1908 College Football All-Southern Team Explained
The 1908 College Football All-Southern Team consists of American football players selected to the College Football All-Southern Teams selected by various organizations for the 1908 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season.
Consensus eleven
The eleven selected by a majority of selectors included:
- Vaughn Blake, end for Vanderbilt. One of the prominent Vanderbilt Blake family, he was later an FBI agent involved in the capture of Alvin Karpis.[1]
- C. C. Countess, center for Alabama. The school's first All-Southern player.[2]
- J. R. Davis, tackle for Georgia Tech; Davis was known as "Twenty percent" because he was considered twenty percent of the team's worth.[3] Vanderbilt coach Dan McGugin wrote, "He has one glaring fault - a tendency to tackle around the eyebrows. Otherwise he is a splendid foot ball man. He weighs two hundred pounds, is never hurt, never fumbles, bucks a line hard and furnishes excellent interference. He was the strength and stay of Tech."[4]
- Frank Faulkinberry, tackle for Sewanee, later a coach at Middle Tennessee State.
- Lewie Hardage, halfback for Auburn, had his breakout season in his first year. Fuzzy Woodruff labeled him the South's "fastest back of the 1910-1920 decade".[5]
- James L. Harris, guard for Sewanee. also played tackle and running back.
- Louis Hasslock, tackle for Vanderbilt. Before Vanderbilt played Michigan, Hasslock had been on duty at Reelfoot Lake with a militia who were to guard against night riders. When he learned he could be granted a leave of absence if he were to join his football team, he walked a distance of twenty miles through a country infested with night riders, and caught a train at Union City.[6]
- Walker Leach, halfback for Tennessee. McGugin noted "All things considered, Leach was perhaps the best football player of the year in Dixie."[4]
- Lawrence Markley, fullback and captain for Sewanee. McGugin wrote of Markley, "He has always been a very stubborn man on the defense, effective on a short plunge, and his cool head has helped to steady his team through many a crisis."[4]
- Ray Morrison, quarterback for Vanderbilt, was the best player on a team of sophomores.[7]
- Walker Reynolds, end for Auburn, was the first cousin of Walker Reynolds Tichenor.
All-Southerns of 1908
Ends
- Vaughn Blake†, Vanderbilt (C, H-1, DM, NB, EW, VA)
- Walker Reynolds, Auburn (C, GR-2)
- Silas Williams, Sewanee (H-1, DM)
- Del Pratt, Alabama (EW)
- Carlton Elliott, Virginia (VA)
- Stricker Coles, Clemson (H-2)
- Chip Robert, Georgia Tech (H-2)
- C. Logan Eisele, Sewanee (GR-2)
Tackles
- Frank Faulkinberry†, Sewanee (C, H-1, DM, NB, VA)
- J. R. Davis, Georgia Tech (C, H-1, DM)
- William Evans, Sewanee (GR-2, NB, EW)
- Oren Noblett, LSU (EW)
- Cecil Garrett, North Carolina (VA)
- W. P. Brown, Tennessee (H-2, GR-2)
- Henry Thomas Burks, Alabama (H-2)
Guards
- Louis Hasslock, Vanderbilt (C, H-1, DM, NB, EW)
- James L. Harris, Sewanee (C, H-2, GR-2)
- Nathan Dougherty, Tennessee (College Football Hall of Fame) (H-1, DM, NB)
- Willie Hillman, LSU (EW)
- Van Dyke, North Carolina A & M (VA)
- Hoss Hodgson, VPI (VA)
- T. C. Locke, Auburn (H-2, GR-2)
Centers
Quarterbacks
Halfbacks
- Walker Leach, Tennessee (C, H-1, DM, NB, EW)
- Lewie Hardage, Auburn (C, H-2, GR-2, DM)
- Ike Knox, Ole Miss (H-1)
- Mike Lally, LSU (NB, EW)
- Art Shea, Georgetown (VA)
- Forest Stanton, Virginia (VA)
- Aubrey Lanier, Sewanee (H-2, GR-2)
Fullbacks
- Lawrence Markley†, Sewanee (C, H-1, DM, NB, EW, VA)
- Clarence McCollum, Tennessee (H-2, GR-2)
Key
Bold = consensus choice by a majority of the selectors
† = Unanimous selection
C = selected by a consensus of newspapers, as published in Fuzzy Woodruff's A History of Southern Football.
DM = selected by Dan McGugin, coach at Vanderbilt University.[4] [8]
H = selected by John Heisman, coach at Georgia Institute of Technology.[9] with help from Grantland Rice. Both Rice and Heisman had separate second teams.[10]
NB = selected by Nash Buckingham in the Memphis Commercial Appeal.[11]
EW = selected by Edgar Wingard, coach at Louisiana State University.[12]
VA = selected by University of Virginia trainers.[13]
See also
Notes and References
- Web site: Barker/Karpis Gang. Federal Bureau of Investigation. 18.
- Web site: All Conference Selections.
- Book: Echoes of Georgia Football: The Greatest Stories Ever Told. 35. Triumph Books. September 2006. 9781617490484.
- Book: Spalding's Football Guide. 1909. 75. Shawnee Mission, Kansas, NCAA Publishing Service.
- Book: Woodruff, Fuzzy. A History of Southern Football 1890–1928. 2. 1928. 96.
- News: Walks Many Miles To Join Football Team. The Winchester News. October 30, 1908.
- Book: Football's Greatest Coaches. 341. Edwin Pope. Edwin Pope. archive.org. March 8, 2015. 1955.
- Web site: 1909 Football Program - UT vs Central University of Kentucky. October 2, 1909. December 23, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141223072915/http://diglib.lib.utk.edu/fbpro/main.php?bid=251&pg=10&catid=52. December 23, 2014. dead.
- News: Not News, But Views. 12. March 5, 2015. Digital Library of Georgia. Percy Whiting. November 24, 1909.
- News: Sewanee Gets More Than Any Other One Team In This Group. The Tennessean. 5. November 29, 1908. April 25, 2016. Newspapers.com. Grantland Rice.
- News: All SIAA Teams of Past Six Years. 12. Atlanta Georgian. March 5, 2015. Digital Library of Georgia. November 27, 1909.
- News: Wingard's All Southern. 10. December 2, 1908. November 14, 2017. Newspapers.com. The Times-Democrat.
- News: Virginia Makes Claim On The Championship. 12. December 18, 1908. March 5, 2015. Digital Library of Georgia. Atlanta Georgian.
