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 (1st season)
Captain	Henry Seibels
Home stadium	Hardee Field
Seasons ← 1898 1900 →

1899 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings
v t	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Sewanee $	11	–	0	–	0			12	–	0	–	0
Vanderbilt	5	–	0	–	0			7	–	2	–	0
Alabama	1	–	0	–	0			3	–	1	–	0
Nashville	3	–	1	–	0			3	–	1	–	0
Tennessee	2	–	1	–	0			6	–	2	–	0
Auburn	2	–	1	–	1			3	–	1	–	1
Texas	3	–	2	–	0			6	–	2	–	0
North Carolina	1	–	1	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Ole Miss	3	–	4	–	0			3	–	4	–	0
Georgia	2	–	3	–	1			2	–	3	–	1
Clemson	1	–	2	–	0			4	–	2	–	0
Central (KY)	1	–	2	–	0			1	–	2	–	0
LSU	1	–	3	–	0			1	–	4	–	0
Kentucky State	0	–	1	–	0			5	–	2	–	2
SW Presbyterian	0	–	1	–	0			1	–	1	–	0
Cumberland (TN)	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 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. Sewanee was one of the first college football powers of the South and the 1899 team was one of its best. The 1899 Tigers won 12 games and lost none, outscored opponents 322–10, 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][a]

The team was led by head coach Herman "Billy" Suter and future College Football Hall of Famer and captain Henry "Diddy" Seibels. The team also featured Ormond Simkins,^[b] and the team's manager was future US Senator and newspaper publisher Luke Lea. The 11 extra points against Cumberland by Bart Sims is still a school record. 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 Sewanee team came to dominate football in the region during the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries.^[c] Like several other football powers of yore such as the University of Chicago, Sewanee today emphasizes scholarship over athletics.^[d]

Sewanee had seven starters return from the undefeated 1898 team.^[7] 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.^[8]

Schedule[]

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
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	Hardee Field Sewanee, TN	W 46–0		[9]
November 3		Southwestern Presbyterian	Hardee Field Sewanee, TN	W 54–0
November 9		at Texas	Varsity 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	4:00 p.m.	at Tulane	New Orleans, LA	W 23–0	~1,000
November 13		at LSU	State Field Baton Rouge, LA	W 34–0	2,000+
November 14		vs. Ole Miss	Billings Park Memphis, TN	W 12–0
November 20		Cumberland (TN)	Hardee 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:^[10]

Season summary[]

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:[11]

Fullback Ormond Simkins was the star of the 12–0 opening win over the Georgia Bulldogs, netting the first touchdown with a fine line buck of 12 yards through center "amidst thunderous applause".^[12] Halfback Rex Kilpatrick scored a second touchdown on a 4-yard run.^[11]

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), and Simkins (fullback).^[8][11]

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. Referee: Rowbotham Sources:[12]

Sewanee followed the defeat of Georgia with a 32–0 victory over Georgia Tech on the following Monday.^[12] Sewanee won easily, the first score coming soon after the kickoff on a blocked kick recovered by halfback Quintard Gray.^[12] Gray scored the next touchdown on a 25-yard end run. Just fifteen minutes had passed when halfback and captain Diddy Seibels scored the third touchdown.^[12] The next three touchdowns were also scored by Seibels, including pretty runs of 35 and 40 yards.^[12] The team played its substitutes in the second half.^[12]

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), Gray (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), and Simkins (fullback).^[13]

Tennessee[]

Tennessee vs. Sewanee

1 2 Total Tennessee 0 0 0 • Sewanee 29 17 46 Date: October 28 Location: McGee Field Sewanee, TN Sources:[14]

In a driving rain at McGee Field, "where each 5-yard line was a miniature stream",^[15] Sewanee beat the Tennessee Volunteers 46–0. Diddy Seibels led the scoring with three touchdowns.^[14] "Touchdown followed touchdown, until Sewanee finally stopped scoring from sheer exhaustion" to quote The Sewanee Purple.^[15]

The starting lineup was: 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), and Simkins (fullback).^[14]

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:[16]

Sewanee next defeated Southwestern Presbyterian 54–0. The Sewanee Purple wrote: "Never before in the history of football at Sewanee have we piled up such a score against an opponent."^[16]

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), Gray (left halfback), Seibels (right halfback), and Simkins (fullback).^[16]

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. After a disagreement with traditional rival Vanderbilt University over gate receipts resulting in the 1899 game being canceled, manager Luke Lea sought a way to make up for the lost revenue. To accomplish this he 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.^[17][18] 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.^[19] Contemporary sources called the road trip the most remarkable ever made by an American college team.^[20]

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:[21]

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 12–0. They 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".^[21] 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.^[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), and Simkins (fullback).^[21]

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:[22]

Not 20 hours had passed since the Texas game before the Tigers faced the Texas A&M Aggies. The Tigers won 10–0. Guard Wild Bill Claiborne was blind in one eye, and used his discolored eye for purposes of intimidation saying: "See this? I lost it yesterday in Austin. This afternoon I'm getting a new one!"^[23] 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]

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), Gray (right halfback), and Simkins (fullback).^[22]

Tulane[]

Sewanee at Tulane

1 2 Total • Sewanee 17 6 23 Tulane 0 0 0 Date: November 11 Location: New Orleans, LA Game start: 4:00 p. m. Game attendance: ~1,000 Referee: E. L. Simonds Sources:[24]

After another 350-mile overnight train leg, the Tigers beat Tulane in New Orleans 23–0. 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.^[24]

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), and Simkins (fullback).^[24]

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:[25]

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.^[26] Sewanee then defeated LSU 34–0.

Diddy Seibels scored first. Sewanee's next run from scrimmage was 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."^[25]

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), Gray (right halfback), and Simkins (fullback).^[27]

Ole Miss[]

Sewanee vs. Ole Miss

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

The Tigers arrived in Memphis to play Ole Miss 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 before the final whistle.^[3] The game was attended by "several hundred spectators".^[28]

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:[29]

Seemingly unfazed by the travel, the following week the Tigers crushed the Cumberland Bulldogs, 71–0.^[29] 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."^[29] Bart Sims had a school record 11 extra points, and Ormond Simkins rested instead of playing.^[29]

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), and Brooks (fullback)^[30]

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:[31]

For the championship of the South,^[32] Sewanee faced John Heisman's Auburn team winning the contest by a narrow margin of 11–10. Auburn was the only team to score on Sewanee all year, when they ran an early version of the hurry-up offense,^[33] and played exceptionally well on defense.^[31]

After being held on downs at the 10-yard line,^[34] Auburn again drove down the field and scored first when Bivins ran in a touchdown.^[31] Ed Huguley followed this up with another 50-yard touchdown run, but the referee disallowed it.^[e]

Sewanee responded once as Rex Kilpatrick ran outside the tackle for a 10-yard touchdown.^[31] Auburn back Arthur Feagin, with Huguley's interference, scored to make it 10 to 5 in favor of Auburn.^[31]

A controversial fumble recovery by Sewanee may have saved the game. Auburn quarterback Reynolds Tichenor said it was a gift; the referee awarded Sewanee the ball, but he insisted Auburn recovered it.^[31] A double pass play to Warbler Wilson got the ensuing Sewanee touchdown. Bart Sims made the extra point to edge Auburn.^[31] Neither team managed to score in the second half. The delay from the crowd gathering on the field ran the game into darkness.^[31]

Sportswriter Fuzzy Woodruff, a witness to the game, wrote:^[35][36]

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...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...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.

The starting lineup was: 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), and Simkins (fullback).^[31][36]

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:[37]

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, including a goal line stand,^[38] and Seibels' punting gained 10 yards on each exchange of punts.^[37] A single free kick from placement by Simkins proved the difference.^[37]

Simkins had signaled for a fair catch, but North Carolina's Frank M. Osborne collided with him.^[37] Sewanee was awarded fifteen yards and the free kick.^[37] The star for the Tar Heels that day was Herman Koehler.^[37]

The starting lineup was: 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), and Hull (fullback).

Postseason[]

Awards and honors[]

W. A. Lambeth of Virginia in the journal Outing and Coach Suter both posted All-Southern teams.^[39][40][f] Included on Suter's All-Southern were: Richard Bolling, Wild Bill Claiborne, Deacon Jones, Rex Kilpatrick, William H. Poole, Diddy Seibels, Ormond Simkins, and Warbler Wilson.^[42][43] Wilson was also selected All-Southern by Lambeth. Bart 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 (although the |2020 Alabama Crimson Tide did tie it 121 years later with an 11-0 conference record with an all-SEC regular-season schedule adjusted to deal with the COVID pandemic).^[44] 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 ever to 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."^[45] 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.^[46] 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.^[g]

Personnel[]

Varsity lettermen[]

Line[]

Player	Position	Games started	Hometown	Prep school	Height	Weight	Age
Richard E. Bolling	tackle	10	Edna, Texas		5'10"
William "Wild Bill" Claiborne	guard	11	Amherst Co., Virginia	Roanoke College	6'0"	190
John William "Deacon" Jones	tackle	11	Marshall, Texas
Henry S. Keyes	guard	10	Cambridge, Massachusetts
Hugh Miller Thompson "Bunny" Pearce	end	9	Jackson, Mississippi		5'3"	125
William H. Poole	center	10	Glyndon, Maryland		6'0"	185	19
Bartlet Et Ultimus "The Caboose" Sims	end	10	Bryan, Texas		6'0"	185	21

Backfield[]

Player	Position	Games started	Hometown	Prep school	Height	Weight	Age
Charles Quintard Gray	halfback	4	Ocala, Florida
Ringland F. "Rex" Kilpatrick	halfback	9	Bridgeport, Alabama		6'1"	185	18
Henry "Diddy" Seibels	halfback	9	Montgomery, Alabama		5'10"	170	23
Ormond Simkins	fullback	10	Corsicana, Texas		5'10"	163	20
William "Warbler" Wilson	quarterback	11	Rock Hill, South Carolina		5'10"	154	22

Substitutes[]

Player	Position	Games started	Hometown	Prep school	Height	Weight	Age
Ralph Peters Black	end	1	Atlanta, Georgia		6'0"	158
Preston S. Brooks	back	1	Sewanee, Tennessee
Harris G. Cope	quarterback		Savannah, Georgia	Taft School		117	16
Albert T. Davidson			Augusta, Georgia
Andrew C. Evins			Spartanburg, South Carolina
Daniel B. Hull	fullback	1	Savannah, Georgia		5'10"	160
Joseph Lee Kirby-Smith	tackle	1	Sewanee, Tennessee			156	17
Landon R. Mason			Marshall, Virginia
Floy H. Parker			Canton, Mississippi
Herbert E. Smith

^[48]

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
Bart 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[]

References[]

Books[]

• Barnhart, Tony (2008). Southern Fried Football: The History, Passion and Glory of the Great Southern Game. ISBN 9781623684884.
• Givens, Wendell (2003). Ninety-Nine Iron: The Season Sewanee Won Five Games in Six Days. Fire Ant Books. ISBN 0-8173-5062-4.
• Scott, Richard (2008). SEC Football: 75 Years of Pride and Passion. ISBN 9781616731335.
• Walsh, Christopher J. (2007). Who's #1?. ISBN 9781461734765.
• Woodruff, Fuzzy (1928). A History of Southern Football 1890–1928. 1.