Sewanee Tigers football
First season1891
Athletic directorJohn Shackelford
Head coachAndy McCollum
1st season, 3–7 (.300)
StadiumMcGee Field
(capacity: 1,200)
Field surfaceArtificial turf
LocationSewanee, Tennessee
ConferenceSouthern Athletic Association
All-time record489–539–39 (.477)
Conference titles15
RivalriesVanderbilt Commodores
Tennessee Volunteers
Rhodes Lynx
ColorsPurple and gold[1]
   
Websitesewaneetigers.com

The Sewanee Tigers football team represents Sewanee: The University of the South in the sport of American football. The Tigers compete in NCAA Division III as members of the Southern Athletic Association (SAA).

Three Sewanee Tigers are members of the College Football Hall of Fame: Henry Seibels, Henry D. Phillips, and Frank Juhan.

History

The Sewanee Tigers were pioneers in American intercollegiate athletics and possessed the Deep South's preeminent football program in the 1890s. Ellwood Wilson is considered the "founder of Sewanee football."[2] Their 1899 football team had perhaps the best season in college football history, winning all 12 of their games, 11 by shutout, and outscoring their opponents 322-10. Five of those wins, all shutouts, came in a six-day period while on a 2,500-mile (4,000 km) trip by train. Ten of their 12 opponents, including all five of their road trip victims, remain major college football powers to this day.[3] In 2012, the College Football Hall of Fame held a vote of the greatest historic teams of all time, where the 1899 Iron Men beat the 1961 Alabama Crimson Tide as the greatest team of all time.[4]

Sewanee was a charter member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1894, and also a charter member of the Southeastern Conference upon its formation in 1932, but by this time its athletic program had declined precipitously and Sewanee never won a conference football game in the eight years it was an SEC member. The Tigers were shut out 26 times in their 37 SEC games, and were outscored by a combined total of 1163–84.[3]

When vice chancellor Benjamin Ficklin Finney, who had reportedly objected to Sewanee joining the SEC, left his position in 1938, the leading candidate was Alexander Guerry, a former president of the University of Chattanooga. According to a university historian, Guerry agreed to come to Sewanee only if the school stopped awarding athletic scholarships. In 1940, two years after Guerry's arrival, Sewanee withdrew from the SEC and subsequently deemphasized varsity athletics. Guerry's stance is sometimes credited as an early step toward the 1973 creation of NCAA Division III, which prohibits athletic scholarships.[3]

Yea, Sewanee's Right!

"Yea, Sewanee's Right!" is the surviving last line of an old football cheer: "Rip `em up! Tear `em up! Leave `em in the lurch. Down with the heathen. Up with the Church.–Yea, Sewanee's Right!" The heathen may have been the Methodists of Vanderbilt which would date the cheer in the 1890s; the cheer was sometimes also used against Hampden-Sydney.[5] Now used as an alternative motto and often shouted at the end of the Alma Mater. When used with the Alma Mater it is preceded by the transitional formula of an extended pause followed by "Yea, Sewanee's Right!"

Conference history

Conference championships

Sewanee has won 15 conference championships, nine outright and six shared.[6][7]

Season Coach Conference Overall record Conference record
1898J. G. JayneSouthern Intercollegiate Athletic Association4–03–0
1899Billy SuterSouthern Intercollegiate Athletic Association12–011–0
1909Harris G. CopeSouthern Intercollegiate Athletic Association6–14–0
1963Shirley MajorsSouthern Collegiate Athletic Conference8–04–0
1964 †Shirley MajorsSouthern Collegiate Athletic Conference8–13–1
1965Shirley MajorsSouthern Collegiate Athletic Conference7–14–0
1967Shirley MajorsSouthern Collegiate Athletic Conference5–33–1
1975 †Shirley MajorsSouthern Collegiate Athletic Conference6–34–0
1976Shirley MajorsSouthern Collegiate Athletic Conference5–44–0
1978 †Horace MooreSouthern Collegiate Athletic Conference4–43–1
1979 †Horace MooreSouthern Collegiate Athletic Conference7–23–1
1982Horace MooreSouthern Collegiate Athletic Conference7–24–1
1990 †Bill SamkoSouthern Collegiate Athletic Conference6–33–1
1992Bill SamkoSouthern Collegiate Athletic Conference8–14–0
2000 †John WindhamSouthern Collegiate Athletic Conference6–44–2

† denotes shared championship

All-Time Sewanee Tigers football team

References

  1. ↑ Sewanee Tigers | Athletics Visual Identity Guidelines (PDF). Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Founder of Tiger Football Tells How". Sewanee Alumni News. 8 (1): 7. December 1941.
  3. 1 2 3 Dorsey, Patrick (September 23, 2011). "Sewanee, long-lost member of the SEC". Page 2. ESPN.com. Retrieved September 29, 2011.
  4. ↑ Martin, Cam (9 May 2012). "Sewanee puffs out chest with historic title - Sports Fans, Teams, Stadiums, Page 2 - Fandom Blog - ESPN Playbook - ESPN". Espn.go.com. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
  5. ↑ "A Sewanee Glossary". Archived from the original on February 20, 2010.
  6. ↑ http://www.scacsports.com/inside_athletics/record_book_files/2017-18/2017_Fall_Record_Book.pdf
  7. ↑ "Football Coaching Records - Sewanee Athletics". Archived from the original on 2018-03-04. Retrieved 2018-03-03.
  8. ↑ "Sewanee's All-Time Football Team". Sewanee Alumni News. February 1949.
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