Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Can't Repeat: The 1899 Sewanee Iron Men


From Bleacher Report-

The University of the South can be found in Sewanee, Tennessee. It's an Episcopal Private School that made it's place in the History of College Football in the year of 1899.

It's easy to say that what happened in the early days of College Football didn't count. It's especially easy for fans of big name schools such as Notre Dame, USC and the numerous SEC fans that surround me. Why?

Sewanee created its advantages; they were one of the first schools to start a football program in the South. Another one was that they held school through out the year including the summer, which gave them a long winter break and more practice time than any other school they faced.

You also have to remember that there was no such thing as the NCAA, no passing plays and schools winning strategies even included hiring players. So you had at times 25, 28 even 30 year old men playing for the old alma mater.

There wasn't a crystal ball, no conferences, divisions or a future in the NFL. There was only the game as it existed and that was all the fans needed.

The Sewanee Tigers went 12-0-0, produced a College Football Hall of Famer HB Henry G. Seibels and outscored their opponents 322 to 10. Those 10 points were scored by a John Heisman coached team at Auburn.

More here-

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/360042-cant-repeat-the-1899-sewanee-iron-men

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