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The University of Arizona seal when it was created in 1914 (left) and how it looks to today
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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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Arizona’s president in 1914, Rufus B. von KleinSmid, sought the help of an Indiana priest to develop the school’s seal
Another first for Arizona 100 years ago, aside from the birth of the “Wildcats” nickname, homecoming, J.F. “Pop” McKale’s career and the “A” Club: The creation of the university’s seal (pictured above).
The Desert yearbook in 1914-15 offered a description of the seal this way:
“In the center of the upper half is the blazing sun, typical not only of the enlightenment through learning but of the bright Southwest in which our Institution is located. Against the blazing sun is the cross surmounted by the word “Sursum” (upwards). This is suggestive of the history of the beginnings of learning in the Territory of Arizona; the light of truth and knowledge having been brought into the State through the church fathers, leading the people with whom they came in contact to higher ideals of life and service.
“Directly beneath the cross is the key which indicates the unlocking of the realms of knowledge through the University organization. To the left of the key is the miner’s pick standing for the application of scientific principles to the mining industries of the State through our school of mines.
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THE LAST WEEK IN THE SERIES:
— No. 23: Rifle popular sport in 1914, football player captained teams
— No. 24: 1914 team members part of required military program on campus
— No. 25: More 1914 love for the “Wild Cat”
— No. 26: Formation of “A” Club also evolved 100 years ago
— No. 27: McKale established identity for Arizona in first season
— No. 28: Unlike Rodriguez today, McKale afforded three preseason games in 1914
— No. 29: The “Wildcat Yell” hits Arizona’s campus in 1914-15
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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
Friday, Aug. 7, 1914
First lady Ellen Wilson, wife of President Woodrow Wilson, passes away from Bright’s disease. She was buried in Rome, Ga., among her family. In Dec. 1915, the president married Edith Bolling Galt. Funeral services for Ellen Wilson were held in the East room of the White House, where only a few months earlier the Wilsons celebrated the wedding of their daughter.
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“To the right is the plow indicative of the application of science through our College of Agriculture to the agricultural enterprises of the State. The lower half of the inner circle is occupied by a book of philosophy supporting the book of history upon which rests the Greek lamp of learning.
“At the bottom of the outer circular space is printed the fleur-de-lis, representing truth, the rest of the circle being occupied by the words ‘Sigillum Universitatis Arizonensis’.”
About the time Arizona played Occidental on the football field in November 1914, school president Rufus von KleinSmid sought the creation of the seal after traveling to southern Indiana (close to where he was from) to visit the Monastery of St. Meinrads. He consulted with Father Albertus Kleber, the librarian in charge of the collections of literary antiquities in America.
Father Kleber, an artist as well as a scholar, created the seal. Kleber’s draft of the seal was presented to von KleinSmid along with the book of laws and the keys to the university upon von KleinSmid’s formal inauguration on Jan. 11-12, 1915.
The difference in the seal between 1914 and 2014: The fleur-de-lis have been removed. The year “1885”, when the university opened its doors, is at the base of the seal instead.
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.
