Bucknell Football a Century of Tradition
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BBUCKNELLUCKNELL FFOOTBALLOOTBALL HHISTORYISTORY BBUCKNELLUCKNELL FFOOTBALLOOTBALL A CCENTURYENTURY OOFF TTRADITIONRADITION Th e game bore little resemblance to what we now know as football, and even one of the school names has been changed. In November of 1883, a group of students from Lafayette College journeyed west to play a group from the University at Lewisburg in the relatively new sport of football. Th e sport was so new, in fact, that the majority of the dozen or so students from Lewisburg, who did not have a coach and had practiced only briefl y, had never seen a game of football before playing in one. Th e players from Lewisburg, whose school would be renamed Bucknell University in 1886, lost that fi rst game, 59-0, and perhaps because of that experience, their school did not play another offi cial game until 1887. Still, the seeds had been planted for a program that would grow into one of the most respected programs in the East by the 1950s, and will celebrate its 121st season in 2006. Scores of marvelous players have donned the Orange and Blue over the course of the 120 seasons of Bucknell football, and each season gives rise to new names, new heroes, new legends. Here is a quick trip through the colorful tradition that is Bucknell football: 11891891 11924924 Still playing without a full-time coach, Bucknell gains its fi rst Th e team sets a then-school record for victories with an 8-2 mark and victory ever with a 16-10 triumph over Lafayette. Th e Bison also meets Lafayette on October 18 in the fi rst football game ever played in defeat Cornell (4-0) and Penn State (12-10) on their way to a 6-2-1 Memorial Stadium. Wally record. Th e team includes Andrew Wyant, who later goes on to play Foster, the captain of that for the legendary Amos Alonzo Stagg at the University of Chicago Bucknell team, scores the and is a member of both the Bucknell Hall of Fame and the National fi rst points in stadium his- Football Hall of Fame. tory. 11900900 11931931 Christy Mathewson concludes his marvelous Bucknell football Led by future NFL Hall career and begins a professional baseball career that ranks among of Famer Clarke Hinkle, the best of all time. A hard-running fullback and tackler, “Matty” Bucknell rolls to an un- also excels as a kicker and gains national attention with two fi eld beaten 6-0-3 record. The goals against Army. Bison’s undefeated mark is tested in the fi nal game of the season, against also- 11918918 unbeaten Fordham, but the Bucknell records the fi rst of its three undefeated seasons. En route Bison prevail, 14-13, in a classic at the Polo Grounds. to a 6-0 record, the Bison are nothing short of dominant, outscor- ing opponents 236-7. Th e season ushers in a quarter-century of prosperity, as Bucknell enjoys 24 winning seasons in the next 26 11934934 years. Edward (Hook) Mylin leads the Bison to a 6-2-2 regular-season record and a berth in the fi rst Orange Bowl game, on January 1, 1935. After a two-day train trip to Miami for the game, Bucknell hammers the University of Miami, 26-0. 11951951 In the midst of a four-year stretch in which Bucknell goes 27-8, head coach Harry Lawrence and his team fi nish perfect at 9-0, perhaps the fi nest season in school history. Th e defense includes Little All-America defensive tackle George Young (long-time general manager of the Bucknell’s 1899 football team — Christy Mathewson is in the back row, third from the right. 2006 Bucknell Football • 98 • www.BucknellBison.com BBUCKNELLUCKNELL FFOOTBALLOOTBALL HHISTORYISTORY New York Giants), while the relentless off ense averages 463.3 yards 11989989 per game. Th at breaks the Eastern record set in 1945 by a Davis- and Bucknell’s newly-renovated stadium is rededicated in honor of Christy Blanchard-led Army team. Mathewson. Much like the stadium’s namesake, Bucknell opens play in the “new” facility with a victory, handing Dartmouth a 36-20 setback on September 30. 11960960 After opening the season at 2-2, Bucknell rolls past Lafayette, Lehigh, Colgate, Temple and Delaware — by a combined score of 107-14 — to 11995995 fi nish 7-2 and win its fi rst-ever Lambert Cup. Quarterback Paul Terhes Th e Tom Gadd tenure begins at Bucknell, and the Bison fi nish 7-4. Rich earns Little All-America honors. Lemon becomes Bucknell’s all-time rushing leader on opening day. 11964964 11996996 Just four years after leading Bucknell to its fi rst Lambert Cup title, Fittingly, Rich Lemon concludes head coach Bob Odell repeats that feat, as the Bison fi nish 7-2. After his remarkable career with a opening the season with a loss, Bucknell wins seven of the next eight Patriot League title, as Bucknell games, including a 21-14 season-ending win at Delaware. Th e Bison outlasts Colgate, 28-27, in the squad features Little All-America end Tom Mitchell, who would later heart-stopping season fi nale. Th e enjoy a fi ne pro career with Baltimore and San Francisco. win gives Bucknell its fi rst foot- ball title in over 30 years. Lemon graduated with 4,742 rushing 11968968 yards, nearly 2,100 more than the Sam Havrilak sets a Bucknell single- previous record-holder. game total offense record with 397 Bucknell’s all-time leading yards against Colgate, a mark that still rusher Rich Lemon. stands. Havrilak, who would gradu- 11997997 ate with every Bucknell total off ense Th e Bison roll out to a 10-0 record before falling to Colgate in their record, later played with Tom Mitchell season fi nale to fi nish 10-1. Th e 10 wins were the most in school his- for the Baltimore Colts. tory, and many came in thrilling fashion, as the Bison won seven times by seven points or less. Sam Havrilak 11978978 Ken Jenkins arrives at Bucknell, and over the next four years, devel- 22001001 ops into one of the fi nest players in Bucknell history. He would set a Bucknell celebrates its seventh straight winning season, a fi rst in school record with 1,270 rushing yards in 1980, and he later played Bison annals. with three NFL teams. 22003003 11986986 After the legendary Tom Gadd loses a long battle with brain cancer, Two years after formation of the league is announced, the Colonial Bucknell turns to Tim Landis as its 25th head coach. Landis quickly League (later renamed the Patriot League) debuts with six members resores the good fortunes of the Bison football program. After a 2- — Bucknell, Colgate, Lehigh, Lafayette, Holy Cross and Davidson. Th e 9/0-7 season in 2002, Bucknell fi nishes 6-6/4-3 to complete one of Bison’s fi rst-ever league game is one for the ages. Trailing Colgate in the nation’s best one-season turnarounds. the fourth quarter, 39-25, Bucknell rallies to take a 40-39 lead with 52 seconds left, but the Red Raiders drive for a game-winning fi eld goal at- tempt with four seconds left. After a bobbled snap from center, Colgate 22004004 completes an impromptu pass play that nearly goes for a touchdown, Bucknell wins its fi nal four games of the season for the fi rst time since but Bison defensive back Robert Hawkins drags down the receiver at 1975 to claim its fi rst winning season since 2001 with a 7-4 record. the 9-yard line on the fi nal play of the game. 2006 Bucknell Football • 99 • www.BucknellBison.com BBUCKNELLUCKNELL FFOOTBALLOOTBALL HHISTORYISTORY TTHEHE TTOPOP 1100 A LLOOKOOK AATT TTHEHE 1100 MMOSTOST SSIGNIFICANTIGNIFICANT BBUCKNELLUCKNELL FFOOTBALLOOTBALL GAMESGAMES EEVERVER PPLAYEDLAYED . ANDAND THETHE ONEONE THATTHAT WASN’TWASN’T By Brad Tufts Late that year, Bucknell beat Navy, 6-0, and Rutgers, Stephen Taylor wasn’t able to observe a football 12-7, to highlight the fi rst of team practicing as he made his way to Harrisburg three seasons in which Bucknell early in 1846 with the proposed charter for the was coached by “Uncle Charlie” fl edgling University at Lewisburg, but even before Moran, who had led Centre the name of the school was changed in recognition of College’s “Praying Colonels” to benefactor William Bucknell, the sport had been in- a memorable upset of Harvard. troduced on campus and gained some popularity. Th e Bison fi nished 8-2 in 1924, Today, the sport is a fi xture on fall Saturdays, which represented the most and its history is prominent in any accounting of victories ever by a Bucknell Bucknell’s athletic heritage. Th e Bison gridiron story team. (did you know that the word “gridiron” derives from Moran’s 1925 team visited the manner in which the fi eld was formerly marked?) President Calvin Coolidge in the includes many notable games, and we could probably White House while in Washing- argue for the next 150 years as to which were the ton to play Georgetown, and most signifi cant. the Bison were rolling along The Bison of 1895 ... their legacy endures more than a Before designating the 10 most significant at 6-2-1 when they played at century later. games, please permit a look back at some of the the University of Detroit on more noteworthy games played by Bucknell football Th anksgiving Day. Th e Bison won that game, 7-0, phreys, the Bison won at Penn State, 14-0.