The 1893–94 Oregon Agricultural Aggies football team represented Oregon Agricultural College (OAC)—now known as Oregon State University—during the 1893 college football season. It was the school's inaugural football season and one in which not a single point was allowed in the four contests played on their home turf.
The team played a total of six games, finishing with a 5–1 record, and were regarded as the best collegiate team in the state of Oregon for the season.
Background
In June 1900, the six literary societies of Oregon Agricultural College (OAC) in Corvallis, Oregon, published a special "souvenir edition" of The College Barometer, the monthly literary magazine of the school.Edwin B. Aldrich (ed.), The College Barometer: Souvenir Edition. Volume 5, no. 9. Corvallis, OR: Agricultural College Printing Office, June 1900. This 64-page special issue included one of the earliest accounts of the saga of sports at the still-small school, "Some Athletic History," by J.C. McCaustland.
OAC "was one of the first educational institutions in Oregon to organize a foot-ball team and it has never failed to have one since," McCaustland wrote, noting that "in the fall of 1893, the first game of foot-ball was played on our campus by an organized team.J.C. McCaustland, ["Some Athletic History,"] College Barometer, vol. 5, no. 9 (June 1900), pp. 52-57." He goes on to provide a list of opponents and scores, from whence subsequent records of the school's early football history have been subsequently derived.
With no incidental fees collected to cover basic costs, football and other sports at OAC were organized around a dues-paying organization called the Oregon Agricultural College Athletic Association (OACAA), which was incorporated in the fall of 1892."Salem Happenings," The Oregonian, Oct. 13, 1892, p. 3.
The small size of the institution should be noted. Oregon Agricultural College became a state run school ahead of the 1888-89 academic year, with an initial enrollment of just 97 students, including a substantial percentage of women."Statistics," Annual Catalog of the State Agricultural College of Oregon for 1893-1894 and announcements for 1894-1895. Corvallis, OR: Agricultural College Printing Office, 1894; p. 44. By the 1893-94 academic year, that figure had crept up to 240 students in all — just 148 of whom were men. The seventeen players on the 1893 OAC team represented over 11% of the entire male student body.
Not everyone was keen on the emergence and growth of popularity of the "new" collegiate game in the region, with the neighboring Albany Herald-Disseminator reprinting a grim editorial from the San Francisco Chronicle which called for rules changes to curtail the roughness and brutality of the "so-called sport" which results in "broken and sprained limbs, in not infrequent internal injuries and sometimes in death.""Modern Football," Albany Weekly Herald-Disseminator, Dec. 9, 1893, p. 4. Reprinted from San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 4, 1893, p. 6. "Modern football is not football at all," the editorial declared. "It is a succession of rushes, of scrimmages, of wrestling matches, and sometimes of fist-fights, each side trying to bear down the other by sheer force of weight and strength."
Schedule
Game summaries November 11: vs. Albany College
November 11, 1893 marked the date of the first game of football played on the grounds of Oregon Agricultural College or in Benton County, Oregon itself, when the OAC Aggies met a rival squad fielded by their neighbors of Albany College.Bear and Forbear, "College Column," Corvallis Times, vol. 6, no. 39 (Nov. 15, 1893), pg. 3.
The Albany team arrived in Corvallis at 11 am on game day aboard horse-drawn hacks and were conducted to Cauthorn Hall on the OAC campus for photographs and a team meal. The grounds were crowded with fans, with more than 500 people paying 10 cents each to attend. The game was reckoned as the largest crowd to ever view a sporting event in Corvallis.
As home team, Corvallis was responsible for the traveling expenses of the visitors, so tickets were sold for ten cents each, to be attached with orange ribbon to the lapel and worn in plain view while the spectator was on the football grounds."College Cullings," Corvallis Weekly Gazette, vol. 30, no. 39 (Nov. 10, 1893), p. 1.
The game began at 2 pm, with Albany receiving the ball but quickly losing possession, followed by the first touchdown, scored by halfback Brady Burnett after only four minutes had been played. The game that followed proved to be a rout, with the Aggies posting a 42-0 lead at halftime.
The Albany squad was so demoralized by the drubbing that three players would not take the field in the second half, with these non-participants replaced by OAC substitute players for the duration of the game. The final score in the contest was 64-0, with the Aggies racking up 13 four-point touchdowns: Burnett with 7, Nash with 4, Bloss 1, and Desborough 1.
Despite the outcome, the Albany team held no ill-will towards their gridiron betters, with one individual close to the Albany team opining in the local press:
"The football team was well treated, with all the word implies. The Agricultural fellows showed every courtesy and bent every energy to make our stay in their city pleasant and profitable. Fairness in the game and gentility elsewhere must be placed to the credit of the young men of Corvallis.""College Notes," Albany Weekly Herald-Disseminator, vol. 14, no. 3 (Nov. 16, 1893), pg. 5.
November 17: at Oregon State Normal School
According to a short item in the Albany Weekly Herald-Disseminator, a match between the state agricultural college and Oregon State Normal School was in the offing for Thanksgiving Day at the OAC football grounds."Coast Notes: Interesting Items Gathered from Our Exchanges Throughout the Northwest," Albany Weekly Herald-Disseminator, vol. 14, no. 2 (Nov. 9, 1893), p. 2. This proved inaccurate both with respect to timing and location, as the two college squads met on the gridiron on Friday, November 17, 1893, in Monmouth, Oregon. Playing in bad weather before a scant crowd of just 300 fans, the Aggies extended their record to 2-0 with a decisive 36–22 victory.
Right halfback Brady Burnett was again the most effective offensive weapon for the Aggies as he ran the ball effectively behind the stout right side of the offensive line, with one observer noting that OAC "outplayed their opponents in every particular" by making use of "scientific playing" while the Monmouths "relied upon their muscle."
OSNS ran the ball effectively behind a "rolling wedge," with their halfbacks Bilyeu and Brodie both credited with outstanding games rushing the football. An early OAC score and conversion was answered by Monmouth's Bilyeu, who scored a four-point touchdown, with the subsequent kick for two-points after touchdown failing — leaving the score OAC 6, OSNS 4. The teams traded scores with the score standing Aggies 18, Monmouths 10 as the 45-minute first half came to a close.
A ten-minute intermission followed, with the spectators spending their time cheering and blowing horns in anticipation of second half action.
Monmouth received the ball to open the second half and drove it the length of the field in six minutes, scoring a 4-point touchdown and 2-point conversion kick to cut the Aggies' lead to 18-16. The Monmouth team could not hold, however, with the Aggies quickly answering with a Brady Burnett run around end to score his fourth touchdown of the day, extending the lead to 24-16. Yet another Burnett touchdown followed, a 100-yard run coming on a reverse play in which his backfield mate Nash ran the ball one way before handing it off to Burnett, who streaked around end in the other direction.
Following another OSNS touchdown to make the score 30-22, Captain Brady Burnett scored a sixth touchdown for the Aggies to cap the scoring at 36-22, with his score coming at the 34 minute mark of the second half. This final TD made an astounding 13 for Burnett in two games — a school performance unlikely to ever be equaled.
Following the game the two teams shared a meal at the OSNS dining hall.
Such was the view from Corvallis. Twenty-five miles north, some saw the gridiron contest between the Normals and the Agrics quite differently.
"Owing to the training the OAC boys had received, they seemed to think that anything that would help to win a foot ball game was fair, and they showed by their actions, that, if they could not win the game by fair playing, they would win it some other way," the reporter from the weekly West Side opined. The partisan observer found much to criticize about the Aggies' playing tactics, including the use of "slugging, throttling, kicking, tripping, jumping on a man when he is down, and all other unfair means that could be devised." Moreover, "to make matters worse the umpire...could not see any of the unfair plays..."
The crowd became unruly by halftime over perceived unfair treatment being meted out to the home team, the local newspaperman declared, adding that "had the Normal boys failed in controlling their tempers, there might have been serious trouble." The Agrics may have won the touchdown parade by three scores, but "had the game lasted fifteen minutes longer, with Professor Powell of Forest Grove as umpire, the OSNS boys would have won the game," the writer bitterly declared.
December 15: vs. Oregon State Normal School
Four weeks after their resounding victory at Monmouth, the farmers of OAC and the teachers of Oregon State Normal School met in Corvallis for a rematch. The game, poorly documented in the local press, was won 28-0 by the home team Aggies.
The game would be the last of Fall term at the college, with OAC finishing at the top of the "Oregon League" standings with a record of 3-0. Pacific University, the other Oregon school playing football in 1893, hit the break with a record of 2-0, while Monmouth closed at 0-4. The Albany program was wrecked by their initial disaster in Corvallis, tapping out of further action at the break with a record of 0-1."The Football Rage," Corvallis Gazette, vol. 30, no. 45 (Dec. 22, 1893), p. 1.
New Year's Ball
Community spirit was high for the new OAC football team and they were guests of honor at the Corvallis opera house on New Year's Eve."Brief Locals," Corvallis Weekly Gazette, vol. 30, no. 46 (Dec. 29, 1893), p. 4. Rosebrook's orchestra provided the music to dance to for the community of 1,500 people. The event was said to be "well attended" and "proved a success in every respect.""Local Notes," Corvallis Weekly Gazette, vol. 30, no. 47 (Jan. 5, 1894), p. 1.
January 20, 1894: vs. Multnomah Athletic Club second team
Early in January 1894, the Agric football team received a challenge from the Multnomah Athletic Club "Juniors" (second team). A game was hastily scheduled for Friday, January 19,Bear and Forbear, "College Column," Corvallis Times, vol. 6, no. 47 (Jan. 10, 1894), p. 5. with the actual date contest later moved back one day to Saturday, January 20. As the home team, the Aggies were responsible for the traveling expenses of the Portland squad, with a sum of $100 agreed upon."Local Lore," Corvallis Times, vol. 6, no. 48 (Jan. 17, 1894), pg. 5. Of this amount, a collection from professors of the school raised $30, with the remaining $70 to be generated by gate receipts.
The Multnomah Athletic Club arrived at 1 pm on game day aboard a special Oregon Pacific Railroad train sent down from Portland."Victorious," Corvallis Times, vol. 6, no. 49 (Jan. 24, 1894), pg. 1. The team was received at the station and taken to a dormitory where they were served lunch. Both teams entered the muddy field at 2:45 pm to begin the contest, which ultimately kicked off at 2:52 pm.
Game conditions were highly sub-optimum. One reporter opened his story in the poetry of Oregon: "In mud six inches deep and rain falling in torrents..."