The Swarthmore football team (later known as the Swarthmore Garnet Tide) represented Swarthmore College in American football. Swarthmore was the 15th oldest college football program in the United States.[1] The football program started in 1878 with a game against Penn. The program played no more than two games per year until 1885 when it played a six-game schedule. There was no team in 1880 and 1881. The team did not hire a coach until 1888 when Jacob K. Shell began his 11-year tenure as head coach. This article covers the program's early years prior to the hiring of Shell as the school's first head football coach.

1878

1878 Swarthmore football
ConferenceIndependent
Record0–1
Head coach
  • None

The 1878 Swarthmore football team represented Swarthmore during the 1878 college football season. Swarthmore played its first football game on November 2, 1878, against the 1878 Penn Quakers football team. The game was played in 45-minute halves with Penn ending up victorious by a 9-0 score.[2][3] Swarthmore was just the 15th school to play football in the whole United States, and the second to play football in the state Pennsylvania (after Penn).[4][5]

DateOpponentSiteResult
November 2PennPhiladelphiaL 0–9

1879

1879 Swarthmore Garnet Tide football
ConferenceIndependent
Record0–1
Head coach
  • None

The 1879 Swarthmore Garnet Tide football team represented Swarthmore College during the 1879 college football season. This was the second season of Swarthmore football.

The season saw the first contest with rival Haverford, to be one of the longest running rivalries.[6][7][8][lower-alpha 1] The score of the contest is recorded as Haverford 1 goal, 1 touchdown, and 1 safety touchdown, and Swarthmore 13 safety touchdowns.[12][13] According to the Haverfordian, "The day, as regards temperature and brightness, was all that could be desired, though the frost of the previous night made the footing somewhat uncertain."[14] The starting lineup for Swarthmore against Haverford was Caley, Carter, Seaman, Field, Butler, Powell, and Grundy at forward; Browning, Moore, Thomas at halfback; and Sharpless at fullback.[14]

The rivalry with Haverford was not renewed until the 1882 season, and Swarthmore did not achieve a win the series until 1883. "After the game of 1879, possibly because of Swarthmore's defeat that year, there was a lapse until 1883."[15]

Earlier in the season, the team played a game against Pennsylvania Military Academy (later renamed Widener University), but the game's score is unknown.[16]

DateOpponentSiteResultSource
November 1Pennsylvania Military AcademyChester, PAUnknown
December 13HaverfordL 0–1

[16][17]

1882

1882 Swarthmore football
ConferenceIndependent
Record0–1
Head coach
  • None

The 1882 Swarthmore football team represented Swarthmore during the 1882 college football season.

DateOpponentSiteResultSource
March 21HaverfordSwarthmore, PAL 0–1

1883

1883 Swarthmore football
ConferenceIndependent
Record1–1
Head coach
  • None

The 1883 Swarthmore football team represented Swarthmore during the 1883 college football season.

DateOpponentSiteResultSource
November 17at HaverfordHaverford, PAW 12–9
at HaverfordHaverford, PAL 8–16

1884

1884 Swarthmore football
ConferenceIndependent
Record0–1
Head coach
  • None

The 1884 Swarthmore football team represented Swarthmore during the 1884 college football season.

DateOpponentSiteResultSource
November 29HaverfordSwarthmore, PAL 6–10

1885

1885 Swarthmore football
ConferenceIndependent
Record4–2
Head coach
  • None

The 1885 Swarthmore football team represented Swarthmore during the 1885 college football season.

DateOpponentSiteResultSource
October 10at Pennsylvania MilitaryChester, PAW 56–4
October 14Penn
  • University athletic grounds
  • Philadelphia, PA
L 6–68[18][19]
November 7at HaverfordHaverford, PAL 10–40[20]
November 14at DickinsonCarlisle, PAW 36–6[21]
November 25Swarthmore alumniSwarthmore, PAW 32–6
November 28at Johns Hopkins
W 16–0[22]

1886

1886 Swarthmore football
ConferenceIndependent
Record1–1
Head coach
  • None

The 1886 Swarthmore football team represented Swarthmore during the 1886 college football season.

During the October 23 game against Dickinson, a Dickinson player, E. H. Garrison, was killed. Garrison was carrying the ball when he was tackled by Sweet of Swarthmore. Garrison fell underneath Sweet, hitting his shoulder. The grounds were used as a baseball diamond as well, and Garrison fell onto the pitcher's mound which had been filled with gravel. Garrison was taken to a doctor's office for treatment but was not revived. One newspaper account described the reaction to the accident: "All merriment was hushed and the usually noisy crowd was awe-stricken. The grim monster had come into their midst with such a suddenness that they could find no expression for their grief."[23]

DateOpponentSiteResultSource
October 6at PennPhiladelphia, PACancelled[24]
October 13LafayetteSwarthmore, PAL 12–20
October 23at DickinsonCarlisle, PAW 28–15[23]

1887

1888 Swarthmore football
ConferenceIndependent
Record2–2
Head coach
  • None

The 1887 Swarthmore football team represented Swarthmore during the 1887 college football season.

DateOpponentSiteResultSource
October 8at LehighBethlehem, PAL 0–24[25]
October 22at Lafayette
L 6–31[26]
November 5HaverfordSwarthmore, PAW 30–16[27]
November 12DickinsonSwarthmore, PAW 22–6[28]

Notes

  1. ↑ Penn, Haverford, and Swarthmore are all Quaker schools.[9] Haverford and Swarthmore both no longer have football programs.[10][11]

References

  1. ↑ "Swarthmore Cuts Football Team". ABC News. January 7, 2006.
  2. ↑ "First Football Game". Swarthmore College. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  3. ↑ "1878 College Football Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC.
  4. ↑ Griffin, David. "Swarthmore Drops Football Program". www.news9.com.
  5. ↑ "Swarthmore Cuts Football Team". ABC News.
  6. ↑ "HAVERFORD IN FRONT, 13-6; Hands Swarthmore 14th Defeat of Series Begun in 1879". The New York Times. November 19, 1950.
  7. ↑ "FRONTLINE: Retrospect". July 10, 2008.
  8. ↑ "HAVERFORD IS VICTORIOUS.; Conquers Its Ancient Rival, Swarthmore, by 10 to 7". November 26, 1916 – via NYTimes.com.
  9. ↑ "Quaker Consortium Students | Penn LPS". www.lps.upenn.edu.
  10. ↑ "Lack of Players Cancels Football at Haverford". The New York Times. September 15, 1972.
  11. ↑ "Long lost football team recalled by its star lineman". April 17, 2021.
  12. ↑ Camp, Walter (ed.). Spalding's Football Guide, 1915. New York: American Sports Publishing Company. p. 294.
  13. ↑ Association, Haverford College Alumni (September 16, 1892). "A History of Haverford College for the First Sixty Years of Its Existence". Porter & Coates – via Google Books.
  14. 1 2 "Football". The Haverfordian. 1 (4): ix-x. January 1880.
  15. ↑ The Inauguration of John William Nason as President of Swarthmore College, October 26, 1940 p. 46
  16. 1 2 "1879 Football Schedule". Widener University Athletics.
  17. ↑ "Swarthmore Game by Game Results". February 6, 2010. Archived from the original on February 6, 2010.
  18. ↑ "Swarthmore Defeated". The Philadelphia Times. October 15, 1885. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ↑ "College Sports". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 16, 1885. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ "College Boys Kick the Ball". Chester Times. November 9, 1885. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ "Foot Ball". The Sentinel. November 16, 1885. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ "Foot-Ball at Oriole Park". The Baltimore Sun. November 30, 1885. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. 1 2 "A Fatal Fall: The Sad Ending of the Game of Foot Ball on Saturday". The Sentinel. October 25, 1886. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ↑ "Fragments of News". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 6, 1886. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ↑ "Lehigh and Swarthmore". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 10, 1887. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ↑ "Lafayette Too Much for Swarthmore". The Philadelphia Times. October 23, 1887. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ↑ "Swarthmore Victorious: Haverford Defeated at Foot-Ball By a Score of 30 to 16". The Philadelphia Times. November 6, 1887. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ↑ "Dickinson Left Again: The Swarthmore-Dickinson Game on Saturday". The Daily Evening Sentinel. November 14, 1887. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
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