Football 1918

The football season of 1918 was truly unique as war and disease set the game back in some respects. With all of the adversity there were still games played and some truly memorable and controversial games played. Join us as we explore football in the year 1918.

The Football History Rewind has returned with Part 38! When we last left off our study was taking place in in the 1917 season and focused mainly on the legendary John Heisman. This edition will zip the reader back to the year of 1918 and the
football developments of that season.

Spanish Flu Pandemic

The heigth of the Spanish Flu Pandemic hitting during ther fall of 1918. The impact of the Pandemic was rampid, and almost forgotten until COVID-19 ran a similar path on the world in the 21st-Century. The effect on sports included a list of cancellations, travel restrictions, and schedule changes as even the World Series was played earlier than usual in September in fear of the infectous disease. Limitations on crowd sizes and the amount of men on a roster changed the norms of the gridiron that year. Heck there are even old photographs of folks at college games wearing masks in the stands. The flu spread was not the only element changing football in 1918 though.

1918 - A Nation Ready for War!

United States involvement in the "Great War" was imminent. The arguments of the isolationists were starting to be drown out by the cries of America’s European allies who were battling the powerful axis nations. The U.S. Government saw the writing on the wall and was preparing the nation for war. Many schools and young men were doing their part in preparation as well and
many schools including Cornell and Yale did not field a football team in 1918 due directly to the conflict. The Army -Navy game was cancelled that year and as a matter of fact Army played only one game that season, a 20-0 romp over Mitchell Field. This was not a situation centered just in the East though as other schools such as Louisiana State, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina put football aside that season as well. The Pacific Coast Conference and the Southwest Conference awarded no championship banners that season as many questionable freshmen and military personnel were fielded by participating teams. During that era of football freshmen were not eligible to play, but the wartime preparations made for this special circumstantial arrangement to let
them, due to lack of eligible players to compete.

Pop and Pitt were still "It"

Once again Pop Warner had his Pitt squad positioned as the team to beat that season. Their winning streak was into it’s fourth season and the way they were playing it did not look like it would soon end, but end it did in a very controversial way during a post season game.

Warner’s squad was pitted against the Cleveland Naval Reserve. The Panthers started out strong as the scored in the first six minutes of the game by using their powerful formations and strategies along with their very able bodied runners, Joe Guyon and Buck Flowers. The Reservists had their own game strategy that proved to be just as effective- intimidate the officials.

The Clevelander’s plan was working as they pressured the officials to overlook blatant fouls. The Reservists persuaded the Referee to end the first half a minute early when Pitt was in possession of the ball near the Naval Goal! If that was not bad enough the officials more than made up for that lost minute in the first half by extending the final period by six minutes! It really got interesting in this extra six minute stanza, as it was mainly extended due to the Naval Reserve having possession of the ball and trailing the Panthers. It seemed that the extended ball game would be ended when the Naval offense coughed up the ball and Pitt gained possession but the Reservists would literally not admit that they fumbled the ball away, and would not relinquish possession of it. There was a heated argument and finally a very frustrated Pop Warner told his players, "Play it out!" and they did.

A few plays later Cleveland Naval Reservist Moon Ducote won it as he passed a scoring strike to receiver Pete Stinchcomb. Pittsburgh’s four year undefeated reign was at a very controversial end.

Michigan and Navy also roll

Another solid program in 1918 was that of Michigan. They went undefeated in all five of their games that year as a group of Freshmen players filled the holes left by upperclassmen who left early to serve their country. The five victories were for the most part good quality wins as the Wolverines defeated the likes of rival Ohio State, Michigan State, Case, Syracuse and the Amos Alonzo Stagg coached University of Chicago.

Navy unlike their Army rivals did field a full season squad in 1918. They had great success that year too as they suffered only one setback, and similar to Pitt’s it was very controversial only they stirred the pot of controversy, not their opponent. The Naval Academy loss was to the Great lakes Sailors, a team made up of ex-collegiate players who opted for the military during the war time era. Navy was out in front 6-0 and ready to punch in another score when they fumbled deep in the Great Lakes red zone. Harry Eielson picked up the loose ball for the G. L. Sailors and started on what appeared to be an easy 90 yard touchdown run. On his way down the Navy sideline at about the mid-field stripe he encountered an unlikely obstacle a player on the Navy bench, tackle Bill Saunders, left the sideline confines during the fumble return and dropped Eielson to the grass with a great tackle.
Eielson’s team mates ran to him to help him up to continue his run after the very illegal stoppage bu the officials stepped in and ended the play. It was a very confusing and bewildering experience for the officiating crew I’m sure as there really was no rule set up to punish this obvious offense. Their first attempt to correct the situation was to award the Great Lakes squad a half the
distance to the goal penalty but this was changed later to an awarded score for Great Lakes. The Sailors made the extra point count and they earned a 7-6 win over their Navy opponents. The ruling by the officials set up some of the precedence we find to day in football to rule on the spirit of the rules for circumstances that occur that no clear rule is written. These men who officiated this game should be applauded for their accolades nearly 100 years ago as they prevailed with fairness in what I am sure was a
very uncomfortable situation. It should be a lesson and an inspiration to all of us that creating a safe and level playing field is our main responsibility when taking the field to officiate football and other sports.

Top Professionals of 1918 Football

The Spanish Flu Pandemic and World War I caused many pro squads not to be able to field teams for the season. One franchise that did, and made the most of it were the Dayton Triangles. The Dayton club finished with a perfect 8-0 record and won the Ohio State Title.

To learn more about the 1918 Dayton team join our friend Brice Smith on his Dayton Triangles Podcast Episode 9: Year of the Asterisk.

The banner photo is of Cover art from program for the November 1918 football game between the University of Michigan and Ohio State University. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: On This Day Sports, the Sports Reference's family of website databases & Stathead.com