098
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Title
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098
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Transcription
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season was a victorious one throughout and Nebraska's was classed as one of the strong teams of the country. The 1902 and the 1915 Cornhusker football teams were pointed out as the two greatest teams in our history. Rutherford and Chamberlain as a scoring machine, with other stars that would have shone on any ordinary team, made the 1915 warriors the most spectacular iin [sic] their performances of perhaps all our elevens. They defeated their strongest opponents by large scores, with the exception of Notre Dame on Thanksgiving Day, where the margin was one point. Rutherford's blocking, with Chamberlain's marvelous dodging, kept the largest number of people that ever witnessed a football game on Nebraska Field continually on their feet.
Dr. E. J. Stewart became director of athletics in the fall of 1916. His first team lost the championship to Kansas, though it made a very creditable record. In 1917 another Missouri Valley championship was annexed, making a total of fifteen years of championship out of a possible twenty-seven. W. G. Kline acted as coach of the 1918 football team in the absence of Director Stewart. It was a team made up of the members of the Students' Army Training Corps, with no eligibility rules and playing only hit and miss games throughout the season. Most of the veterans of former years had gone to war and as a consequence 1918 was not a successful season, though we defeated Kansas by a good score and we can all recall the time when that was the only essential to success.
A roll call of the captains of the years reveals the names of men who perhaps during their college days were the best known men on the campus.
1891 E. E. Mockett 1898 W. C. Melford
1892 E. E. Mockett 1899 C. E. Williams
1898 G. H. Dern 1900 F. H. Brew
1894 E. O. Pace 1901 John Westover
1895 W. W. Wilson 1902 John Westover
1896 O. E. Thorpe 1908 J. R. Bender
1897 G. C. Shedd 1904 M. A. Benedict
1905 C. T. Borg 1913 L. R. Purdy
1906 Glen Mason 1914 Victor Halligan
1907 John Weller 1915 R. B. Rutherford
1908 J. B. Harvey 1916 H. H. Corey
1909 O. A. Beltzer 1917 Edson Shaw
1910 John Temple 1918 *Ernest Hubka
1911 S. V. Shonka 1919 Paul Dobson, Captain
1912 E. E. Frank Elect.
BASEBALL
Baseball is the oldest of Nebraska's sports. From the very beginning of the University, baseball contests were held between the various classes. An intercollegiate game with Doane in 1882 is the first outside contest recorded. Nebraska was victor by a decisive score, probably on account of the fact that Frederick Shepard now a judge of the district court a Lancaster County, had mastered the curve ball and had the opposing batsmen absolutely at his mercy.
A great many creditable teams have represented Nebraska. Especially during the late '90's and early 1900's did we have excellent baseball teams, some of whose stars were Eddie Gordon, J. R. Bender, J. M. Bell, George Fenton, Robert Carroll. The coming of Western League Baseball in 1905 brought a decline of interest. The baseball teams began to be controlled by university factions, and though they made extended trips to the East and South, baseball became a liability from the manager's point of view. No more than a handful a spectators would be on hand to witness an important battle. In 1911 the sport was abandoned.
Since that time, baseball has had several revivals but only a few games were played each season. Coach Stewart is now planning a real resurrection of baseball, to take place just as soon as conditions within the University return to *Roscoe Rhodes, Captain Elect for 1918, was killed in action in France.
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Rights
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