It’s fortunate that the current Southern football powers don’t suppress recruiting of great black athletes like Southern politicians suppressing of Black voters. These great modern Southern football teams are lucky those don’t have to play the Florida State AM band.
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Thanks, Ray. Bama fan. Sewanee dad.
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Little interesting tidbit to add to this. 'Yea Alabama," Alabama' fight song written in 1926, has a line that says, "Go teach the bulldogs to behave . . . " That's a reference to Sewanee, not to Georgia or Mississippi State.
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The 10 points score against Sewanee in 1899 was a John Heisman coached Auburn team that was also undefeated but lost 11-10. And he was mad that some unknown little school shamed him.
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Who needs Bear Bryant and Nick Saban when you have “the template” from Sewanee for success? Who knew? The Bear and Saban. Overrated.
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Traffic light aficionados beware: the town of Sewanee only has one. Yankees visiting this slice of heaven on the Cumberland Plateau, be sure to stroll through Abbo's Alley (or hike the Perimeter Trail), oh and the pimento cheese at the Blue Chair might change your life. Last but not least if it snows try skiing down I-24 like I did as a sophomore. Roll Tide!
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Hmm. Somehow I'm not surprised that pursuing money and ignoring serious injury was baked in to southern football culture from the very beginning.
Sewanee is a an odd place - it has a fabulously robust seminary but its undergraduate programs are not well regarded. The culture is pretty twisted: it is the only college I have ever researched that brags about the number of private school kids are enrolled.
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@Cousy
Sewanee has produced more Rhode Scholars per capita than any other undergraduate institution in the country. And are currently ranked 3rd among all liberal arts colleges, right behind Williams and Swarthmore. If that isn't proof of a "well-regarded" undergraduate studies program, please tell me what is.
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I dare say most of the Swanee players graduated with a university degree unlike many of the players today who are used, abused and cast off as soon as their eligibility is over.
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I wonder how many of these football stalwarts went on to Sewanee's other legact and entered the priesthood? ..."Go Swanee, leav'em in the lurch....."
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"Tigers, Tigers, Leave 'em in the lurch
Down with the heathen
Up with the Church
Yay, Sewanee's Right!"
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Yea, Sewanee's right!
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Sewanee now has a reputation as one of the great small liberal arts schools in the country, and has long since learned that its highest mission is educating the nation's young people. Can Alabama and Clemson make a similar claim? Are they known outside their own states for anything other than sports? Do their (unpaid) student-athletes attain a "mens sana" during their college careers? Do the intercollegiate sports contribute to the other students' "corpore sano"?
Of the big 3 team sports, only baseball has a path to professional status out of high school. Football and basketball exploit the universities as farm leagues and the universities in turn exploit the student-athletes. The schools and the students both deserve better.
Sports can and should be a positive influence for our youth and in life generally, but I have lost all my enjoyment as a spectator because the exploitation makes me feel dirty just watching.
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@Tom
Well said. Sewanee has nothing to do with the football success or anything else at Alabama or Clemson. Sewanee itself didn’t think football was important and de-emphasized it’s program prior to WWII.
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@Tom --- As another example, I can't think of the last time I ever heard of Auburn University in connection with anything but football.
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@Bruce
Well, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple and an Auburn Graduate might disagree with you.
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My son and I toured this lovely rural southern institution in Tennessee where young men wear capes on campus. My son went elsewhere; perhaps my daughter will attend.
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@Tiger shark, it’s not only the men who wear the gowns (students earn the privilege to join the Order of the Gownsmen based on academic merit)! I proudly wore mine while a student there. And yes, it’s rural loveliness is something to behold.
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Tiger shark meant the capes that the Wellington drinking society wears, not the gowns. Only men can be Wellingtons.
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An event occurring prior to another event doesn’t prove causation. This is is the case with Sewanee. It didn’t have any effect on the Southeastern Conference of today or yesterday. The explosion of the populations of Georgia and Florida has much more of an influence on SEC football. Sewanee’s influence is about as great as Chicago’s leaving the Big Ten. Nothing.
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@Jeff P
The burden of proof lies with the one making the assertion. I’ve learned that after 25 years practicing law. Logic and reasoning is important. Did Sewanee’s 1899 team also cause the reintroduction of football at Florida State in 1947? I doubt anyone in Tallahassee was thinking of Sewanee football in 1947. Without much effort I can come up with hundreds of more plausible reasons for Alabama’s success today than the Sewanee team of 1899.
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@Shamrock
As a fan of SEC football and a resident of Franklin County (the home of Sewanee), I will attest to the influence which this historic program has exerted over football in the South. The history of the program is the fodder of local legend. After the decline from football prominence, the University hired a local coach to help restore the program, Shirley Majors. If you are a SEC fan you will know that Shirley's sons all played and coached the modern game, the most famous of which was John Majors, Heisman runner-up and National Championship winning coach. So as you see saying the historic teams of Sewanee have no influence on the modern game is uninformed and only your opinion.
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@Shamrock
Wrong on all counts.
1. Correct. It does not deductively "prove" causation. It is merely strong inductive evidence thereof.
2. Sewanee did have a huge early influence on football. There is a reason Sewanee--a school 20X smaller than most of the other schools in the SEC--was a founding member of the SEC.
In short, imagine what would happen today if a team went 332-10 for a perfect season. WOW. That is 33.2 points scored by Sewanee for every point score against. W.T.F?! That sounds like the best college football season of all time to me.
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Fabulous article. I love this history of college football. It was a rough and dangerous sport then, not for the faint of heart and still is now. I played in high school in the 50s. I went both ways, much to my detriment. It was one platoon. Blocking and pass catching were my specialties. But tackling runners bigger than me knocked me out of several games. And I still love this savage, violent sport. And I love visiting the Sewanee camopus. paul in bessemer
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I know the University of the South and Sewanee, TN but had no idea of this legacy. If you haven’t been, go. A beautiful spot on planet Earth, and a heartbeat from Chattanooga if you need a bit more zip.
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