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Pictures of members of the Arizona Life student newspaper placed on the Dec. 3, 1914, issue claiming the “Wild-Cats” as Southwest Champions (The Desert Yearbook photo)
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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 football player Albert Condron, the student who was responsible for the formation of “A” Mountain, was also part of the school’s newspaper staff
Among the many differences between the Arizona football program now and then (the historic 1914 season) is the fact two members of the “Varsity” were also part of the student newspaper staff.
Can you imagine Scooby Wright and Anu Solomon providing their daily reports about Arizona’s practice? That would be intertesting.
In the 1914-15 school year, football players Albert Condron and Albert Crawford were influential members of the Arizona Life staff. The student newspaper changed to the Arizona Daily Wildcat after the school adopted the “Wildcats” nickname following the fateful 1914 game at Occidental.
Condron (Class of 1916) was the desk editor and Crawford (Class of 1917) was athletics representative among the newspaper’s associate board of editors.
Arizona Life was a weekly newspaper 100 years ago.
Whereas today’s Arizona Daily Wildcat is more about reporting with an unbiased tone, the Arizona Life 100 years ago provided news in a “peppy” form, according to the 1914-15 Desert yearbook.
“It has constantly breathed real ‘college spirit’ and has been one of the important factors in the building up of that ‘Greater Arizona,'” the yearbook reads.
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THE LAST WEEK IN THE SERIES:
— No. 21: Development of fraternity life significant 100 years ago
— No. 22: University of Arizona’s seal among firsts of 100 years ago
— 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
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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
Sunday, Aug. 9, 1914
The European War (World War I) intensifies as a German submarine U-15 sinks a British cruiser. Conflicting reports come out of Liege, Belgium, that Germany has taken command of the city in the first battle of World War I.
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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.
