SBNation.com User Blog: Michael_T_Wood

W. D. Chadwick and the Bulldogs vs. the "Tigres" (1912)

Michael_T_Wood — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 16:15:02 -0000

Photo of team taken in Cuba. Reveille, 1912, p. 183. (via assets.sbnation.com)

As the football season approaches, let’s look back at Mississippi State’s first post-season game. On January 1, 1912, Mississippi A & M, as the school was known at the time, defeated the Club Atlético de Cuba (CAC) by a score of 11 to 0 in Havana, Cuba. This victory capped the most successful two-year stretch in the coaching career of William Dean Chadwick.

Photo of team taken in Cuba. Reveille, 1912, p. 183. (via assets.sbnation.com)

An Ohio native and graduate of Marietta College, W. D. Chadwick coached the Mississippi A & M football team from 1909 to 1913. Over those five seasons, the Bulldogs had a record of 29-12-2. Beyond the gridiron, Chadwick served as athletic director from 1909 to 1930, where he worked on improving athletic facilities such as building baseball and football fields, tennis courts, and constructing the school’s first gymnasium. Chadwick also taught physical education and, at times, coached baseball and basketball.

During the 1910 season, the Mississippi A & M varsity compiled a 7-2 record and outscored their opponents 219 to 36. In the December 1910 edition of the monthly student newsletter, the Reflector, an editorial piece celebrated the football season: "This issue of the magazine is dedicated to the god of football, to the ‘Bulldogs’ of 1910. We can safely say that our football team this session excels any team we have ever had. The team deserves honor. We have in a few years raised our heads from the lowest ranks in the SIAA to be numbered with the highest. Coach Chadwick has developed a battling machine almost to irresistible perfection, and we hope fortune will bring him back to us next session" (William W. Sorrels, The Maroon Bulldogs: Mississippi State Football. Huntsville, AL: Strode Publishers, 1975, 64). The writer clearly credits Chadwick for the football team’s changing fortune.

While coaching was a large factor, much of the success during the 1910 and 1911 seasons can be attributed to the outstanding performance of two players, W. J. (Blondy) Williams at quarterback and halfback and Morley (Topsy) Jennings at halfback. Before coming to Starkville, Chadwick coached at Albion College in Michigan. Williams followed Chadwick to Mississippi A & M in 1909 and Jennings joined the team in 1910. The Michiganders gave Chadwick experienced athletes at key positions and helped their coach improve the play of their teammates. While the inclusion of football players from other states and of questionable eligibility seems odd now, it was a common practice for players to move from team to team because eligibility rules at the time were more malleable than they are now.

Led by Williams and Jennings, the Mississippi A & M football team repeated the success of 1910 in 1911. During the 1911 season, the Bulldogs compiled a total record of 7-2-1 and outscored their opponents 206 to 28. In the regular season, they triumphed in six games, including wins over: Mississippi College, Southwestern Presbyterian (Rhodes), Howard College (Samford), Birmingham College (Birmingham Southern), LSU in a brutal game in Gulfport, and Ole Miss on a third quarter fumble recovery for a touchdown in Jackson. The team’s performance brought international attention and the CAC invited them to play an exhibition game in Havana on New Year’s Day 1912.

After accepting the invitation, tragedy struck the Mississippi A & M team. On December 17, the starting right end Levi Gaston Bass died from meningitis that he developed as a result of an injury he incurred during the Birmingham College game. The head coach held a team meeting to decide the fate of the Cuba trip and the team voted to honor their departed teammate by playing the game. Chadwick placed assistant coach Billy Hayes in charge of the team and opted to stay in Mississippi for Bass’s funeral instead of traveling to Cuba.

Photo of Levi Gaston Bass. The Maroon Bulldogs, p. 67. (via assets.sbnation.com)

The Bulldogs’ trip was the fourth time a football team from a U.S. college traveled to Havana to play a Cuban team and the first since the CAC defeated Tulane in 1910. According to a December 31 report from Diario de la Marina, the "Tigres" appeared confident that they would continue their success against North American competition. Their guests had other ideas. Behind the outstanding quarterback play of Williams, Mississippi A & M used forward and lateral passes to control the game on their way to a two touchdown win. The post-game coverage in Diario de la Marina contended that Williams played better than LSU’s G. E. "Doc" Fenton in 1907.

Photo of the team as they depart Tampa for Havana. The Maroon Bulldogs, p. 69. (via assets.sbnation.com)

While Chadwick did not coach the Bulldogs in their first post-season game, his leadership as head coach and athletic director elevated the Mississippi A & M program in southern football, which led to the team's victory in Cuba.

Alabama vs Havana, 1946

Michael_T_Wood — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:25:00 -0000

Alabama football is renowned for dominating teams stateside but in the 1940s the junior varsity team scored a victory against international competition. On November 9, 1946, Alabama's "B" team, which consisted of a mix of freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, played against the University of Havana in Dothan. Known by several nicknames including the "Bees," the "Baby Tide," and the "Crimson Ripple," they made easy work of the Caribes, crushing them by a score of 53-18.

The University of Havana weren't newcomers to the sport. By the mid-1940s they had been playing the game for more than three decades. The first contest between the Caribes and a North American school came in 1907 when LSU traveled to the island. Over the next forty years, the University of Havana football team regularly played other squads in Cuba, such as the Cuban Athletic Club, as well as North American teams, especially teams from Florida.

In the 1940s, the Caribes took a few trips in the Southeast. In 1944, they traveled as far north as South Carolina to play a game against Presbyterian College. On this trip, the University of Havana team played a few games in Georgia before meeting the Alabama "B" team in Dothan.

Coming into this game, both the Alabama "B" team and the University of Havana had a record of 3-0-1 in their respective leagues.

Former Alabama player Joe Kilgrow, who was a star half back for Coach Frank Thomas’s teams during the mid-1930s, coached the Alabama "B" team in 1946. The roster included a couple of notable players such as Wayne Walker, the starting left tackle, who made Alabama’s varsity squad in 1944 and played in the Sugar Bowl at the end of that season. The late Clem Gryska was also a member of this squad.

Alabama tied the University of Georgia and won games against Mississippi State, Fort McClellan’s football team, and Ole Miss. The University of Havana played four other Cuban teams, winning their matches against Camaguey, Santa Clara, and Santiago de Cuba, and tying their game with Matanzas. Even though the local paper favored the Crimson Ripple, they expected a good showing from the Cubans.

In the lead-up to the game, this advertisement appeared in the Dothan Eagle. Looking past the obvious ethnic stereotype, I wonder if the chance to see the "Hot-Blooded Spanish" in person had something to do with the fact a local movie theater was showing "Cuban Pete." The musical comedy stared Desi Arnaz as a Cuban bandleader finding success in New York (before his years playing Ricky Ricardo along side his wife Lucille Ball on "I Love Lucy"). If not, seeing a Cuban team play football in a town in South Alabama would definitely be an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The Dothan Lions’ Club organized the contest as a charity game with the proceeds to benefit its fund for the blind, but the event evolved into a spectacle fitting a post-season bowl game. The Lions’ Club appointed "sponsors," or hostesses, for each team. Miss Martha Jean Nordan served as Alabama’s sponsor and Miss Evelyn Vann served as the sponsor for the University of Havana. A parade preceded the game that included four high school bands, a fire truck, the city commissioners, cars carrying the team sponsors, and floats funded by the Lions’ Club.

At halftime of the game, the four high school bands performed a patriotic song program that included the "Washington Post March," the "Footlifter’s March," and the "Victory March." At the close of the performance, the bands spelled out "U-S-A" and a "V" for Victory. While there are clear nationalistic overtones to their program, it probably had less to do with the fact there was a foreign team in the game and more likely a continued celebration of the end of Second World War and the upcoming Armistice Day on November 11.

The nearly four thousand at Wiregrass Memorial Stadium witnessed a high-scoring but mostly one-sided game. The Alabama "B" team won 53-18. The Crimson Ripple built a large lead in the first half with big plays, but the Caribes scored a few big plays of their own in the second half, including a third quarter score on a triple-reverse. The celebration continued after the game with fireworks, speeches by the organizers and local officials, and a couple of socials for the high school bands and the football teams.

Ed - You can follow Michael's research into the history of football in Cuba at his Bacardi Bowl blog and on his related twitter feed @Bacardi_Bowl

Coming into this game, both the Alabama "B" team and the University of Havana had a record of 3-0-1 in their respective leagues.

Ed - You can follow Michael's research into the history of football in Cuba at his Bacardi Bowl blog and on his related twitter feed @Bacardi_Bowl