1897 VPI football
ConferenceIndependent
Record5–2
Head coach
CaptainHoward Archer Johnson
Home stadiumSheib Field
Seasons
← 1896
1898 →
1897 Southern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Oklahoma   –   2 – 0 – 0
Arkansas   –   2 – 0 – 1
Navy   –   8 – 1 – 0
Virginia   –   6 – 2 – 1
Add-Ran   –   3 – 1 – 0
Washington and Lee   –   3 – 1 – 0
VPI   –   5 – 2 – 0
North Carolina   –   7 – 3 – 0
VMI   –   3 – 2 – 0
Guilford   –   2 – 1 – 0
West Virginia   –   5 – 4 – 1
Davidson   –   1 – 1 – 0
Georgia Tech   –   1 – 1 – 0
Columbian   –   4 – 5 – 1
Richmond   –   3 – 5 – 0
North Carolina A&M   –   1 – 2 – 0
Texas A&M   –   1 – 2 – 0
Delaware   –   1 – 5 – 1
William & Mary   –   0 – 1 – 0
Marshall   –   0 – 3 – 0
South Carolina   –   0 – 3 – 0

The 1897 VPI football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute in the 1897 college football season. The team was led by their head coach Charles Firth and finished with a record of five wins and two losses (5–2).

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
October 16King
W 54–0[1]
October 303:30 p.m.vs. North Carolina
W 4–0500[2][3][4]
November 2Roanoke
  • Sheib Field
  • Blacksburg, VA
W 41–0[5]
November 6vs. University of Maryland, Baltimore
L 4–18500[6]
November 133:30 p.m.at Richmond
W 36–0300–500[7][8][9]
November 159:30 a.m.at Hampden–Sydney
W 16–0[10][11]
November 253:30 p.m.vs. Tennessee
L 0–181,200[12]

Game summaries

North Carolina

See also: 1897 North Carolina Tar Heels football team

The starting lineup for VPI was: Johnson (left end), Herbert (left tackle), Cox (left guard), Stull (center), Pelter (right guard), Wood (right tackle), Lewis (right end), Bell (quarterback), Barnett (left halfback), Cochran (right halfback), Whitehurst (fullback). The substitutes were: Painter, Rorebeck and Rucker.

University of Maryland, Baltimore

The starting lineup for VPI was: Johnson (left end), Herbert (left tackle), Cox (left guard), Stull (center), Pelter (right guard), Wood (right tackle), Lewis (right end), Bell (quarterback), Barnett (left halfback), Cochran (right halfback), Whitehurst (fullback).

Richmond

See also: 1897 Richmond Spiders football team

The starting lineup for VPI was: Johnson (left end), Herbert (left tackle), Cox (left guard), Stull (center), Pelter (right guard), Wood (right tackle), Lewis (right end), Jones (quarterback), Barnett (left halfback), Cochran (right halfback), Whitehurst (fullback). The substitutes were: Bell, Rucker and Saunders.

Hampden–Sydney

The starting lineup for VPI was: Painter (left end), Herbert (left tackle), Cox (left guard), Stull (center), Pelter (right guard), Wood (right tackle), Lewis (right end), Bell (quarterback), Barnett (left halfback), Cochran (right halfback), Whitehurst (fullback). The substitutes were: Rucker.

Tennessee

See also: 1897 Tennessee Volunteers football team

The starting lineup for VPI was: Johnson (left end), Herbert (left tackle), Cox (left guard), Stull (center), Pelter (right guard), Wood (right tackle), Lewis (right end), Bell (quarterback), Barnett (left halfback), Cochran (right halfback), Whitehurst (fullback). The substitutes were: Painter and Rucker.

Players

The following players were members of the 1897 football team according to the roster published in the 1898 and 1903 editions of The Bugle, the Virginia Tech yearbook.[13][14]

VPI 1897 roster
Quarterback
  • William Frazier Bell

Guards

Tackles

  • Richard Ainsworth Herbert
  • Charles Morton Wood

Center

  • John Walter Stull
 Ends
  • Howard Archer Johnson (Capt.)
  • Harold Benjamin Lewis

Halfbacks

  • Thomas Roy Barnett(e)
  • Charles Weedon Cochran

Fullback

  • Obediah Francis Whitehurst
 Substitutes
  • Charles Whitfield Painter
  • Curtis Grant Rorebeck
  • Bayard Ambrose Rucker
  • Fleming Saunders
  • Robert Mayo Scott
  • Edward Colston Taylor

Coaching and training staff

References

  1. ^ "King College Beaten". The Richmond Dispatch. Library of Virginia. October 17, 1897. p. 16. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  2. ^ "Carolina Loses to Va. Poly". The Tar Heel. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. November 2, 1897. p. 1. Retrieved February 21, 2022.
  3. ^ "V.P.I. and N.C." The Richmond Dispatch. Library of Virginia. October 31, 1897. p. 15. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  4. ^ "A Great Victory". The Times. Library of Virginia. October 31, 1897. p. 5. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  5. ^ "Roanoke Defeated". The Roanoke Times. Library of Virginia. November 3, 1897. p. 8. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  6. ^ "Maryland, 18; Blacksburg, 4". The Times. Library of Virginia. November 7, 1897. p. 2. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  7. ^ "The V.P.I. Wonders". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Library of Virginia. November 7, 1897. p. 2. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
  8. ^ "V.P.I.'s Victorious". Richmond Dispatch. Library of Virginia. November 14, 1897. p. 15. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  9. ^ "The Polytechs Win". The Times. Library of Virginia. November 14, 1897. p. 14. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  10. ^ "H.S. and V.P.I. - A Hotly-Contested Game of Foot-Ball". Richmond Dispatch. Library of Virginia. November 16, 1897. p. 6. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  11. ^ "V.P.I., 16; Hampden-Sidney 0". The Times. Library of Virginia. November 16, 1897. p. 2. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  12. ^ "Tennessee Shuts Out Blacksburg". The Times. Library of Virginia. November 26, 1897. p. 1. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  13. ^ "The Bugle 1898". Virginia Tech Bugle. 1898. p. 139. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
  14. ^ "The Bugle 1903" (PDF). Virginia Tech Bugle. 1903. p. 129. Retrieved November 5, 2015.


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