1921 Centre vs. Harvard football game
Centre vs. Harvard, 1921 | |||||||||||||||||||
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Date | October 29, 1921 | ||||||||||||||||||
Season | Referee | R. W. Maxwell |
The 1921 Centre vs. Harvard football game was a regular-season collegiate American football game played on October 29, 1921, at Harvard Stadium in Boston, Massachusetts. The contest featured the undefeated Centre Praying Colonels, representing Centre College, and the undefeated Harvard Crimson, representing Harvard University. The teams had played for the first time the year prior; Centre, led by Charley Moran, shocked many by taking a tie into halftime but ultimately Bob Fisher's Harvard squad took control in the second half and won the game. Centre played well enough to warrant a rematch the following year, and the Colonels, led by quarterback Bo McMillin and halfback Norris Armstrong, again found themselves tied with the Crimson at halftime. Less than two minutes into the game's third quarter, McMillin rushed for a touchdown and in doing so gave the visitors a 6–0 lead. The conversion failed but the Centre defense held for the remainder of the game; Harvard threatened and even reached the Centre 3-yard line at one point but were unable to score. Regaining possession with several minutes remaining in the game, the Praying Colonels were able to keep the ball and run out the clock to secure a six-point victory and maintain their perfect record.
Centre's defeat of Harvard is widely considered one of the greatest upsets in college football history. The game is often referred to by the shorthand C6H0; this originated shortly after the game when a Centre professor remarked that Harvard had been poisoned by this "impossible" chemical formula. This stuck, and students began writing the formula all around campus as soon as word arrived of their team's victory. When the Centre team returned to Danville, Kentucky, two days following the game, they were received as heroes and were paraded down Main Street by a party which included Governor Edwin P. Morrow. Harvard lost another game the following week to Princeton and finished the season with a 7–2–1 record, while Centre finished the regular season with four wins before defeating Arizona in the San Diego East-West Christmas Classic. Their lone defeat came on January 2, 1922, to Texas A&M in the Dixie Classic, leaving them with a 10–1 record to finish the season.
Background
Recent years
Football was played only informally at Harvard in 1917 and 1918 because of World War I.[1] The team returned in 1919 under the leadership of new head coach Bob Fisher.[2] Harvard finished their 1919 season with an undefeated record; they did not allow a point to be scored against them for the first six games of the season, until a 10–10 tie with Princeton.[3] They went on to win the Tournament East-West Football Game against Oregon, 7–6,[4] and were retroactively named outright national champions by two selectors.[5] The team continued its success in 1920, finishing the season with another undefeated record[6] which was similarly blemished only by a tie with Princeton.[7] The Crimson were again retroactively selected to a share of the national championship, though this time only by one selector as the majority chose undefeated and untied California instead.[5]
After an undefeated start to the decade in
Howard Reynolds, the sports editor at The Boston Post, was the first to come up with the idea that Harvard's football team should add Centre College to its schedule; after hearing about their 1919 win against West Virginia, he went with former Harvard halfback Eddie Mahan to scout the Colonels. After watching them defeat Georgetown College by a seventy-point margin, both men were sufficiently impressed and Centre was added to the 1920 schedule.[13]
1920 meeting
The teams first met on October 23, 1920,
The Praying Colonels surprised many simply by taking a 14–14 tie into halftime.
McMillin and captain
Starting the 1921 season
Both Centre and Harvard entered their 1921 meeting undefeated.
Harvard began their season with shutout defeats of Boston University and Middlebury College as part of a doubleheader on September 24.[38] Their next game was a 3–0 defeat of Holy Cross which saw Charles Buell score the lone points of the game on a drop kick field goal in the third quarter.[39] The last of Harvard's four consecutive shutout victories came against Indiana by a nineteen-point margin,[40] though they continued their winning ways against Georgia the following week by a score of 10–7.[41] Their final game before hosting Centre was a matchup with Penn State, in which they played to a 21–21 tie.[42]
The Centre–Harvard matchup captivated media attention in the weeks leading up to the game; on October 21, Boston Post reporter Howard Reynolds arrived in Danville. He sent reports back to Boston by telegram regularly detailing Centre's preparation and rode with the team from Danville to Boston. During the buildup numerous publications assigned reporters to Boston, including the Louisville Herald, Louisville Evening Post, Courier Journal, Louisville Times, Kentucky Advocate, Daily Messenger, Lexington Herald, and Lexington Leader.[43]
Players and personnel
Harvard, in the third season of Bob Fisher's tenure as head coach, was captained by R. Keith Kane.[44] The starting offensive line for the contest with Centre consisted of left tackle Alexander Ladd, left guard Charles Hubbard, center Francis Kernan, right guard Fiske Brown, and right tackle Philip Kunhardt. Henry Janin started for the Crimson at left end and Charles Macomber started at right end. Harvard started two halfbacks: Francis Rouillard was on the left, and Vinton Chapin on the right. Erwin Gehrke was the starting fullback and the team's starting quarterback was Frank Johnson.[45][46] Kernan, Kunhardt, Rouillard, and Gehrke were the four changes to Harvard's lineup against Penn State the previous week; they took the field against Centre in the place of Henry Clark, Alexander Ladd, George Owen, and Winthrop Churchill, respectively.[47]
Fisher's varsity coaching staff included only former Harvard players, a practice he had implemented from the time he took the head coaching position. In total, the team had seventeen coaches, including eleven assistants for the varsity squad and five coaches assigned to the freshman team. Tommy Campbell, the former North Carolina head coach and a Harvard alumnus, was the new freshman team head coach for the 1921 season. These numbers were in contrast to Centre's coaching staff, which totaled two (or three, including director of athletics Robert Myers).[48]
Centre was led by fifth-year head coach Charley Moran; the team captain was starting right halfback Norris Armstrong.
The Colonels experienced some changes in their squad compared to the year prior, including the departure of center Red Weaver, a 1919 consensus All-American,[29] for a coaching job at New River State College (now West Virginia Tech).[54] Additionally, Centre was unable to field punter and end Ed "Lefty" Whitnell[55] for the contest due to his poor grades; rather than travel with the team anyway, he stayed in Danville and announced game updates at a local theater as they were received from Boston.[29] Several weeks before the game, Ganfield announced that he was resigning as president so that he could take the presidency of his alma mater, Carroll College. However, his Carroll contract stipulated that he would not leave Centre before the Harvard game and so his resignation took effect on December 1, 1921.[56][57]
Game summary
The contest was refereed by R. W. Maxwell.[45] He was assisted by a crew of three other officials: umpire W. R. Crowley, linesman J. J. Tigert, and field judge W. G. Crowell;[45] Maxwell and Crowell, both from Swarthmore College, had also been part of the officiating crew for the Centre–Harvard game the year prior.[58] Entering the contest, sportswriters and pundits gave Harvard 3-to-1 odds to win,[59] though some felt that Centre had a better chance to win than they had the year prior,[60] especially given their improved line play.[61] The Crimson entered on a 25-game undefeated streak,[19] having last lost a varsity-level non-informal game on November 25, 1916.[62][a] Tickets sold for $2 apiece (equivalent to $34 in 2023);[64] the game was sold out and attendance was expected to be around 45,000 people.[65] The game began at 2:30 p.m. ET.[64]
Centre won the
Centre kicked off to begin the third quarter and Harvard returned the kick to their own 15-yard line; the Crimson punted shortly after. Centre's Tom Bartlett took the return to the Harvard 45-yard line and the ball was further advanced down the field after the Crimson were penalized for
Maxwell personally handed the game ball to McMillin upon the game's conclusion.[75] It was then handed to future Kentucky governor Happy Chandler,[71] a former Transylvania University football player attending the game while a student at Harvard Law School,[71] who carried it safely away from the crowd.[71] Around ten thousand fans descended from the stands and gathered on the field after the game, including students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,[76] in support of Centre,[77] who tore down the goal posts.[76]
Aftermath
Game analysis
McMillin was praised by The Danville Daily Messenger in their recap of the game.[75] Harvard ran only four different plays on offense, all described as having been "not at all intricate", and did not change their strategy even after falling behind.[78] They started more of their bench players than usual, though all except three of their usual starters ended up recording game time;[29] this was due to several injuries sustained by players during their game the week prior against Penn State, who were likely taking extra precaution to rest so that they would be ready to play against Princeton the following week.[43] Centre surprised sportswriters with its own offensive plan, involving far more rushing and fewer passes than were expected, in spite of their fewer numbers and smaller size,[29] though this was intentional as Centre had intended to conceal some of the more elaborate parts of their gameplan until the second half so as to avoid giving Harvard the opportunity to make adjustments at halftime.[50]
McMillin, in his own analysis of the game, complemented the performance of his offense; he praised the offensive lineman as "heroes" and said that "no better blockers ever played football".[29]
Immediate impact and reactions
Once the game ended, McMillin was carried off of the field on the shoulders of fans.[79] On their way back to their hotel, the Centre team was met by large crowds, as they had during much of both of their visits to Harvard.[29] After the game, Harvard coach Bob Fisher said "In Bo McMillin Centre has a man who is probably the hardest in the country to stop."[73] Centre's win brought profit to its team in addition to pride; McMillin and several other players had placed large bets on themselves in the days before the game and had sent another Centre student, Gus King, to Boston the week prior to do the same. A reporter with the Courier Journal said that McMillin had more money with him on the train home than would have been present in a small bank and lineman George Chinn remarked that he had never seen so much money in one place.[29]
The Centre team returned to Danville on October 31 and were greeted by a homecoming party which included Governor Morrow, the Danville chamber of commerce,[75] the superintendent of education,[29] and 10,000 citizens.[80] Upon exiting their train, the team was paraded down Main Street.[75] Classes were cancelled at Centre and the local school district on the day of the team's return[81] and "Victory Day" was observed in nearby Harrodsburg on November 6, where another parade was held for the team.[82] Morrow later remarked that he would "rather be Bo McMillin at this moment than the governor of Kentucky" and The Advocate-Messenger declared McMillin the "hero of [the] football world" the following week.[83]
The phrase by which the game is most commonly known, "C6H0", originated from a comment made by a Centre professor shortly following the game: that Harvard had been "poisoned" by the organic compound with that formula.[84] It stuck, and students painted the so-called "impossible formula" all around Danville,[30] including on various buildings around campus[29] and on the flank of a cow.[85]
Concluding the season and final meeting
The Centre victory was a shock, but perhaps not a fluke; the team finished the 1921 regular season 9–0, with shutout defeats of
Harvard's loss to Centre turned out to be the first of back-to-back defeats for the Crimson, as they fell by a seven-point margin to Princeton the following week in their first and only game of the season played away from Harvard Stadium. Their schedule concluded with wins over Brown, by two points, and Yale, by seven, leaving them with a record of 7–2–1. They finished having outscored their opponents 101 to 54.[94]
A third Centre–Harvard game had been proposed in the locker room right after the end of the second game by Fred Moore, a graduate manager for the Harvard, who handed Moran $10,000 (equivalent to $171,000 in 2023) as an offer.[95] He accepted, and Centre and Harvard met for a third and final time on October 21, 1922, again at Harvard Stadium. The Crimson won this game, 24–10, finishing a two-games-to-one series win for the home team. Harvard jumped out to an early advantage and had a 21–0 lead after the first quarter.[96] Despite their offense finding little success after this,[97] they held the lead after each team scored a field goal in the second quarter and the visitors concluded the scoring with a fourth-quarter touchdown.[96]
Legacy
The game is generally viewed as one of the largest upsets in the history of college football.[98] In 1950, the Associated Press named it the greatest sports upset of the first half of the 20th century,[13] and The New York Times proclaimed it the "upset of the century".[84] ESPN named it the third-biggest upset in the history of college football the following year[99] and the game was ranked fourth in a similar list published by Bleacher Report in 2011.[100] The game also ranked No. 126 on an ESPN list of the 150 greatest college football games of all time, released in 2019.[101] In recaps of the game from the early 21st century, Centre's win over Harvard has been compared to upsets of programs such as USC and Alabama.[102][84][103] In a 2011 article, The Harvard Crimson compared it to Appalachian State's 2007 upset of Michigan.[30]
McMillin was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.[104] Centre coach Charley Moran was inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame in 1963, and McMillin received the same honor on November 12, 2015. On the latter occasion the Lexington Herald-Leader called McMillin "Kentucky's first college sports mega-star" and said his touchdown rush was "arguably the most significant [touchdown] ever registered by a Kentucky college football player".[105] A Fort Worth native, he had previously been inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.[106]
Centre has proposed a rematch on multiple occasions, including the fiftieth and seventy-fifth anniversaries of the 1921 contest, but such a game has never happened due to logistical issues and the difference in strength that has developed between Harvard, now a member of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision, and Centre, a member of NCAA Division III.[30] When asked about the prospect of a rematch, Harvard head coach Tim Murphy did not show interest, saying that his team would have "nothing to gain and everything to lose".[107]
Notes
- ^ Excludes losses by the "Harvard Informals" to the Newport Naval Reserves (November 17, 1917) and Brown (November 30, 1918).[63]
- ^ Sources disagree as to the exact distance of McMillin's rushing touchdown; 30,[66][108] 31,[105][109] 32,[106][84][110][111][101][112] 33,[113] and 35-yard[104] rushes are all listed by various sources, both contemporary and modern.
References
- ^ "Media Center: Crimson Football – National Championships". Harvard University. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ "Fisher to coach Harvard". The New York Times. June 14, 1919. Archived from the original on July 27, 2018. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ "1919 Harvard Crimson Schedule and Results". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ a b c "National Poll Rankings" (PDF). Football Bowl Subdivision Records. National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2015. p. 108. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 6, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ a b c "1920 Harvard Crimson Schedule and Results". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ a b "Centre College Football Record (1910–1919)". Centre College Special Collections and Digital Archives. Centre College. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 19.
- ^ Weston 2019, p. 71.
- ^ Weston 2019, p. 72.
- ^ a b c d Bernstein 2001, p. 118.
- ^ "1919 West Virginia Mountaineers Schedule and Results". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Archived from the original on April 4, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
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- ^ a b "1920 Centre Colonels Schedule and Results". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Archived from the original on December 18, 2023. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
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- ^ a b c "David skunks Goliath in Harvard". The New York Times. October 29, 1921. Archived from the original on December 18, 2023. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
- ^ Doyle 2017, p. 485.
- ^ Story, Mark (October 28, 2021). "'The Upset of the Century' turns 100: Centre celebrates 'moment that still defines us'". Lexington Herald-Leader. Archived from the original on October 14, 2022. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
- ^ Woodruff 1928, p. 120.
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- ^ Doyle 2017, p. 488.
- ^ Woodruff 1928, p. 123.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 139.
- ^ Old Centre 1921. Danville, Kentucky: Centre College. 1921. p. 137. Archived from the original on February 11, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Ziegler, Valarie H. (1995). "C6-H0: The Centre Harvard Game of 1921". Grace Doherty Library. Centre College. Archived from the original on August 28, 2008. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Samuels, E. Benjamin (October 28, 2011). "Remembering a forgotten upset". The Harvard Crimson. Harvard University. Archived from the original on December 18, 2023. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
- ^ "Bucknell alumni to honor umpire Moran, new coach". The New York Times. New York, New York. April 25, 1924. p. 14. Retrieved February 6, 2024.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 193.
- ^ a b c "1921 Centre Colonels Schedule and Results". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Archived from the original on December 18, 2023. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
- ^ a b Robertson 2008, chpt. 40.
- ^ "All-time Captains" (PDF). Harvard Football Record Book. Harvard University. 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Official Program: Football Game, Harvard vs. Centre" (PDF). Irwin Score Board. October 29, 1921. pp. 1–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 21, 2015. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ "All-Time Letterwinners" (PDF). Harvard Football Record Book. Harvard University. 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 233.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 185.
- ^ Robertson 2008, pp. 218–219.
- ^ a b Robertson 2008, p. 213.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 223–224.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 224.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 226.
- ^ Maxymuk 2012, p. 401.
- ^ Doyle 2017, p. 486.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 188.
- ^ Doyle 2017, p. 502.
- ^ Jackson 2015, p. 22.
- ^ "1916 Harvard Crimson Schedule and Results". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Archived from the original on September 27, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
- ^ "Harvard Football Yearly Records". Harvard Crimson Athletics. Harvard University. Archived from the original on August 14, 2014. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
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- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 246.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 247.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 250.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 251.
- ^ a b c d Doyle 2017, p. 495.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 254.
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- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 263.
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- ^ a b Robertson 2008, p. 269.
- ^ Robertson 2008, chpt. 47.
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. November 4, 1921. p. 26. Archivedfrom the original on December 22, 2023. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
- ^ Jackson 2015, p. 23.
- ^ Hill 2009, p. 97.
- ^ Jackson 2015, p. 24.
- ^ a b c d Gardner, Hayes (October 29, 2021). "'C6H0' — Kentucky school beat Harvard in major college football upset 100 years ago today". Courier Journal. Archived from the original on March 9, 2023. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ Doyle 2017, p. 501.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 183.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 315.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 290.
- ^ Doyle 2017, pp. 503–504.
- ^ "History of the 12th Man". Texas A&M University. Archived from the original on December 30, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
- ^ "1921 Harvard Crimson Schedule and Results". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Archived from the original on September 22, 2022. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 270.
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- ^ Doyle 2017, p. 471.
- ^ "ESPN ranks 1921 Centre–Harvard game among college football's greatest upsets". Centre College. June 29, 2006. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved August 7, 2008.
- ^ Hodkowski, Ryne (October 23, 2011). "The 50 greatest upsets in college football history". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ a b "The 150 greatest games in college football's 150-year history". ESPN. November 4, 2019. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ "C6-H0 plays a prominent part in nation's sports lexicon". Centre College. November 3, 2005. Archived from the original on July 5, 2008. Retrieved August 7, 2008.
- ^ Hill 2009, p. 80.
- ^ a b "Inductees: Alvin Nugent McMillin". College Football Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on October 6, 2023. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
- ^ a b Story, Mark (November 12, 2015). "Centre legend Bo McMillin finally gets the call from the hall (of fame)". Lexington Herald-Leader. Archived from the original on February 6, 2024. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
- ^ a b "Alvin Nugent "Bo" McMillin". Texas Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on December 18, 2023. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
- ^ Jackson 2015, p. 26.
- ^ Newman 1969, p. 290.
- ^ Reed, Billy (November 11, 1968). "I'd rather be Bo McMillin than governor". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on December 18, 2023. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
- ^ Swezey, Christian. "Shake 'n Bake". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
- ^ Robertson 2008, p. 253.
- ^ Schwartz, Larry (October 21, 2005). "Centre of attention ends Harvard winning streak". ESPN Classic. ESPN. Archived from the original on December 18, 2023. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
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