1899 Sewanee Tigers football team

1899 Sewanee Tigers football
SIAA champion
Conference	Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
1899 record	12–0 (11–0 SIAA)
Head coach	Billy Suter
Captain	Diddy Seibels
Home stadium	McGee Field

1899 SIAA football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Sewanee $	11	–	0	–	0			12	–	0	–	0
Vanderbilt	4	–	0	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
Alabama	1	–	0	–	0			3	–	1	–	0
Nashville	3	–	1	–	0			3	–	1	–	0
North Carolina	2	–	1	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Tennessee	2	–	1	–	0			6	–	2	–	0
Auburn	2	–	1	–	1			3	–	1	–	1
Texas	3	–	2	–	0			6	–	2	–	0
Clemson	2	–	2	–	0			4	–	2	–	0
Georgia	2	–	3	–	1			2	–	3	–	1
Ole Miss	2	–	3	–	0			3	–	4	–	0
LSU	1	–	3	–	0			1	–	4	–	0
Kentucky State	0	–	1	–	0			5	–	2	–	2
SW Presbyterian	0	–	1	–	0			1	–	1	–	0
Davidson	0	–	2	–	0			1	–	3	–	1
Cumberland	0	–	3	–	0			0	–	3	–	0
Georgia Tech	0	–	5	–	0			0	–	5	–	0
Tulane	0	–	5	–	0			0	–	6	–	1
$ – Conference champion

The 1899 Sewanee Tigers football team represented Sewanee: The University of the South in the 1899 college football season. Sewanee was one of the first college football powers of the South and the 1899 team in particular was very strong. The 1899 Tigers went 12–0, outscoring opponents 322 to 10, and won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) title.

With just 13 players, the team known as the "Iron Men" had a six-day road trip with five shutout wins over Texas A&M; Texas; Tulane; LSU; and Ole Miss. Sportswriter Grantland Rice called the group "the most durable football team I ever saw."^[1] The road trip is recalled memorably with the Biblical allusion "...and on the seventh day they rested."^{[2][3][n 1]}

The 11 extra points against Cumberland by B. U. Sims is still a school record. The offense was led by Diddy Seibels; the defense by Ormond Simkins.^{[n 2]} John Heisman's Auburn team was the only one even to score on Sewanee.

Before the season

Despite being from a small Episcopal university in the mountains of Tennessee, the team came to dominate football in the region during the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries.^{[n 3]} Like several other football powers of yore such as the University of Chicago, Sewanee today emphasizes scholarship over athletics.^{[n 4]}

Sewanee had 7 starters return from the undefeated 1898 team.^[5] Before play started, the Sewanee men trained hard for several weeks under coach Suter. With experience and weight, the team was hopeful for an undisputed southern championship.^[6]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
October 21	1:00 p. m.	at Georgia	Atlanta, GA	W 12–0
October 23	3:30 p. m.	at Georgia Tech	Atlanta, GA	W 32–0
October 28		Tennessee	McGee Field • Sewanee, TN	W 46–0
November 3		Southwestern Presbyterian	McGee Field • Sewanee, TN	W 54–0
November 9		at Texas	Athletic Field • Austin, TX	W 12–0	2,500
November 10		at Texas A&M*	Herald Park • Houston, TX	W 10–0	600
November 11		at Tulane	New Orleans, LA	W 23–0
November 13		at LSU	State Field • Baton Rouge, LA	W 34–0	2,000+
November 14		vs. Ole Miss	Memphis, TN	W 12–0
November 20		Cumberland	McGee Field • Sewanee, TN	W 71–0
November 30	2:50 p. m.	vs. Auburn	Riverside Park • Montgomery, AL	W 11–10	3,000
December 2		vs. North Carolina	Atlanta, GA	W 5–0	2,000
*Non-conference game.

Source:^[7]

Season summary

Sewanee’s 1899 season was very successful. From October 21 through December 2, under the leadership of Coach Herman [Billy] Suter and future College Football Hall of Famer captain Henry “Diddy” Seibels, the Sewanee team, officially the Tigers but nicknamed the "Iron Men," played and won twelve games, was unscored upon except for one game, outscored its opponents 322 to 10, and was champion of the South. Most of their twelve opponents, including Tennessee, Louisiana State, and Texas, are among the all-time powers in college football.

Georgia

Sewanee at Georgia

1 2 Total • Sewanee 6 6 12 Georgia 0 0 0 Date: October 21 Location: Piedmont Park Atlanta, GA Game start: 1:00 p. m. Sources:[8]

Ormond Simkins was the star of the 12 to 0 opening win over the Georgia Bulldogs, netting the first touchdown with a fine line buck of 12 yards through center "amidst thunderous applause".^[9] Rex Kilpatrick scored a second touchdown on a 4-yard run.^[8]

Sewanee's starting lineup against Georgia: Sims (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Pearce (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Kilpatrick (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), Simkins (fullback).^[6][8]

Georgia Tech

Sewanee at Georgia Tech

1 2 Total • Sewanee 27 5 32 Ga. Tech 0 0 0 Date: October 23 Location: Piedmont Park Atlanta, GA Game start: 3:30 p. m. Sources:[9]

Sewanee followed the defeat of Georgia with a 32 to 0 victory over Georgia Tech on the following Monday.^[9] Sewanee won easily, the first score coming soon after the kickoff on a blocked kick recovered by Quintard Gray.^[9] Gray scored the next touchdown on 25-yard end run. Just fifteen minutes had passed when Diddy Seibels scored the third touchdown.^[9] The next three touchdowns were also scored by Seibels, including pretty runs of 35 and 40 yards.^[9] The team played its substitutes in the second half.^[9]

Tennessee

Tennessee vs. Sewanee

1 2 Total Tennessee 0 0 0 • Sewanee 29 17 46 Date: October 28 Location: McGee Field Sewanee, TN Sources:[10]

In a driving rain at McGee Field, "where each 5-yard line was a miniature stream",^[11] Sewanee beat the Tennessee Volunteers 46 to 0. Diddy Seibels led the scoring with three touchdowns.^[10] "Touchdown followed touchdown, until Sewanee finally stopped scoring from sheer exhaustion" to quote The Sewanee Purple.^[11]

Sewanee's starting lineup against Tennessee: Sims (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), K. Smith (right tackle), Pearce (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Kilpatrick (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), Simkins (fullback).^[10]

Southwestern Presbyterian

SW Presbyterian vs. Sewanee

1 2 Total SW Presbyterian 0 0 0 • Sewanee 32 22 54 Date: November 3 Location: McGee Field Sewanee, TN Referee: Elsom Sources:[12]

Sewanee next defeated Southwestern Presbyterian 54 to 0. The Sewanee Purple wrote "Never before in the history of football at Sewanee have we piled up such a score against an opponent."^[12]

Sewanee's starting lineup against Southwestern Presbyterian: Sims (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Pearce (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Gray (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), Simkins (fullback).^[12]

The Road trip: 5 shutouts in 6 days

The 1899 Iron Men team's most notable accomplishment was a six-day period from November 9 to 14 which is arguably the greatest road trip in college football history. Manager Luke Lea, after a disagreement with traditional rival Vanderbilt University over gate receipts resulting in the 1899 game being cancelled, sought a way to make up for the lost revenue. In response, Lea put together an improbable schedule of playing five big name opponents in six days. Playing so many games in a short period minimized costs while maximizing revenue.^[4][13] During this road trip, Sewanee outscored its opponents for a combined 91–0, including Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, and Ole Miss. Sewanee obliterated each one, traveling by train for some 2,500 miles. This feat, barring fundamental changes in modern-day football, can never be equaled.^[14] Contemporary sources called the road trip the most remarkable ever made by an American college team.^[15]

Texas

Sewanee at Texas

1 2 Total • Sewanee 6 6 12 Texas 0 0 0 Date: November 9 Location: Athletic Field Austin, Texas Game attendance: 2,500 Sources:[16]

The train carrying the players pulled into Austin on the night of the 8th to face the undefeated Texas Longhorns the following afternoon. Sewanee won 12 to 0. Sewanee scored five minutes into the first quarter, and a minute before the end of the game, "and the intervening time was devoted to the liveliest battle ever witnessed here".^[16] Diddy Seibels played throughout the game, scoring both touchdowns, despite his head having split open just above his left eye, bleeding profusely. By the end of the game his head was coated with blood.^[16]

Sewanee's starting lineup against Texas: Sims (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Pearce (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Kilpatrick (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), Simkins (fullback).^[16]

Texas A&M

Sewanee at Texas A&M

1 2 Total • Sewanee 5 5 10 Texas A&M 0 0 0 Date: November 10 Location: Herald Park Houston, Texas Game attendance: 600 Referee: Killerin (Georgia) Sources:[17]

Not 20 hours had passed since the Texas game before the Tigers faced the Texas A&M Aggies. The Tigers won 10 to 0. Guard Wild Bill Claiborne was blind in one eye, and used his discolored eye for purposes of intimidation: "See this? I lost it yesterday in Austin. This afternoon I'm getting a new one!"^[18] Ormond Simkins first ran in a touchdown from the 1-yard-line near the end of the first half. Quarterback Warbler Wilson got the second touchdown with five seconds left in the game.^[3] Texas A&M's campus paper, the Battalion, reported :..."(the Sewanee Tigers) are unmistakably the champions of the South this year..."^[3]

Sewanee's starting lineup against Texas A&M: Sims (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Pearce (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Kilpatrick (left halfback), Gray (right halfback), Simkins (fullback).^[17]

Tulane

Sewanee at Tulane

1 2 Total • Sewanee 17 6 23 Tulane 0 0 0 Date: November 11 Location: New Orleans, LA Sources:[19]

After another 350-mile overnight train leg, the Tigers beat Tulane in New Orleans 23 to 0. Rex Kilpatrick scored first. Quintard Gray scored twice more. The lone score of the second half was another, 5-yard run by Kilpatrick. The game was called early due to darkness.^[19] The starting lineup was Sims (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Pearce (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Kilpatrick (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), Simkins (fullback).^[19]

LSU

Sewanee at LSU

1 2 Total • Sewanee 17 17 34 LSU 0 0 0 Date: November 13 Location: State Field Baton Rouge, LA Game attendance: 2,000+ Sources:[20]

Before the trip to Baton Rouge, the team saw a play, and then toured a sugar plantation owned by John Dalton Shaffer, rather than enjoy the nightlife of New Orleans.^[3] One source reported center William H. Poole "drank heavily" on the one day off.^[4] Sewanee then defeated LSU 34 to 0.

Diddy Seibels scored first. Sewanee's next run from scrimmage was then another Seibels touchdown. Rex Kilpatrick had one score, and Sewanee managed three further touchdowns. One account reads "In spite of their long, tiresome trip, the Sewanee men were lively as school boys out for a day off."^[20]

Mississippi

Sewanee vs. Mississippi

1 2 Total • Sewanee 6 6 12 Miss 0 0 0 Date: November 14 Location: Memphis, TN Sources:[3]

The Tigers arrived in Memphis to play Mississippi on their third pre-game overnight train ride in five days. "Ole Miss" kept the game close. Diddy Seibels scored the first touchdown with fifteen seconds left in the first half, and Kilpatrick scored the second with thirteen to go to the final whistle. The local Commercial Appeal praised the Tigers: "Yesterday's score against (Mississippi) marked the two hundred and fortieth point for which the Tennesseans have scored to nothing for their opponents, during the present season. The trip of the Sewanee eleven, along with record, will probably remain unequaled for generations".^[3]

Cumberland

Cumberland vs. Sewanee

1 2 Total Cumberland 0 0 0 • Sewanee 47 24 71 Date: November 20 Location: McGee Field Sewanee, TN Sources:[21]

Seemingly unfazed by the travel, next week the Tigers crushed the Cumberland Bulldogs 71 to 0.^[21] One account reads: "For five minutes after the beginning of the game Cumberland made some good gains, but the Sewanee defense suddenly grew strong, the ball was secured on downs, and Seibels crossed the line for touchdown seven minutes after play began."^[21] B. U. Sims had a school record 11 extra points, and Ormond Simkins rested instead of playing.^[21]

The starting lineup was Sims (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Pearce (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Kilpatrick (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), Brooks (fullback)^[22]

Auburn: The only points scored

Sewanee at Auburn

1 2 Total • Sewanee 11 0 11 Auburn 10 0 10 Date: November 30 Location: Riverside Park Montgomery, AL Game start: 2:50 p. m. Game attendance: 3,000 Referee: Martin Sources:[23]

Only John Heisman's Auburn team managed to score on Sewanee's "Iron Men." Sewanee won by a narrow margin of 11 to 10.^[23] As a witness to the game, in which the Auburn team ran an early version of the hurry-up offense,^[24] and played exceptionally well on defense,^[23] sportswriter Fuzzy Woodruff wrote:^[4]

Under Heisman's tutelage, Auburn played with a marvelous speed and dash that couldn't be gainsaid and which fairly swept Sewanee off its feet. Only the remarkable punting of Simkins kept the game from being a debacle.

I recall vividly one incident of the game, which demonstrates clearly just how surprising was Sewanee's victory.

The Purple was taking time out. They began this early in the game, when their athletes appeared tired and worn whereas Auburn men were full of fight and fire.

A Sewanee player was down, his head being bathed...Suter, the Sewanee coach, and Heisman, the Auburn mentory, were walking up and down the field together. They approached this boy. The rules were not as rigid then I guess against coaches encroaching on the field of play or conversing with player or anyhow they were not enforced for Suter, evidently as mad as fire, asked the down and out player 'Are you fellows going to be run over like this all afternoon?'

'Coach,' said the boy, lifting his tired head from the ground, 'we just can't stand this stuff. We've never seen anything like it.'

Suter and Heisman turned away. 'Can you beat that?' Suter asked the Auburn coach. Heisman didn't say anything, I guess he thought a great deal.

He told me afterwards that he had never felt so sorry for a man on a football field as he had for Suter at that moment.

Auburn's Bivins scored first. Rex Kilpatrick then ran outside of the tackle a 10-yard touchdown. Arthur Feagin scored to make it 10 to 5 in favor of Auburn. A controversial fumble recovery by Sewanee may have saved the game. Reynolds Tichenor said it was a gift; the referee awarded Sewanee the ball, but he insisted Auburn recovered it.^[23] A double pass play to Warbler Wilson got the ensuing Sewanee touchdown. B. U. Sims made the extra point to edge Auburn.^[23] Neither team managed to score in the second half. The delay from the crowd gathering on the field ran the game into darkness.^[23]

Sewanee's starting lineup against Auburn: Pierce (left end), Jones (left tackle), Claiborne (left guard), Poole (center), Keyes (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Sims (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Kilpatrick (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), Simkins (fullback).^[23]

North Carolina

Sewanee vs. North Carolina

1 2 Total • Sewanee 5 0 5 North Carolina 0 0 0 Date: December 2 Location: Atlanta, GA Game attendance: 2,000 Referee: Taylor (Yale) Sources:[25]

The season closed with a 5 to 0 victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels and the championship of the south. Sewanee's defense was strong, and Diddy Seibels's punting gained 10 yards on each exchange of punts. A single free kick from placement proved the difference.^[25] Ormond Simkins had signaled for a fair catch, but North Carolina's Frank M. Osborne collided with him.^[25] Sewanee was awarded fifteen yards and the free kick.^[25] The star for the Tar Heels was Herman Koehler.^[25]

Sewanee's starting lineup against North Carolina: Simkins (left end), Jones (left tackle), Keyes (left guard), Poole (center), Claiborne (right guard), Bolling (right tackle), Black (right end), Wilson (quarterback), Kilpatrick (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), Hull (fullback).

Postseason

Awards and honors

W. A. Lambeth of Virginia in Outing and Coach Suter both posted All-Southern teams.^{[26][27][n 5]} Included on Suter's All-Southern: Richard Bolling, Wild Bill Claiborne, Deacon Jones, Rex Kilpatrick, William H. Poole, Diddy Seibels, Ormond Simkins, Warbler Wilson.^[29][30] Wilson was also selected All-Southern by Lambeth. B. U. Sims made Lambeth's team and was a substitute for Suter.

Legacy

By the end of the season, eleven of Sewanee's victories were against SIAA conference rivals, setting the record for the most conference games won in a single season by any team before or since.^[4] On College Gameday, November 13, 1999, ESPN featured the University of the South with a four-minute segment on the 1899 football team, and CSX Railroad provided a short train ride in Cowan, which was a re-enactment of an early leg of the Sewanee to Texas train ride.

Several writers and sports personalities consider this Sewanee team one of the greatest football teams to ever play. Former Penn State coach Joe Paterno once said "While there are some who would swear to the contrary, I did not see the 1899 Sewanee football team play in person. Winning five road games in six days, all by shutout scores, has to be one of the most staggering achievements in the history of the sport. If the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) had been in effect in 1899, there seems little doubt Sewanee would have played in the title game. And they wouldn’t have been done in by any computer ratings."^[31] Tony Barnhart in Southern Fried Football: The History, Passion and Glory of the Great Southern Game listed Sewanee as his number 1 Southern football team of all-time.^[32] A 16-team playoff to determine the best team in college football history with winners decided by fan votes was run by the College Football Hall of Fame, called the "March of the Gridiron Champions." Sewanee, starting at the lowest seed, won the tournament.^{[n 6]}

Personnel

Varsity lettermen

Line

Player	Position	Games started	Prep school	Height	Weight	Age
Ralph Peters Black	end
Richard E. Bolling	tackle
William "Wild Bill" Claiborne	guard
John William "Deacon" Jones	tackle
Henry S. Keyes	guard
Joseph Lee Kirby-Smith	tackle
Hugh Miller Thompson "Bunny" Pearce	end
William H. Poole	center
Bartlet Et Ultimus "The Caboose" Sims	end

Backfield

Player	Position	Games started	Prep school	Height	Weight	Age
Charles Quintard Gray	halfback
Ringland F. "Rex" Kilpatrick	halfback
Henry "Diddy" Seibels	halfback
Ormond Simkins	fullback
William "Warbler" Wilson	quarterback

Substitutes

Player	Position	Games started	Prep school	Height	Weight	Age
Preston S. Brooks	back
Harris G. Cope	quarterback
Albert T. Davidson
Andrew C. Evins
Daniel B. Hull	fullback
Landon R. Mason
Floy H. Parker
Herbert E. Smith

^[34]

Coaching staff

• Head coach: Billy Suter
• Manager: Luke Lea
• Trainer: Cal Burrows

Scoring leaders

The following is an incomplete list of statistics and scores, largely dependent on newspaper summaries.

Player	Touchdowns	Extra points	Field goals	Points
Henry Seibels	18	0	0	90
Rex Kilpatrick	11	0	0	55
Warbler Wilson	8	0	0	40
Quintard Gray	6	0	0	30
Daniel Hull	4	0	0	20
Ormond Simkins	2	10	0	20
B. U. Sims	0	18	0	18
Bunny Pearce	1	9	0	14
Deacon Jones	2	0	0	10
Richard Bolling	1	0	0	5
Unaccounted for v. LSU	3	0	0	15
Free kick v. UNC	0	0	1	5
Total	56	37	1	322

See also

• 1899 College Football All-Southern Team
• List of undefeated NCAA Division I football teams

Notes

Endnotes