ADVERTISEMENT

U. of Washington vs. Rutgers - Better Late Than Never

Source

Heisman Winner
Aug 1, 2001
10,874
5,657
113
During the 1916 season, Washington would become champions of the fledgling Pacific Coast Conference. Under coach “Gloomy Gil” Dobie, from 1908-1916, the team went 58-0-3 including 39 wins in a row. Before that season began, the July 26, 1916 Daily Home News reported that the University of Washington, “… had received an invitation from John B. Foster, secretary and business manager of the New York National League baseball club, for the University of Washington football team to play on the Polo Grounds in New York for the second Saturday of December. Mr. Foster proposed that Washington play Dartmouth or Rutgers or some other Eastern college eleven of equal standing, and offered to pay all expenses of the Washingtons’ trip…. If the invitation is accepted, it will be the longest trip ever taken for a single game.” But the Washington faculty committee was averse to the idea when it was presented to them and the “post-season” game never took place.

101 years later the University of Washington would open the season against Rutgers on September 1, 2017 in Piscataway, NJ.
 
Figure in 1916 the only way they're traveling cross-country is by train. Steam engines. Trip's gotta take at least 10 days, each way, I would think.
 
Source can I post this on social media? That is such a cool story!
 

It may also interest you to know that future Hall of Fame head coach "Gloomy Gil" coached Cornell from 1920 through 1925. From 1921 until a week before the 1924 Rutgers game, Cornell had won every regular season game it played. In Ithaca, Rutgers was shut out 24-0 on October 20, 1920 and 41-0 on October 17, 1925. But on October 18, 1924, a week after Cornell's streak had been stopped:

Homer Hazel’s 37-yard field goal, a Heinie Benkert touchdown and a four down stand from the Rutgers two gave the Scarlet a huge 10-0 win at Cornell and a 4-0 start to the season. The October 21, 1924 Targum said, “Rutgers had won upsetting the predictions of the football world – and it was a Rutgers Day.” A thousand fans paraded through town and later built a bonfire in Buccleuch Park so big people who encircled it had to back away from the intense heat.
 
  • Like
Reactions: beaced and Wolv RU
Figure in 1916 the only way they're traveling cross-country is by train. Steam engines. Trip's gotta take at least 10 days, each way, I would think.

Panama Canal had been open a couple years. Foster could have offered them a luxury yacht ride.
 
ADVERTISEMENT