1918 Mare Island Marines football
ConferenceIndependent
Record10–1
Head coach
Seasons
← 1917
1918 military service football records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Camp Greenleaf   –   9 – 0 – 0
Chicago Naval Reserve   –   7 – 0 – 0
Mare Island Marines   –   10 – 1 – 0
Great Lakes Navy   –   7 – 0 – 2
League Island Marines   –   7 – 1 – 0
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 Dix   –   1 – 2 – 2
Camp Gordon   –   2 – 4 – 0
Camp Perry   –   2 – 4 – 0
Georgia Eleventh Cavalry   –   0 – 1 – 0
Mineola Aviation Station   –   0 – 3 – 0

The 1918 Mare Island Marines football team represented the United States Marine Corps stationed at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California, during the 1918 college football season. The team lost to the Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets in the 1919 Rose Bowl. Prior to the Rose Bowl, the team had compiled a 10–0 record, shut out seven opponents, and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 454 to 28.[1]

The team was built around Marines from the Pacific Northwest. Dick Hanley, who had played at Washington State, was the team's quarterback. Benton Bangs, another former Washington State backfield star, joined the team in November.[2] The team's athletic director, Lynn Coovert, was an attorney from Portland. Before the season began, Hanley and Coovert lobbied Washington State's football coach, William "Lone Star" Dietz, to coach the Mare Island team as part of his patriotic duty. Dietz, who had led the 1915 Washington State team to an undefeated season and a victory in the 1916 Rose Bowl, agreed to take the position.[3][4]

After two early victories in September, the season was interrupted in October when the Spanish flu pandemic caused a quarantine of Mare Island.[5] The Oakland Tribune on October 2 reported that, despite the quarantine, the football team continued its daily practice.[6] After the quarantine was lifted, the team won eight consecutive games, including four victories during a two-week trip to the Pacific Northwest.

Schedule

DateOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 21at Goat Island Naval Training Station
W 31–05,000[7]
September 27at Camp FremontCamp Fremont, CAW 66–0[8]
November 2at Fort BakerSan FranciscoW 67–0[9]
November 16vs. Saint Mary's
W 34–7[10]
November 23at Vancouver Barracks
W 39–02,200[11]
November 28at Camp Lewis
W 16–010,000[12][13]
November 30vs. Idaho
W 68–04,000[14][15]
December 6at Camp Perry
W 89–0[16][17][18]
December 14vs. Mather Field Aviation Training Station
  • California Field
  • Berkeley, CA
W 30–135,000[19][20]
December 25Balboa Park Naval Training CampVallejo, CAW 12–7[21][22]
January 1, 1919vs. Great Lakes Navy
L 0–1726,000[23]

References

  1. ^ "1918 Mare Island Marines Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  2. ^ Brown, Fields of Friendly Strife, pp. 176-177.
  3. ^ "Lone Star Dietz, Coach of the Marines' Football Team". San Francisco Chronicle. October 6, 1918. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Tom Benjey (2006). Keep A-Goin': The Life of Lone Star Dietz. Tuxedo Press. p. 192. ISBN 0977448614.
  5. ^ Timothy P. Brown (2017). Fields of Friendly Strife: The Doughboys and Sailors of the World War I Rose Bowls. Brown House Publishing. pp. 118–120. ISBN 9780999572320.
  6. ^ "Influenza Is Death to Mare Island Sports". Oakland Tribune. October 2, 1918. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Herbert Hauser (September 22, 1918). "Marines Wade Through Sailors and Win 31 to 0 in First Football Classic: Superior Team Work Is Best Answer to Shutout Which Sailors Suffered". Oakland Tribune. pp. 24–25 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Marines Have Easy Time at Camp Fremont: Mare Islanders Have Subs and Still Win by a Score of 66 to 0". Oakland Tribune. September 28, 1918. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Marines Pile Up Big Score at Fort Baker: Devil Dogs Just Out of Quarantine Cut Up Something Scandalous". San Francisco Chronicle. November 3, 1918. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "St. Mary's Football Team Snowed Under By Marines From Mare Island". Oakland Tribune. November 17, 1918. p. 46 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Marines Defeat Vancouver Team by 39 to 0 Score". The Oregon Sunday Journal. November 24, 1918 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Doughboys of Sea Win 16-0 Fight: Marines Prove Easy Winners Against 13th Division Team at Camp Lewis Field". The Oregon Daily Journal. November 29, 1918. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Brown, Fields of Friendly Strife, pp. 180-181.
  14. ^ "Marines Smother Idaho Eleven". The Morning Register. December 1, 1918. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Brown, Fields of Friendly Strife, pp. 181-182.
  16. ^ "Such a Headache for Camp Perry". Los Angeles Times. December 7, 1918. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Marines Have Walkover with Camp Perry Eleven". The Morning Register. December 7, 1918. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Brown, Fields of Friendly Strife, p. 182.
  19. ^ "Marines Win Championship of Service Teams by Defeating Aviators: Fliers Make Game Finish, But Lose Out". Oakland Tribune. December 15, 1918. p. 54 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Marines Wallop Mather". Los Angeles Times. December 15, 1918. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Marines Smash Balboans". Los Angeles Times. December 26, 1918. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Marines Defeat Balboa and Win Western Football Title". Oakland Tribune. December 26, 1918. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Mighty Tars Crush the Marines: Service Championship of U. S. Goes to Great Lakes by 17-0 Score at Pasadena Classic--Scene a Marvel of Color and Animation". Los Angeles Times. January 2, 1919. p. II-1, II-7 – via Newspapers.com.
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