Transylvania Pioneers football
First season1880
Last season1941
StadiumThomas Field (stadium)
LocationLexington, Kentucky
Conference titles1 (1903)
ColorsCrimson and white[1]
   
RivalsGeorgetown (KY)
Kentucky

The Transylvania Pioneers football team represented Transylvania University. They were formerly known as "Kentucky University" until 1908 (the University of Kentucky was then known as "Kentucky State College"). They have not competed in football since 1941. It last competed as a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

History

Transylvania won the first recorded football game in the state of Kentucky by defeating the Centre Praying Colonels of Centre College 13¾ – 0 on April 9, 1880.[2][3][4] The team's rivalry with Kentucky began the following year of 1881.[5] The two schools played three games, with Transylvania winning two of them. Its 1903 team claimed a southern championship.[6] Later Lexington mayor Hogan Yancey was a star fullback on that team.[7] Happy Chandler played both football and baseball at Transylvania in 1921.[8] If Transylvania won an away football game the campus community was notified by the blowing of the steam whistle at the Power Plant.[9] The program had a 26–37–2 record in its final eight seasons.[9]

Transylvania's biggest rival was Georgetown.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Transylvania University logos". Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  2. ^ "Centre vs. Transylvania University (1880)".
  3. ^ "Trivia". Transylvania University. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
  4. ^ "A Brief Photo Essay on the History of Kentucky Education".
  5. ^ "Kentucky Wildcats Football History".
  6. ^ "Kentucky University Won". The Evening Bulletin. November 27, 1903. Retrieved August 10, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  7. ^ Gregory Kent Stanley (17 October 2014). Before Big Blue. p. 46. ISBN 9780813158617.
  8. ^ "Pioneer Hall of Fame".
  9. ^ a b c "The last football team" (PDF). Transylvania University Magazine: 17. 2006.


Categories