1921 Centre vs. Harvard football game

The 1921 Centre vs. Harvard football game was a regular-season college football game played on October 29, 1921, at Harvard Stadium in Allston, Massachusetts. The contest featured the undefeated Centre Praying Colonels, representing Centre College, and the undefeated Harvard Crimson, representing Harvard University. In a rematch of a game played between the two teams the year prior, Centre defeated Harvard in what is widely considered one of the greatest upsets in college football history.[1][2]

"C6H0"
Centre Praying Colonels Harvard Crimson
(4–0) (5–0–1)
6 0
Head coach: 
Charley Moran		 Head coach: 
Robert T. Fisher
1234 Total
Centre 0060 6
Harvard 0000 0
DateOctober 29, 1921
Season1921
StadiumHarvard Stadium
LocationAllston, Massachusetts
RefereeR. W. Maxwell

Background

Recent years

After football was played only informally at Harvard in 1917 and 1918 because of World War I,[3] the team returned in 1919 under the leadership of new head coach Bob Fisher.[4] Harvard finished their 1919 season with an undefeated record; they did not allow a point to be scored against them for the first six games of the season, until a 10–10 tie with Princeton.[5] They went on to win the Tournament East-West Football Game against Oregon, 7–6,[6] and were retroactively named the outright national champions by two selectors.[7] The team continued their success in 1920, finishing the season with another undefeated record[8] which was again blemished only by a tie with Princeton.[9] The Crimson were again retroactively selected to a share of the national championship, though this time only by one selector as the majority chose undefeated and untied California instead.[7]

After an undefeated start to the decade in 1910, the Centre College football team fell on hard times and went through a stretch of four years with a losing record from 1912 to 1915.[10] The team rebounded with a 7–1 campaign in 1917, earning shutouts in every win,[10] in coach Charley Moran's first season. Moran had been recruited to the school by Robert L. Myers at the request of Centre president William Arthur Ganfield,[11] and brought with him several players who would go on to be very impactful for Centre, including Bo McMillan, Red Weaver, and Red Roberts.[12] Centre finished the 1919 season undefeated and untied and were retroactively recognized by one selector, Jeff Sagarin, as the season's national champions.[7] They won a further eight games in 1920, capping the season with a 56-point win over TCU in the Fort Worth Classic.[13]

1920 meeting

The teams first met in 1920, at Harvard Stadium in the Boston neighborhood of Allston.[14] Coming into the Centre game, Harvard was also undefeated and unscored upon in the 1920 season. Meanwhile, Centre College, a tiny school of 300 students in Kentucky, had little history of success in football before their current coach, Charley Moran, and star quarterback, Bo McMillin, arrived on campus in 1917.

The Centre Praying Colonels shocked Harvard in the 1920 game simply by taking a 14–7 halftime lead. But, in the second half, Centre withered before the superior Harvard squad, and Harvard won the game 31–14. Following the game, Harvard's captain offered the game ball to Centre's quarterback Bo McMillin, but McMillin declined the ball and promised "We'll be back next year to take it home with us."[15]

Players and personnel

Harvard, in the third season of Bob Fisher's tenure as head coach, was captained by R. Keith Kane.[16] The starting offensive line for the contest with Centre consisted of left tackle Alexander Ladd, left guard Charles Hubbard, centre Francis Kernan, right guard Fiske Brown, and right tackle Philip Kunhardt. Henry Janin started for the Crimson at left end and Charles Macomber started at right end. Harvard started two halfbacks: Francis Rouillard was on the left, and Vinton Chapin on the right. Erwin Gehrke was the starting fullback and the team's starting quarterback was Frank Johnson.[17][18]

Centre was led by fifth-year head coach Charley Moran; the team captain was starting right halfback Norris Armstrong.[19] Centre's offensive line was anchored by Ed Kubale at center, with Ben Cregor and Buck Jones at tackle and guard to his left, and Minos Gordy alongside William Shadoan filling the same positions to his right. Red Roberts started at left end and Bill James was the right end. Terry Snoddy was the left halfback, alongside Armstrong at right halfback, and Hump Tanner was the fullback. The Praying Colonels offense was led by quarterback Bo McMillin.[17]

Game summary

The contest was refereed by R. W. Maxwell. He was assisted by a crew of three other officials: umpire W. R. Crowley, linesman J. J. Tigert, and field judge W. G. Crowell.[17] Entering the contest, sportswriters and pundits gave Harvard 3-to-1 odds to win.[20]

After a scoreless half and early in the third quarter, Red Roberts told McMillin "it's time to score, ride my hump" and McMillin ran for a 32-yard touchdown. He dodged three of Harvard's secondary.[21]

Aftermath

Bob Fisher said after the game "In Bo McMillin Centre has a man who is probably the hardest in the country to stop."[22]

McMillin scores.

Immediate impact

The phrase by which the game is most commonly known, "C6H0", originated from a comment made by a Centre professor shortly following the game: that Harvard had been "poisoned" by the organic compound with that formula.[23] It stuck, and all around Danville students painted the so-called "impossible formula".[24]

The Centre victory was a shock, but perhaps not a fluke; the team would finish the 1921 season 10–1, defeating several of the nation's powerhouses including VPI, Auburn, Arizona, and Clemson. Their only defeat was a 22–14 loss to powerful Texas A&M in the 1922 Dixie Classic (forerunner of the Cotton Bowl), in Dallas, Texas, on January 2, 1922 (the game where A&M's famous "12th man" was born). Bo McMillin got married in Dallas the day before the game, and the Colonels were in the midst of a grueling long distance trip from home by train, having played Arizona in San Diego, California, the week before. Up until their final game of the season the Colonels outscored their opponents by a margin of 314 to 6.[25]

"Greatest Upset"

In 1950, the Associated Press named C6H0 the greatest sports upset of the first half of the 20th century.[26] In 2005, The New York Times called it "arguably the upset of the century in college football."[2] In 2006, ESPN named it the third-biggest upset in the 138-year history of college football,[1] and was ranked No. 4 in a similar list published by Bleacher Report in 2011.[27] The game also ranked No. 126 on an ESPN list of the 150 greatest college football games of all time, released in 2019.[28]

On the 75th anniversary of C6H0, Centre challenged Harvard to a rematch. Harvard declined.[29]

See also

References
  1. "ESPN ranks 1921 Centre–Harvard game among college football's greatest upsets". Centre College. June 29, 2006. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved August 7, 2008. Archived November 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "C6-H0 plays a prominent part in nation's sports lexicon". Centre College. November 3, 2005. Archived from the original on July 5, 2008. Retrieved August 7, 2008. Archived July 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Media Center: Crimson Football - National Championships". Harvard University. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  4. "Fisher to coach Harvard". The New York Times. June 14, 1919.
  5. "1919 Harvard Crimson Schedule and Results". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  6. "Harvard victorious over Oregon in grid classic, 7 to 6". The Fresno Morning Republican. January 2, 1920. p. 13. Retrieved September 20, 2022 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  7. "National Poll Rankings" (PDF). Football Bowl Subdivision Records. National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2015. p. 108. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 6, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022. Archived May 21, 2016, at the Portuguese Web Archive
  8. "1920 Harvard Crimson Schedule and Results". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  9. "Harvard battles to tie with Tigers". The New York Times. November 7, 1920. p. Sports 1 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  10. "Centre College Football Record (1910–1919)". Centre College Special Collections and Digital Archives. Centre College. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved September 20, 2022. Archived April 2, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  11. Weston 2019, p. 71.
  12. Weston 2019, p. 72.
  13. Bee, Billy (January 2, 1921). "Centre's Colonels beat T. C. U. 63 to 7". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Fort Worth, Texas. p. 22. Retrieved August 23, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  14. Sullivan, W.D. (October 24, 1920). "Harvard crushes Centre in thrilling game, 31–14". The Boston Globe. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  15. Bernstein 2001, p. 118.
  16. "All-time Captains" (PDF). Harvard Football Record Book. Harvard University. 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  17. "Official Program: Football Game, Harvard vs. Centre" (PDF). Irwin Score Board. October 29, 1921. pp. 1–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 21, 2015. Retrieved September 20, 2022. Archived February 21, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  18. "All-Time Letterwinners" (PDF). Harvard Football Record Book. Harvard University. 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  19. Ziegler, Valarie H. (1995). "C6-H0: The Centre Harvard Game of 1921". Grace Doherty Library. Centre College. Archived from the original on August 28, 2008. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  20. Jackson 2015, p. 22.
  21. "How Centre Colonels Defeated the Crimson In Cambridge Stadium". The Courier-Journal. October 30, 1921. p. 49. Retrieved February 13, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  22. "McMillin's Brillian Sprint Gives Centre Victory Over Harvard". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 30, 1921. p. 6. Retrieved February 13, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  23. Gardner, Hayes (October 29, 2021). "'C6H0' — Kentucky school beat Harvard in major college football upset 100 years ago today". The Courier-Journal. Archived from the original on March 9, 2023. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  24. "Remembering a Forgotten Upset - Sports - The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  25. "1921 Season". Archived from the original on December 3, 2008. Retrieved August 7, 2008. Archived December 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  26. "Centre College Remembers Day When It Was King of the Gridiron". Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved August 7, 2008.
  27. Hodkowski, Ryne (October 23, 2011). "The 50 Greatest Upsets in College Football History". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  28. "The 150 greatest games in college football's 150-year history". ESPN. November 4, 2019. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  29. "MY KENTUCKY: C6H0 - Centre Beats Harvard". Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved April 12, 2018. Archived June 15, 2018, at the Wayback Machine

Bibliography
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.