The Oregon State football program traces its roots to autumn 1893 at what was then State Agricultural College (SAC) in Corvallis. William H. Bloss—the son of college president John McKnight Bloss—had recently moved from the Midwest, bringing a passion for the emerging gridiron sport. Acting as both organizer and playing coach, Bloss held open tryouts and assembled a ragtag 17-man roster composed of college students, a faculty member, a local high school junior, and non-student Corvallis residents. This marked the Oregon State Beavers football origin and the beginning of the team’s rich legacy.
The First Game
On November 11, 1893, SAC played its inaugural intercollegiate contest against nearby Albany College on an open grass lot known as College Field on Lower Campus. Approximately 500 spectators paid a ten-cent admission fee to watch SAC dominate in a 62–0 blowout. Bloss handled quarterback duties, while Brady F. Burnett etched his name into school lore by scooping up a fumble and returning it for the first touchdown in program history.
Early Coaches and Pioneer Stars
Bloss guided the team to a 4–1 inaugural campaign before departing, returning briefly for an undefeated two-game run in 1897. In 1894, Guy Kennedy took over as head coach and orchestrated the very first matchup against the University of Oregon, leading the team to a 16–0 shutout victory.
Standouts quickly emerged on the field. Halfback Brady Burnett anchored early offensive output alongside fullback and captain William “Willie” Keady, a rugged two-way presence in the late 1890s. The program took a major leap forward in 1906 under head coach Fred Norcross, a former quarterback from Fielding H. Yost’s famous “Point-a-Minute” Michigan teams. Norcross instituted disciplined East Coast systems, coaching the 1907 squad to an undefeated 6–0 season without allowing a single point, earning them regional acclaim as Champions of the Pacific Coast. Early athletic stars like multi-sport talent Carl Wolff further established the school as a regional powerhouse.
Origin of the Beavers Nickname
Before adopting their current identity, athletic squads cycled through several monikers. Early teams were called the “Aggies,” “Hayseeders,” or “Farmers” due to the school’s agricultural mandate, and later the “Orangemen” after adopting orange and black team colors.
The transition to “Beavers” took root in 1916 when the student body officially renamed the college yearbook The Beaver. Prominent Northwest sports journalists, most notably L.H. Gregory of The Oregonian, began popularizing the moniker in print to honor Oregon’s official state animal and its historical association with industry and engineering. By the time the institution was renamed Oregon State Agricultural College in 1927, the Beaver identity had become permanent, cementing the modern legacy of Oregon State football.
