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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:
1914 captain Turner Smith holding the football that signifies the Varsity as being the Southwestern Champions
Turner Church Smith (1892-1982)
Junior left guard from Little Rock, Ark.
From the time he was a young student at Globe High School, Smith showed leadership qualities befitting of a captain. As a senior at Globe in 1912, Smith was appointed as a cadet at the naval academy by U.S. Senator Mark Smith, who was one of Arizona’s first two senators. Turner Smith (no relation to the senator) served as a cadet at the University of Arizona campus in the naval reserve officers’ training corp (ROTC).
J.F. “Pop” McKale praised Smith and others in a 1914 season preview published by the student newspaper Arizona Life. McKale was impressed by Smith’s old-fashioned, close-to-the-vest demeanor.
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THE LAST WEEK IN THE SERIES:
— No. 38: Ernest James Renaud, fullback
— No. 39: Franklin Luis, halfback
— 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
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“Turner Smith, captain, is a line man from away back and can always be depended upon to hold up his end of things,” McKale said of Smith, a 6’1″ and 173 pound left guard.
After serving during World War I, Smith, a mechanical engineer student, entered the petroleum industry and worked as an executive with Mobil. He passed away from natural causes in 1982 at 90 years old.
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
Thursday, July 23, 1914
The opening of the Panama Canal to the world’s commerce on Aug. 13, 1914, was announced on this day by U.S. Secretary of War Lindley Miller Garrison. Garrison indicated the first vessel to pass through the great waterway would be the Cristobal, a war department steamer that was docked at Colon, Panama. He said there would be no formalities in the epoch-making event, with all ceremonies being left for the official opening when the international fleet passes through the canal in March 1915. Starting on Aug. 13, 1914, the canal would be open to vessels requiring not more than 30 feet of water.
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His son Turner C. Smith Jr. followed in his footsteps, graduating with an engineering degree from Arizona after serving in World War II. According to the Denver Post, the younger Smith later formed his own oil and gas company, Turner Smith & Associates, and operated successfully in the Sheldon Dome Field in the Wind River Reservation, in Wyoming.
Four generations of Turner Church Smiths exist. The elder Smith’s great grandchild is Turner Church Smith IV.
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.
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