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— General history
— The games
— Comparisons then and now
— Wildcats nickname
— Military service
— Rankings
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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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One line of Arizona’s fight song “Bear Down” is directed at the opposition: “Hit ’em hard, let ’em know who’s who”.
The line flows with “Bear Down, Arizona … Bear Down, Red and Blue … Bear Down, Arizona …”
The saying is tame compared to what students chanted 100 years ago, when the “Varsity” became the “Wild-Cats”.
Football was a brutal game in 1914, evidenced by 15 deaths on the field that year in college and high school. Most of the fatal injuries were from brain hemorrhaging because of blows to the head. The brutality prompted students to chant a vicious cheer when the J.F. “Pop” McKale’s team took the field.
It should come with an “R” rating.
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“Rah, Rah, Rah, Varsity
Jam his nose,
Smash his toes,
Slam him till he’s lame.
Break his head;
Must have dead
In a football game.”
Abe Chanin posted this chant in his 1979 book They Fought Like Wildcats after describing a physical game in 1913 between Arizona and New Mexico.
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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Arizona’s band, with only a handful of members in its second year of existence, helped with the vicious cheer but did not put the chant to music. How could they put melody to that?
The Wildcats’ first fight song performed by the Arizona marching band was in 1930 during the homecoming game. “Fight! Arizona! Fight!” was written a year previously by Dugald Stanley Holsclaw.
Its lyrics are centered around football:
“Hail Arizona Wildcats
Fighting for old UA.
A raging team of Wildcats
Growling for the fray
There’s not a team can stop them
When the ball goes into play
So Fight! Team!
Fight with all your might
And win today.
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Fight Wildcats, Fight for Arizona
We’re with you ever staunch and true
This day we hail you and we cheer you
They can’t defeat the Red And Blue
Circle the ends and crash through center
Hit hard and gain on ev’ry play
Fight Wildcats!
Fight! Fight! Fight!
We’ll win today!”
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.
