VICTORY AT LAST!
Victory at last, after 30 winless football games.
ent Normal (today’s KSU) joined the hundreds of colleges in giving football a prominent place in the athletic program. Since there were not eleven men in the entire student body of 144 in the fall of 1913, there was no hope for its introduction that first year. By the fall of 1914, however, there were enough males in the enrollment of 347 students to permit the organization of a team, but the sport was abandoned after losing two scrimmages with the local high school team.
In 1920, however, a new era in Kent athletics was inaugurated with a real football team with full equipment…and a coach, Mr. Paul Chandler.” The first intercollegiate football game, played at Ashland resulted in a 6–0 loss. The first home game, played against Bowling Green, found Kent on the short end of a 7–0 score.
In 1923, after two more winless and scoreless years, Chandler was replaced by Frank N. Harsh. After losing to Akron 32–0 and to Baldwin-Wallace 118–0, the members of the team took a vow not to shave until a point had been scored. Any violator would be punished by a dunking in the Cuyahoga River. Despite the record, the student body got behind the team with pep rallies and bonfires in preparation for the next home game against the State Teachers’ College of West Liberty, West Virginia. After West Liberty had gone ahead 7-0 in the first half, early in the third period William Donnelly blocked a punt on the visitors’ five-yard line which was scooped up and carried over the goal line by Kent End Delton Smith. Though the point-after-touchdown was blocked and Kent was to be defeated once again, at least the long scoreless drought had ended. 1924 found another Kent football team going throughout a season without a score, but the prospects for the future began to brighten, thanks to the new gymnasium and a new four-year degree in physical & health education. 44+ candidates turned out for football that year, most majoring in the new physical training course. Significantly, only 91 points were scored against Kent by all four opponents that season.
Before the start of the 1925 season, Merle E. Wagoner was named coach. The season opened with a scoreless tie with Hiram College. After long years of defeat, even a tie looked good, but the best was yet to come. After playing two more ties, stretching the string of winless football games to 39, the Kent team made history on November 14, 1925, by winning over West Liberty of West Virginia, 7–6, before 2,000 frenzied “Homecoming” fans.
What a difference a victory made! With one triumph in forty contests under their belts, the Kent “Silver Foxes” began to bark for membership in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Needless to say, Coach Wagoner was the toast of the campus.
Kent’s first intercollegiate football team (1920)
Coached by the head of the department of education, Professor Paul G. Chandler (back row, far right). Photo courtesy of Earl Damann, son of George Damann (front row, center).
