The Pittsburgh Panthers team represents the University of Pittsburgh in American football.
Overview
Early history (1889–1902)
Football at the University of Pittsburgh began in the fall of 1889 when the school was still known as the Western University of Pennsylvania, often referred to as WUP, and was located in what was then known as Allegheny City and is today the city of Pittsburgh's North Side. A 130-pound WUP student, Bert Smyers, along with senior student John Scott, assembled a football team that year composed of only three players who had previously witnessed the sport. The team played in one informal game, a loss against Shady Side Academy, in which Smyers made himself quarterback and Scott played center. In preparation for the following year, the first season of football officially recognized by the university, Smyers and his teammates took up a collection and purchased a football for practices and games; players were responsible for their own uniforms. In Smyers' case, his uniform was pieced together by his mother and sister. The first official game for the university was played on October 11, 1890, when the Allegheny Athletic Association's opponent, Shadyside Academy, failed to appear for its game at Exposition Park. Allegheny A.A. called Smyers who brought the WUP team as a replacement. In an inglorious start to Pitt football history, WUP was defeated 38–0. Smyers' team next faced Washington and Jefferson College, losing 32–0, but closed out its inaugural three game season with the university's first win, a 10–4 victory over Geneva College. The following season saw the university collect more losses en route to a 2–5 record. Smyers suffered a broken nose in a 40–6 loss to Washington and Jefferson, a school that would become one of WUP's fiercest early rivals. The WUP team did record the school's first shutout with a 6–0 win over Geneva, as well as the school's first blowout in a 54–0 win over Western Pennsylvania Medical College who became affiliated with WUP in 1892 and later became the university's medical school when they merged in 1908. Perhaps the most important development for the second season of football was Smyers recruitment of Joseph Trees from Normal University of Pennsylvania. The 210 pound Trees became WUP's first subsidized athlete and, later in life, made millions in the oil industry and became an important benefactor for the university and athletic department. Today, Trees Hall, an athletic facility on the University of Pittsburgh's main campus in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, bears his name. The first winning record for the university came in the third season of competition in 1892, when the team posted a 4–2 record. The following season in 1893, the team had its first official coach, Anson F. Harrold, who led the team to an unremarkable 1–4 record. However, during that season the first contest was played in what would become a 100-game series versus Penn State, thus originating one of the longest and fiercest rivalries for both schools. In 1895, the school suffered a 1–6 season under coach J.P. Linn. The 1895 season was notable for the first Backyard Brawl on October 26, 1895, with WUP losing to West Virginia 8–0 in Wheeling, West Virginia. The university did not see another winning season until Fred Robinson led WUP to a 5–2–1 record in 1898. In 1899, Robinson continued his success with a 3–1–1 record, giving the school its first back-to-back winning seasons. This was followed by two more consecutive winning seasons, including a record seven-win season in 1901 under coach Wilbur Hockensmith. That season, Hockensmith led the school to its first victory over West Virginia, a 12–0 shutout in Morgantown on October 5, 1901.
Mosse, Thompson, and Duff (1903–1913)
In the early years of the 20th century, interest in college football grew both in Pittsburgh and throughout the nation. In 1903, Arthur St. Leger "Texas" Mosse was hired away from the University of Kansas, and brought several of his players with him. Other players were recruited from surrounding Western Pennsylvania colleges, including star half back Joseph H. Thompson. The 1903 season, the first under Mosse, was the university's first winless season at 0–9–1. In perhaps one of the greatest turnarounds in college football history, Mosse led WUP to an undefeated 10–0 season, the school's first, in 1904. The 1904 team surrendered only one touchdown on the way to collectively outscoring opponents 406–5. That season also saw the school's first victory over Penn State, a 22–5 rout, as well as a 53–0 shutout of West Virginia. The success of this period can be partially attributed to actions taken by the university's administration, led by newly installed chancellor Samuel McCormick who took special interest in athletics at the university. Encouraged by university trustee George Hubberd Clapp, the administration more actively engaged in supporting the athletic program during this period in order to promote the university. A football association was formed, the school's first booster organization, whose largest initial contributor was Andrew W. Mellon. The university also obtained a lease of Exposition Park to give the football team a more stable and permanent home, and its first full season at the park began with the 1904 undefeated team. This undefeated 1904 season was followed by a 10–2 record under Mosse in 1905, as well as six additional winning seasons.
These Mosse coached squads featured team captain Joe Thompson, who was recruited from Geneva College to play for WUP from 1904 to 1906. During Thompson's playing years, the team compiled a 26–6 record. Thompson graduated from the university in 1905 and continued on with post-graduate work in the School of Law completing his law degree. However, Thompson had long desired the head coaching position and finally obtained the job in 1909, after successful coach John A. Moorhead, who helped facilitate the first known use of numbers on the uniforms of football players in 1908, left coaching to pursue his family's business interests. That same year, the university changed its name from Western University of Pennsylvania to the University of Pittsburgh, and it soon became known as "Pitt" among fans and students. The following year, in 1909, the school officially adopted the Panther as a mascot. Also in 1909, the school moved to the Oakland section of Pittsburgh where it remains to this day, and the football team began playing games at Forbes Field, starting with the third game of the season against Bucknell on October 16, 1909.
Thompson coached at Pitt until 1912, the longest tenure of any coach to that point, and led the football team to a 22–11–2 record. The highlight of his coaching tenure was the 1910 season in which Pitt, led by star fullback Tex Richards, went undefeated for the second time in school history. Of even greater significance, the 1910 team was unscored upon, collectively outscoring its 9 opponents 282–0, and is considered by many to be that season's national champion. Following his coaching stint, Thompson went on to become a highly decorated hero of World War I. Winning continued under coach Joseph Duff, including an 8–1 record in 1914 in which opponents were collectively outscored 207–38, and the university was well on the way to establishing itself as a regional, if not yet national, power. Duff would leave the Panthers after two seasons to serve in World War I, where he would be killed in combat in October 1918.
Pop Warner era (1914–1923)
In 1914, Pitt athletic booster Joseph Trees and athletic director A. R. Hamilton hired Pop Warner as Pitt's head coach. Warner, who had previously led Carlisle, Cornell, and Georgia, had been successful at his previous stops, mentoring the likes of Jim Thorpe, and was known as an innovator of the game who originated the screen pass, single- and double-wing formations, and use of shoulder and thigh pads. His arrival at Pitt gave the program instant national credibility, lifting the perception of the program from a regional power to that of a national one. Warner's impact was immediate. Led by center Robert Peck, Pitt's first First Team All-American, and All-American end James Pat Herron, Warner's first Pitt team in 1915 went 8–0, shutting out five opponents, and was trumpeted by football historian Parke H. Davis as that season's national champion. His second season duplicated that success, repeating an 8–0 record while collectively outscoring opponents 255–25, and garnering what is widely regarded as a consensus national championship. The lone scare of the 1916 season occurred at Navy when, following a delay of the team's train heading to Annapolis that caused a late arrival, the team overcame several fumbles and eked out a 20–19 victory. The 1916 team was led again by Herron and Peck, now in his last season, as well as All-Americans fullback Andy Hastings and guard "Tiny" Thornhill. Also on that team were Jock Sutherland and H.C. "Doc" Carlson, who both would garner First Team All-American selections while members of the undefeated 1917 team, and go on to become perhaps Pitt's most legendary coaches in football and basketball, respectively. The 1917 team, nicknamed "The Fighting Dentists" because over half the roster became doctors or dentists, finished 10–0 with five shutouts despite losing several players to military service at the outbreak of World War I. The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, which took the life of former Pitt star Tex Richards,"Robert W. Richards Pneumonia Victim", Eagle, November 8, 1918. saw the implementation of quarantines that eliminated much of that year's college football season, including five of Pitt's originally scheduled contests. All of Pitt's games that year were played in November, including a high-profile game played as a War Charities benefit against undefeated, unscored upon, and defending national champion Georgia Tech, coached by the legendary John Heisman. Pitt swept through its first two games and then dismantled Georgia Tech 32–0 in front of many of the nation's top sports writers including Walter Camp. The final game of the season at Cleveland Naval Reserve resulted in Warner's first loss at Pitt and is one of the most controversial in school history. Warner, along with some reporters covering the game, insisted Pitt was robbed by the officials who, claiming the official timekeeper's watch was broken, arbitrarily ended the first half before Pitt was able to score and then allowed the Reserves extra time in the fourth quarter to pull ahead 10–9 before calling an end to the game. Despite the loss, the 4–1 Panthers of 1918 were named by multiple selectors as a national champion for that season.
In 1919, several players suffered season-ending injuries, and Pitt stumbled to a 6–2–1 record that included another victory over Georgia Tech. The Panthers returned to undefeated status during 1920, albeit with ties against Syracuse and undefeated Penn State. The Penn State game ended in a scoreless tie after Pitt star Tom Davies, who was injured early in the game, returned later to miss a possible game-winning field goal. For the 1921 season, the team's record dipped to 5–3–1, but Pitt made college football history on October 8, 1921. Harold W. Arlin announced the first live radio broadcast of a college football game in the United States from Forbes Field on KDKA radio as the Pitt Panthers defeated West Virginia 21–13 in the annual Backyard Brawl.