College Football: Former Glory

[JohnBM01]

GTPlanet, this is one of a series of threads I want to do concerning former football teams. I love college football. There's no other way to put it. College football is really one of the sports in America in which team spirit and unity come alive like any other. Where else can one enjoy a lovely day (or a rainy one) while rooting on his/her favorite team? Funding a college football program can be a costly deal, so one must take a lot into account. Some schools have never sponsored football such as North Carolina-Charlotte (or just Charlotte for sports purposes). That isn't the focus of this thread. Some have had college football programs in the past and don't have them currently (as of 7/21/2006). THAT is my focus of this thread. It's about colleges and universities who have had football programs. All I want to do is highlight on the... I guess you can call them lost treasures of college football. Some former football schools have had pretty nice programs in football. If you would like to contribute your own findings, you are free to share. But I'll kick things off (no pun intended) with a team very familiar to you if you are a fan of Division 1 college basketball. I'll follow up with another team from another thread I'm planning on releasing in this forum. So let's do this.

FORMER GLORY: The Gonzaga Bulldogs

Gonzaga University. Don't confuse it's name with one of the Muppets. You're thinking of Gonzo. This school is informally known for a nickname like "the 'Zags." Gonzaga had a football program which ended in 1941. Gonzaga University is one of America's 28 Jesuit colleges and universities based in Spokane, WA, USA. They've been a highly-successful team in the West Coast Conference in basketball. It goes without saying that Gonzaga is the best team in the WCC up against teams like one of their rivals, Pepperdine (also had a football program in their past), Los Angeles' Loyola Marymount, and Portland to name a few. Some of the stars of the football unit included Houston Stockton, Mel Ingram, and Ray Flaherty. More info can be found at: { http://gozags.cstv.com/genrel/020306aaa.html }.

FORMER GLORY: The Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks

Take a look at Maryland-Eastern Shoe's past football team: { http://www.umes.edu/football/ }. UMES is an HBCU (Historically-Black Colleges and Universities). The website talks about just how good Maryland-Eastern Shore was as a football school. Between 1946 to 1970, their combined record was 154-38-6 for a winning percentage of 77.8%. Their program was sacked in 1980. I think the only HBCU school to win the National Championship in 1-AA were the Florida A&M Rattlers back in 1978. The school is based in the city of Princess Anne, MD.

If I come up with any more findings, I'll be sure to share them. If you come up with any findings, you are free to share. So let's look back on some of the schools to sponsor football.

 

[JohnBM01]

Former Glory: The Santa Clara Broncos

There is a reason why football is so important to the Santa Clara faithful, and it can be seen from this website: http://www.letthemplay.com/ . This is the "Let Them Play" campaign in trying to bring football back to Santa Clara University. SCU is among many Jesuit colleges and universities whom either sponsored football or previously sponsored football and now gone. The latter describes Santa Clara as their football program was retired back in 1993. Their school has been a basketball school since. Their basketball arena is pretty beautiful from what I've seen in real pictures and from "College Hoops 2K6." You get a lovely view of the skies outside with the very tall glass walls. It used to be that the skies would be filled with the air of excited fans proud of seeing their Broncos go to work on the football field. Santa Clara's football team seen their team win some key matches in some bigtime Bowl Games including the Sugar and Orange Bowls. Their only Orange Bowl win was on January 2, 1950 when they beat the Kentucky Wildcats 21-13. They would play in two-straight Sugar Bowl games on New Year's Day in 1937 and 1938. They beat LSU 21-14 in 1937, and then beat them again 6-0 the following year. They didn't win any National Championships, but at least there was a proud football team in the state of California that wasn't Southern California. They did dominate another form of football, however- rugby football. The true powerhouse of Californian rugby football is the University of California. With Old Dominion and Campbell looking to return to football a few years from now out east, imagine what a return to football for Santa Clara would do for this once proud college program.

 

[JohnBM01]

FORMER GLORY: The Denver Pioneers

Ahh, the Mile High City. The biggest team in the state of Colorado in football is Colorado. There are other proud programs in Colorado such as Colorado State and Air Force. The University of Denver has a great basketball program along with a championship-winning men's hockey team. One of the Pioneer greats in football was J. Lyman Bingham who played football, track and field, and baseball. His football acheivements (since this is a football thread, that is the primary focus) include him being a part of the All-Rocky Mountain football team. He did offense, defense, and special teams for the Denver Pioneers back in his time at Denver (1911 - 1915). He was inducted into the Denver Pioneers Hall of Fame in 2004. Their football efforts include trips to the Sun Bowl and Alamo Bowl back in the late 1940s. They had a football stadium seating about double a big basketball arena- over 30,000 people. It was built in 1927 before its demise in 1974. Their football program was ended in 1960 for financial reasons. Had their program still stand today, they would likely be part of the Sun Belt at best since it's their basketball conference. But even then, their basketball program remains a solid one. Their hockey program is one of the finest in the nation as they are among two of the best Colorado-based NCAA hockey teams. The other is Colorado College. And if they still had a football team playing in Division 1-A, they'd have in-state rivals like Colorado, Colorado State, Air Force, and stuff like that. Then too, where would Denver play? After all, the Colorado/Colorado State game is usually played at Invesco Field at Mile High- home to the Denver Broncos of the NFL. And could Denver generate that much publicity if they played there? Or would they have just enough money to come up with a football field like from resident Sun Belt schools like North Texas, Middle Tennessee State, Troy, or even Florida Atlantic or Florida International? Just something to think about. And there's your mile high love.

More info at: http://www.fansonly.com/schools/denv/genrel/113005aab.html -and- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Denver

 

[JohnBM01]

FORMER GLORY: The Marquette Golden Eagles

In 1977, the men's basketball team of Marquette University would win the National Championship by beating the North Carolina Tar Heels by a score of 67-59. The Green Bay Packers are Wisconsin's proudest football team on the pro level. The University of Wisconsin is the premier football power in the state of Wisconsin. Name a school in Milwaukee. Well, you do have the wonderful Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers of the Horizon League, but there is also Marquette University. Marquette is one of America's Jesuit Colleges and Universities dedicated to service and prayer to God. The Golden Eagles basically serve to beat the brains out of any school who dares challenge them in any sports arena. That specific arena would be Marquette Arena as the Golden Eagles were packing the place to see quality football action take place. Marquette's team was good enough to make it to the Cotton Bowl in 1937. Unfortunately, they would lose to Texas Christian by a final tally of 16-6. In fact, these two teams played in the first-ever Cotton Bowl. This was a non-BCS game held in Dallas, Texas and is usually popular as being the neutral ground for the annual rivalry game between Oklahoma and Texas. Marquette discontinued its football program around 1960 with financial deficits to blame. Marquette Stadium would no longer stand as it would be taken down a decade later. Marquette doesn't have a full-fledged football team anymore. They do, however, have a club team. A tomb stone with Marquette's football history on it would say something like this:

MARQUETTE FOOTBALL

R.I.P.

Sunrise: 1892 - Sunset: 1960

You can read a lot more about Marquette's old football team here: { http://www.marquetteclubfootball.com/history3.htm }, and read about their club football team at: { http://www.marquetteclubfootball.com/ }. I can grant you that Marquette would make for another nice team in the football-rich state of Wisconsin had they still been around. They are currently a Big East school in basketball and baseball(?). They used to be part of Conference USA. The club-level football team plays at Valley Fields up in Milwaukee, WI. But just imagine collegiate spirit running rampant if there was still a full-blown NCAA football team.

 

[JohnBM01]

These next two entries pay a trip to my home state of Texas. I give you Lamar University and Texas-Arlington. They are two Southland conference schools which both held football programs. Of course now, they aren't there anymore. First is Lamar's past followed by Texas-Arlington. So it's East Texas and Northeast Texas love for you all.


FORMER GLORY: The Lamar Cardinals

As a former student of Lamar University, I can tell you that it is pretty sad to not see football at Lamar. Texas is a football-rich state. We've seen teams like the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Oilers on the pro level. So it's kind of sad to not see football stay hot in the state of Texas. It was at one point in which Lamar University would see football action on the other side of Montagne Center (Lamar's basketball arena). Their first snaps under center happened in 1951. They would miserably lose their first game by falling to North Texas 6-54. Their final game would be against McNeese State where they won 22-17 against the McNeese State Cowboys.

Their best-ever season was in 1974 when they won eight games and lost two. Their win percentage was 0.800. They only lost to Mississippi State and future 1-A participant Louisiana Tech. Their worst-ever season was in 1968 when they finished the season 0-10. They would lose to West Texas A&M, McNeese State, New Mexico State, Southern Illinois, Abeline Christian, Louisiana-Lafayette, Arkansas State, Trinity University (San Antonio, TX), Louisiana Tech, and Texas-Arlington.



FORMER GLORY: The Texas-Arlington Mavericks

The University of Texas-Arlington once staged football. The greater Dallas-Fort Worth area school is home to the Mavericks. This was a Mavericks team who kicked off their NCAA football campaign in 1959 against Southeastern Oklahoma (won 28-0) and ended it four years before Lamar ended their program (1985) as they lost to North Texas (in Denton, TX) 20-23. Their best season was in 1967 when they went 10-1 and beat North Dakota State in the 1967 Pecan Bowl. They would only lose to West Texas A&M in 1967 by a score of 27-37. Their worst season came three years later. The Mavericks went winless losing to all of the following: Texas Christian, New Mexico State, Southern Mississippi, Texas Lutheran, Louisiana-Lafayette, Trinity University (of Texas- San Antonio, TX), West Texas A&M, Abeline Christian, Arkansas State, and Lamar.




Here are where you can look up the all-time records for both schools:

Lamar's All-Time Football Records: http://www.michigan-football.com/ncaa/f/lamar.htm
Texas-Arlington All-Time Football Records: http://www.michigan-football.com/ncaa/f/arlingtn.htm

 

[JohnBM01]

This one is a shoutout to one of my favorite west coast cities, San Francisco.

FORMER GLORY: The San Francisco Dons

Who would have known that there was football in one of America's most beautiful cities? San Francisco is one of my personal favorite American cities because of its beauty. NFL fans know that there's nothing like 49ers football. But there was other football in San Francisco. San Francisco should be familiar to you college sports fans because the San Francisco Dons won the men's National Championship in 1955 and 1956. But did you know that the University of San Francisco had football? Kezar Stadium was the stadium they called home. It was also home ground for other now-defunct California football teams including rivals Santa Clara and St. Mary's. Is there a such thing as a team being too good? Read this story on San Francisco Dons' football: { http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/20/BAGBPIV32K14.DTL }. A number of things this site talked about is that San Francisco was a great team that no one wanted to play them. Not even the big schools like Michigan, Ohio State, and such. Can you believe it? There was also a notion that more fans seemed to care about San Francisco 49ers football than Dons' football. The program was sacked in the 1950s. Just imagine what kinds of continued success San Francisco would have had if they lasted longer than they actually did. People were proud of Santa Clara football before it was sacked in 1993. Other people would probably be equally proud of San Francisco Dons' football. The fact that it's no longer around really makes one think of how the Dons would have had continued success even to this day.

The San Francisco 49ers now basically rule football in the Bay Area unless you're an Oakland Raiders fan. This Jesuit university has seen national champs in Men's Basketball and in Men's Soccer. San Francisco didn't go to any bowl games (at least to my knowledge).