1914 Colby Mules football team

The 1914 Colby Mules football team represented Colby College during the 1914 college football season. The team has been described as the greatest in Colby history as well as one of the strongest college teams ever in the state of Maine.[1][2][3] Colby defeated its three in-state rivals Bowdoin College, the University of Maine, and Bates College by a combined score 123 to 0 to win the series title and gained national recognition for its game against the star–studded Navy Midshipmen.[1][4] The team was led by first year head coach Myron E. Fuller and captained by senior Paul "Ginger" Fraser.[2]

1914 Colby Mules football
Team photo in The Colby Oracle yearbook
Conference	Maine Intercollegiate Athletic Association
1914 record	6–2 (3–0 )
Head coach	Myron Fuller
Captain	Ginger Fraser
Home stadium	Seaverns Field

Schedule and results

Colby's 1914 schedule was announced on March 31, 1914, by manager Raymond P. Luce.[5]

Date	Opponent	Site	Result
September 26	at Holy Cross*	Fitton Field Worcester, MA	W 17–0[6]
October 3	at New Hampshire State*	Seaverns Field Waterville, ME	W 66–0[7]
October 10	at Tufts*	Ellis Oval Medford, MA	L 14–40[8]
October 17	vs. Massachusetts Agricultural College*	Portland, ME	W 6–0[9]
October 24	at Bowdoin	Whittier Field Brunswick, ME (Rivalry)	W 48–0
October 31	at Maine	Seaverns Field Waterville, ME (Rivalry)	W 14–0
November 7	at Bates	Seaverns Field Waterville, ME (Rivalry)	W 61–0
November 14	at Navy*	Worden Field Annapolis, MD	L 21–31[4]
*Non-conference game

Non-conference schedule

Colby started out the season with a 17 to 0 victory against Holy Cross. Captain Ginger Fraser scored both touchdowns, kicked both point after conversions, and suffered a broken shoulder in the game. The following week, Colby defeated New Hampshire State College (now known as the University of New Hampshire) 66 to 0 without Fraser. Colby lost its first game of the season to Tufts. Tufts won the game 40 to 14 in part by confusing Colby with its passing offense, which was uncommon at that time. However, Colby rebounded the following week with a 6 to 0 victory in a muddy game against the Massachusetts Agricultural College (now known as the University of Massachusetts Amherst).[1]

State series

Colby started out its Maine Intercollegiate Athletic Association schedule by defeating a weak Bowdoin team 48 to 0.[10] The following week Colby faced the University of Maine, which had won the conference title the past three seasons. As Maine had defeated both Bowdoin and Bates already, the winner of this game would win the state championship. Colby scored its first touchdown on a twenty-five yard pass from Ginger Fraser to Edward Cawley. Defensively, Colby's strong line, led by Walter Dacey, was able to stop the Maine offense throughout the game. Dalcey helped set up Colby's second touchdown by recovering a fumble on Colby's 17 yard line. Colby also benefited from poor play by Maine's quarterback, George H. Bernheisel, who was benched in the second half, as well as in injury to the team's fullback. On November 2, the Lewiston Evening Journal ran the headline "Colby's Football Team Was Plainly Superior: Waterville Eleven Showed Itself Saturday to Be No One-Man Aggregation" (referring to claims that the team only had one star player, Ginger Fraser). The article described Colby's play as "brilliantly fierce" and "the most brilliant exposition of football...ever seen in this city". It also lauded Colby as coming "near possessing one of the best football teams in the history of Maine intercollegiate sport, balanced and strong, versed in every department of the game, cunning in every move."[11] Colby finished out its in-state series against Bates. Fraser scored Colby's first two touchdowns before exiting, which allowed Jack "Smacker" Lowney to have one of the best games of his career, as he scored four touchdowns to lead the team to a 61 to 0 victory.[1]

Navy game

Colby's final game of the season was against the Navy Midshipmen. Only thirteen of Colby's players made the trip to Annapolis.[1] Lowney scored three minutes into the game to take a 7 to 0 lead. Navy responded with a field goal. In the second quarter, Fraser and Downey scored rushing touchdowns (Downey's was a 75-yard run) and Navy put up a touchdown of their own to give Colby a 21 to 10 lead going into the half. However, Navy was able to put up three unanswered touchdowns to defeat Colby, 31 to 21.[12] Navy was able to make substitutions while Colby was forced to play its team manager and assistant manager due to injuries. After the game, a sportswriter for The New York Times proclaimed it to be "one of the finest exhibitions of football ever seen in Annapolis."[1]

References

1. "Greatest Mule Team Reunited". The Lewiston Daily Sun. October 27, 1949. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
2. "Coach Myron E. Fuller". News and Observer (Raleigh). February 25, 1920.
3. "Old Colby Coach Dies". Portland Press Herald. September 20, 1949.
4. "Honor Memory of Ginger Fraser at Colby Night". The Lewiston Daily Sun. November 2, 1939. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
5. "Colby's Football Schedule". The Boston Daily Globe. April 1, 1914.
6. "Yale, Darmouth, Brown and Tufts Among the Football Winners". The Boston Daily Globe. September 27, 1914.
7. "Football Results". The New York Times. October 4, 1914.
8. "Football Results". The New York Times. October 11, 1914.
9. "1914". College Football Data Warehouse. College Football Data Warehouse. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
10. Camp, Walter, ed. (1915). Spalding's Official Foot Ball Guide. New York: American Sports Publishing Company. pp. 88–89. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
11. "Colby's Football Team Was Plainly Superior". Lewiston Evening Journal. November 2, 1914. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
12. "Colby Fails to Hold Navy And Loses, 31 to 21". The Boston Daily Globe. November 15, 1914.