1918 Cleveland Naval Reserve football team

The 1918 Cleveland Naval Reserve football team represented the Cleveland Auxiliary Naval Reserve School during the 1918 college football season. The team compiled a 5–1 record and closed its season by upsetting national champion Pittsburgh, 10–9. The team was coached by Xen C. Scott,[1] assisted by Bob Dawson and former Yale star Ralph Kinney.[2][3]

1918 Cleveland Naval Reserve football
ConferenceIndependent
1918 record5–1
Head coachXen C. Scott (1st season)
CaptainWalter L. Holmgren
Home stadiumLeague Park
1918 military service football records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Camp Greenleaf   –    9 –0 –0
Chicago Naval Reserve   –    7 –0 –0
League Island Navy   –    6 –0 –0
League Island Marines   –    1 –0 –0
Mare Island Marines   –    10 –1 –0
Great Lakes Navy   –    7 –0 –2
Cleveland Naval Reserve   –    5 –1 –0
Camp Hancock   –    4 –1 –2
Camp Upton   –    4 –1 –2
Camp Taylor   –    3 –1 –1
Camp Lewis   –    7 –2 –0
Camp Devens   –    4 –2 –0
Mather Field   –    2 –1 –0
Camp Dodge   –    2 –1 –1
Camp Grant   –    3 –3 –0
Camp Gordon   –    2 –4 –0
Camp Dix   –    1 –2 –2
Georgia Eleventh Cavalry   –    0 –1 –0
Mineola Aviation Station   –    0 –3 –0

The team was led by a backfield consisting of former Ohio State quarterback Gaylord Stinchcomb, former Minnesota halfback Walter L. Holmgren, former Georgia Tech fullback Judy Harlan, and former Auburn fullback Moon Ducote. The highlight of Auburn's previous season was its tie with Ohio State. Georgia Tech then dominated Auburn to claim the South's first national title. A game between national champion Georgia Tech and undefeated Pitt could not be scheduled, and was moved to the following season. Georgia Tech having lost several players to the War, Pitt won 32–0.

The Cleveland Naval Reserves managed to upset Pitt with a 10–9 victory. "I intercepted a pass and returned it to midfield in the fourth quarter. I felt I at least had evened up some of the losses we had at Tech" said Harlan.[4] Pittsburgh coach Pop Warner refused to acknowledge the loss, but declared Ducote "the greatest football player I ever saw".[5] Warner, along with some reporters covering the game, insisted Pitt was robbed by the officials who, claiming the official timekeeper's watch was broken, arbitrarily ended the first half before Pitt was able to score and then allowed the Reserves extra time in the fourth quarter to pull ahead.[6] It was Pitt's first loss in four years, since Warner had started coaching there. Ducote had a 41-yard field goal, and Stinchcomb scored a touchdown on a pass from Ducote, and kicked the extra point.[7]

Future basketball star Lenny Sachs was also on the team.

In an 83–0 win over Cornell's service team, Stinchcomb ran 100 yards for a touchdown.[8] In a 14–6 win over Camp Grant, Stinchcomb was the Navy's star, kicking two extra points and returning a punt 65 yards for a touchdown.[9] In a profile of Stinchcomb published in November 1918, one writer observed:

The reason for such optimistic predictions is the showing Stlnchcomb has made this season in the 'unofficial' football season all grid fans have enjoyed. As backfleld man for the Cleveland Naval Reserve team -- in which branch of the service Stinchcomb has been serving -- 'Pete' has romped around opposing ends -- plunged through their lines and carried his team to the fore ranks of military and naval football ratings."[10]

Schedule
DateOpponentSiteResultSource
October 19Western ReserveCleveland, OHW 20–6
November 2Detroit Naval Reserves
W 83–0[11][12]
November 9Chicago Naval Reserves
  • League Park
  • Cleveland, OH
L 0–6[13][14]
November 16Cornell service teamCleveland, OHW 83–0[15]
November 23vs. Camp GrantChicago, ILW 14–6[16]
November 30Pittsburgh
  • League Park
  • Cleveland, OH
W 10–9[17]
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References
  1. "College Athletics". Indianapolis News. May 27, 1919. p. 21.
  2. "Cleveland Is Seeking Honor". The Washington Times. October 21, 1918. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Kinney Coaches". The Washington Times. October 12, 1918. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Wiley Lee Umphlett (1992). Creating the Big Game: John W. Heisman and the Invention of American Football. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 148.
  5. "Richard Ducote Dies In Orleans". State Times. March 26, 1937.
  6. Keck, Harry (November 30, 1918). "Navy Reserves Steal Game From Pitt". Pittsburgh Sunday Post, republished in The Greatest Moments in Pitt Football History (1994). Nashville, TN: Athlon Sports Communications: 33. ISBN 1-878839-04-7.
  7. "Pittsburg Loses to Cleveland Sailors, 10 to 9: Cleveland Naval Reserve Team Wins by Great Uphill Battle; Stinchcomb Kicks Goal in Last Quarter Which Gives Sailors Victory". Syracuse Herald. 1918-12-01.
  8. "CLEVELAND TARS FIND CORNELL ELEVEN EASY". The Washington Post. 1918-11-15.
  9. "Camp Grant Loses To Cleveland Team: Naval Reserves Defeat Soldiers From Illinois With Score Fourteen to Six". Ogden Examiner. 1918-11-24.
  10. "OHIO HAS WAR-ECLIPSED GRIDIRON STAR FOR 1919". The Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette. 1918-11-28.
  11. "Couldn't Make First Down: Stars of Cleveland Naval Reserve Toy with Detroiters". The Baltimore Sun. November 3, 1918. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. http://teachingcleveland.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/1918.pdf
  13. "Pier Wins, 6-0, at Cleveland". Chicago Tribune. November 10, 1918. p. Part 2, page 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. "Bitter Gridiron Struggle: Chicago Naval Reserves Beat Cleveland Sailors in Hard Game, 6-0". The Sunday Star (Washington, D.C.). November 10, 1918. p. 23 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Cleveland Naval Reserves Beat Cornell, 83 to 0". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. November 17, 1918. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. Walter Eckersall (November 24, 1918). "Cleveland Navy Wrests Victory From Soldiers: Stinchcomb and Ducote Beat Camp Grant by Fine Runs, 14-6". Chicago Tribune. pp. 2–5 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. "Pitt Beaten at Cleveland by Raw Work". The Pittsburgh Press. December 1, 1918. p. Sporting 1 – via Newspapers.com.
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