1897 VPI football team

1897 VPI football
1897 VPI football
Conference	Independent
Record	5–2
Head coach	Charles Firth (1st season);
Captain	Howard Archer Johnson
Home stadium	Sheib Field
	Seasons ← 1896 1898 →

1897 Southern college football independents records
v t e	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).

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
October 16		King	Sheib Field Blacksburg, VA	W 54–0		^[1]
October 30	3:30 p.m.	vs. North Carolina	Athletic Park Danville, VA	W 4–0	500	^[2]^[3]^[4]
November 2		Roanoke	Sheib Field Blacksburg, VA	W 41–0		^[5]
November 6		vs. University of Maryland, Baltimore	League Park Norfolk, VA	L 4–18	500	^[6]
November 13	3:30 p.m.	at Richmond	Broad Street Park Richmond, VA	W 36–0	300–500	^[7]^[8]^[9]
November 15	9:30 a.m.	at Hampden–Sydney	Venable Field Hampden Sydney, VA	W 16–0		^[10]^[11]
November 25	3:30 p.m.	vs. Tennessee	Athletic Park Roanoke, VA	L 0–18	1,200	^[12]

Game summaries

North Carolina

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.

University of Maryland, Baltimore

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

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

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

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

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

W. F. Cox
Joseph Glenwood Pelter

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

Head coach: Charles Firth
Manager: C. E. Hardy

References

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