1921 New Hampshire football team

The 1921 New Hampshire football team[lower-alpha 1] was an American football team that represented New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts[lower-alpha 2] during the 1921 college football season—the school became the University of New Hampshire in 1923. In its sixth season under head coach William "Butch" Cowell,[lower-alpha 3] the team compiled an 8–1–1 record, only losing to Dartmouth, while outscoring their opponents by a total of 234 to 66.

1921 New Hampshire football
Conference	Independent
1921 record	8–1–1
Head coach	Butch Cowell (6th season)
Captain	Dutch Connor[1]
Home stadium	Memorial Field

1921 Eastern college football independents records
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Wash. & Jeff.			–					10	–	0	–	1
Lafayette			–					9	–	0	–	0
Cornell			–					8	–	0	–	0
Penn State			–					8	–	0	–	2
Yale			–					8	–	1	–	0
New Hampshire			–					8	–	1	–	1
Franklin & Marshall			–					6	–	1	–	2
Villanova			–					6	–	1	–	2
Carnegie Tech			–					7	–	2	–	0
Syracuse			–					7	–	2	–	0
Harvard			–					7	–	2	–	1
Dartmouth			–					6	–	2	–	1
Brown			–					5	–	3	–	1
Geneva			–					5	–	3	–	1
Pittsburgh			–					5	–	3	–	1
Army			–					6	–	4	–	0
Princeton			–					4	–	3	–	0
Boston College			–					4	–	3	–	1
Fordham			–					4	–	3	–	2
Penn			–					4	–	3	–	2
Colgate			–					4	–	4	–	2
Lehigh			–					4	–	4	–	0
NYU			–					2	–	3	–	3
Drexel			–					2	–	3	–	1
Rutgers			–					4	–	6	–	0
Rhode Island State			–					3	–	5	–	0
Columbia			–					2	–	6	–	0
Tufts			–					1	–	5	–	2
Duquesne			–					0	–	4	–	1

Team captain Dutch Connor c. 1921, in the annual college yearbook

Early in the season, the team played two "home" games in nearby Dover, New Hampshire. The first home game at Memorial Field, located in Durham, New Hampshire, was held in November;[3] the field was used for home football games through the 1935 season.[lower-alpha 4]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 24	USMC Portsmouth	Central Park Dover, NH	W 55–0		[5]
October 1	at Army	The Plain West Point, NY	W 10–7		[6]
October 8	at Dartmouth	Alumni Oval Hanover, NH (rivalry)	L 0–24		[7]
October 15	Lowell Textile[lower-alpha 5]	Central Park Dover, NH	W 41–7		[8]
October 22	at Vermont	Centennial Field Burlington, VT	W 21–7		[9]
October 29	at Bates	Lewiston, ME	W 14–0
November 5	at Colby	Waterville, ME	W 24–7
November 12	Massachusetts	Memorial Field Durham, NH (rivalry)	W 56–7		[3]
November 19	vs. Holy Cross	Textile Field Manchester, NH	W 13–7	12,000	[10]
November 26	at Springfield	Pratt Field Springfield, MA	T 0–0
Source: [11][1]

Although The Granite yearbook described the September 24 contest against USMC Portsmouth as a "practice game",[1] the result is listed by College Football Data Warehouse and the Wildcats' media guide.[12] A newspaper article about the next season's rematch noted that the USMC team was composed of Marine Corps personnel working at the Portsmouth Naval Prison in nearby Kittery, Maine.[13]

The 1921 game was the first meeting between the New Hampshire and Army football programs.[14] It was one of two contests the Cadets played on October 1; before losing to New Hampshire, Army defeated Springfield College that same day.[15]

The Dartmouth game was attended by Governor of New Hampshire Fred H. Brown, a Dartmouth graduate.[7] Following their 1921 game, New Hampshire and Holy Cross next met in 1973.[16] New Hampshire's 56–7 win over Massachusetts remains the largest margin of victory in what later became known as the Colonial Clash rivalry. Other than 1943 and 1945, when New Hampshire did not field teams due to World War II, 1921 remains the most recent season without a New Hampshire–Maine game.[17]

Team captain Dutch Connor was an inaugural member of the UNH Wildcats Hall of Fame in 1982.[18]

Notes

1. The school did not adopt the Wildcats nickname until February 1926;[2] before then, they were generally referred to as "the blue and white".
2. The school was often referred to as New Hampshire College or New Hampshire State College in newspapers of the era.
3. This was Cowell's 7th year and 6th season as head coach, as the school did not field a varsity team in 1918 due to World War I.
4. Memorial Field remains in use by the New Hampshire women's field hockey team.[4]
5. Lowell Textile is now University of Massachusetts Lowell.

References

1. The Granite. Durham, New Hampshire: New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts. 1923. pp. 269–279. Retrieved February 14, 2020 – via library.unh.edu.
2. "Wild E. and Gnarlz". unhwildcats.com. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
3. "New Hampshire Runs Wild Against M. A. C." The Boston Globe. November 13, 1921. p. 19. Retrieved January 25, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
4. "Memorial Field Then". unh.edu. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
5. "New Hampshire State's Varsity Blanks Marines in Opening Game". The New Hampshire. 12 (1). September 28, 1921. p. 1. Retrieved February 20, 2020 – via library.unh.edu.
6. "New Hampshire Defeats Army". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. AP. October 2, 1921. p. 25. Retrieved February 15, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
7. "Robertson Star as Green Wins". The Boston Globe. October 9, 1921. p. 18. Retrieved January 25, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
8. "Lowell Textile Proves Easy Prey for New Hampshire Eleven". The New Hampshire. 12 (4). October 19, 1921. p. 1. Retrieved February 20, 2020 – via library.unh.edu.
9. "New Hampshire Downs Vermont 21-7". Burlington Daily News. Burlington, Vermont. October 24, 1921. p. 8. Retrieved February 15, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
10. "Holy Cross Upset by Dutch Connor". The Boston Globe. November 20, 1921. p. 23. Retrieved February 16, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
11. "New Hampshire Game by Game Results". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on October 27, 2016. Retrieved February 14, 2020 – via Wayback Machine.
12. "2017 New Hampshire Media Guide". University of New Hampshire. 2017. p. 66. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
13. "Marines Playing State College This Afternoon". The Portsmouth Herald. Portsmouth, New Hampshire. September 23, 1922. p. 8. Retrieved February 15, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
14. "New Hampshire vs Army (NY)". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on September 10, 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2020 – via Wayback Machine.
15. "Army Breaks Even In Double-Header Opening Season". New-York Tribune. October 2, 1921. p. 19. Retrieved February 15, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
16. "New Hampshire vs Holy Cross (MA)". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on September 10, 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2020 – via Wayback Machine.
17. "New Hampshire vs Maine". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on September 10, 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2020 – via Wayback Machine.
18. "Hall of Fame". unhwildcats.com. Retrieved February 14, 2020.

Further reading

• Gregoire, Michelle (Fall 2001). "A Familiar Face". UNH Magazine – via unh.edu. The bell was also tolled long and hard to declare football victories, and 1921 was a year to remember, with wins over Army and Holy Cross joyously proclaimed by hour after hour of steady bell ringing.