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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
— General history
— J.F. “Pop” McKale
— The games
— Comparisons then and now
— Wildcats nickname
— Military service
— Rankings
— The players
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Clipping of actual L.A. Times article published Nov. 8, 1914
Excerpt from L.A. Times, Nov. 8, 1914, authored by Bill Henry:
“Arizona’s cactus-fed athletes, despite heroic efforts on the part of their two halfbacks, (Asa) Porter and (Franklin) Luis, went down to defeat before the Occidental Tigers yesterday afternoon, the tally with all precincts heard from being 14 to 0 in favor of the Tigers.
Confident of rolling up a big score, the Tigers took the field with grins on their faces, but before the game was 10 seconds old they knew they had a battle on their hands.
The Arizona men showed the fight of wild cats and displayed before the public gaze a couple of little shrimps in the backfield who defied all attempts of the Tigers to stop them.”This site will conduct a countdown in a 100-day period, leading up to Arizona’s 2014 football season-opener with UNLV on Aug. 29 at Arizona Stadium. The 100 Days ‘Til Kickoff countdown will include information daily about the historic 1914 Arizona team that helped create the school’s nickname of “Wildcats” because of how they played that fateful day against Occidental.
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In the next few days, the series will provide multiple quick facts of each player. Today’s player is:
Franklin Luis was a four-year letterman in football at Arizona
Franklin Luis (1891-1965)
Junior right halfback from Roubaix, South Dakota
Luis was one of the “couple of little shrimps in the backfield who defied all attempts of the Tigers to stop them” that Los Angeles Times correspondent Bill Henry wrote about in his famous Arizona-Occidental game story noting the Varsity “showed the fight of wild cats”. Arizona challenged Oxy to the last quarter. The “Red and Blue” could have cut the deficit to a touchdown in the last quarter but Luis fumbled after receiving a pass. The account from Henry: “Arizona put up a great fight and once had a touchdown almost cinched when Luis, with practically a clear field, fumbled a forward pass and the Tigers were saved”.
Luis, a four-year letterman, was active with the Delta Phi fraternity at Arizona and was part of the school’s marching band, playing clarinet. After graduating from Arizona in 1916, Luis served in the Army during World War I. He lived most of his life in California after returning from the war. He died at age 74 in Santa Cruz, Calif., in 1965.
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THE LAST WEEK IN THE SERIES:
— No. 40: George Sweeney, right end
— No. 41: Emzy “Swede” Lynch, center
— No. 42: Verne La Tourette, left halfback
— No. 43: William Asa Porter, quarterback/fullback
— No. 44: Bill Hendry, right tackle
— No. 45: James Vinton Hammels, left end
— No. 46: Albert “Bumps” Crawford, quarterback
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The 1914 Arizona football team that earned the honor of being named the first “Wildcats” was composed of (front row, left to right): Verne La Tourette, George Seeley, Leo Cloud, Richard Meyer, Asa Porter. Second row: Franklin Luis, Lawrence Jackson, Ray Miller, J.F. “Pop” McKale (coach), Turner Smith, Harry Hobson (manager), Orville McPherson, Albert Crawford, Ernest Renaud. Back row: Albert Condron, Emzy Lynch, Charley Beach, Vinton Hammels, Bill Hendry, George Clawson, Harry Turvey.
(AllSportsTucson.com graphic/Photo from University of Arizona Library Special Collections)
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What they were talking about on this day in 1914
Tuesday, July 21, 1914
The United States through its consular representatives appealed to Venustiano Carranza and Pancho Villa in the interest of patriotism and permanent peace in Mexico to bury their personal differences and work in harmony for the establishment of the new government.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He also writes articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.
