even known.”
Syracuse recovered from this disappointment to win its last two games over Niagara and Columbia to finish with a fine 8-1-1 record. Colgate was held to a tie by Brown to wind up 7-0-2. There was only one bowl game in those days- the Rose Bowl. But it was not uncommon for individual schools to agree to play an unnamed post season game in some warm location and the Maroon got offers from Alabama and Tulane to come south for a game. But they turned them down.
At Syracuse a committee was convened to examine the possibility of expanding the stadium to 50,000 seats, with an obvious eye to the popularity of the Colgate game, (no other game that year drew more than 20,000). Coach Pete Reynolds suggested they consider creating a permanent practice field so his team didn’t tear up the fragile turf before the games. In Hamilton, the only thing they decided to construct was a cartoon billboard featuring Eddie Tryon driving several players and fans in something identified as the “Hoodoomobile”.
The Hoodoo had begun!
