The 1929 Florida Gators football team represented the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

during the

1929 college football season The 1929 college football season saw a number of unbeaten and untied teams. Purdue, Tulane, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh all finished the regular season with wins over all their opponents. Notre Dame was recognized as national champion by two of thre ...

. The season was

Charlie Bachman Charles William Bachman Jr. (December 1, 1892 – December 14, 1985) was an American college American football, football player and head coach. Bachman was an Illinois native and an alumnus of the University of Notre Dame, where he played colleg ...

's second as the head coach of the Florida Gators football team. Bachman's 1929 Florida Gators finished with an overall record of 8–2,
2015 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 108 & 115 (2015). Retrieved August 15, 2015. and a conference record of 6–1, placing fourth of twenty-three conference teams. The highlights of the year included

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

victories over the Virginia Military Institute Keydets,

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year coeducational university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...

Clemson Tigers The Clemson Tigers are the athletic teams that represent Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) ...

South Carolina Gamecocks The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I. The University of South Carolina uses "Gamecocks" as its official nickname and mascot. While the men's teams were traditionally known as the Fighti ...

and

Washington & Lee Generals The Washington and Lee Generals are the athletic teams that represent Washington and Lee University, located in Lexington, Virginia, in NCAA Division III intercollegiate sports. The Generals compete as members of the Old Dominion Athletic Confere ...

, and a 20–6 intersectional upset over coach

John McEwan John James "Cap" McEwan (February 18, 1893 – August 9, 1970) was an American football player and coach. He played from 1913 to 1916 as a center at the United States Military Academy, where he was a three-time All-American and captain of the ...

's Oregon Webfoots in a neutral site game played at the old Madison Square Garden stadium in Miami, Florida.

Before the season

Former player Edgar Jones became athletic director and

Joe Bedenk Fred Joseph Bedenk (July 14, 1897 – May 2, 1978) was an American football and baseball player and coach. He served as the head baseball coach at Rice University from 1925 to 1926 and at Pennsylvania State University from 1931 to 1962. Bedenk wa ...

left.

James Van Fleet General James Alward Van Fleet (March 19, 1892 – September 23, 1992) was a United States Army officer who saw service during World War I, World War II and the Korean War. Van Fleet was a native of New Jersey, who was raised in Florida and gradu ...

returned to help assist Bachman. Coach Bachman began the season's intensive practices on the beach at

Anastasia Island Anastasia Island is a barrier island located off the northeast Atlantic coast of Florida in the United States. It sits east of St. Augustine, running north–south in a slightly southeastern direction to Matanzas Inlet. The island is about long ...

, some ten miles from

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...

. A fierce battle amongst the eleven running backs featured. A good

backfield The offensive backfield is the area of an American football field behind the line of scrimmage. The offensive backfield can also refer to members of offense who begin plays behind the line, typically including any backs on the field, such as the q ...

was expected. Bachman later said the 1929 team "was as good as the 1928 team and would have been better had we not lost

Carl Brumbaugh Carl Lowry Brumbaugh (September 22, 1906 – October 24, 1969) was an American college and professional football player who was a quarterback and halfback in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons in the 1930s. Brumbaugh played co ...

from the year before. He was our passer, and he was our thinker. He could get the ball to Van Sickel. In those days the halfbacks passed more than the quarterback. And boy did we pass. In the flats a lot, like they do now."Tom McEwen, The Gators: A Story of Florida Football, The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama, p. 102 (1974).

Schedule

Season summary

Week 1: Florida Southern

The Gators opened the season with a 54–0 romp of

Florida Southern Florida Southern College (Florida Southern, Southern or FSC) is a private college in Lakeland, Florida. In 2019, the student population at FSC consisted of 3,073 students along with 130 full-time faculty members. The college offers 50 undergradu ...

. The Gators made 19 first downs and 8 touchdowns; Florida Southern made no first downs.

Week 2: VMI

Prior to the game,

Royce Goodbread Royce Ethelbert Goodbread (August 23, 1907 – May 19, 1991) was an American college and professional football player who was a halfback and wingback in the National Football League (NFL) for two seasons during the early 1930s. Goodbread play ...

and Ed Sauls stood out in preparations. Florida won a close game in

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

over the V. M. I. Keydets 12 to 7. VMI frequently used the forward pass; and the Gators used a new huddle system. The first score came from

after many exchanges of punts.

Rainey Cawthon Rainey Blackwell Cawthon (October 30, 1907 – April 11, 1991) was an American football player and coach for the Florida Gators of the University of Florida. Cawthon was a member of Florida's "Phantom Four" backfield with Clyde Crabtree, Carl Br ...

made a 25-yard pass into another touchdown. The Keydets touchdown was scored on a 2-yard run by Dunn.

Week 3: at Auburn

In Florida's first night game, the Gators defeated the

19 to 0. Florida's first touchdown came on a 30-yard run from

Clyde Crabtree Clyde Crabtree (November 3, 1905 – April 21, 1994), nicknamed "Cannonball Crabtree," was an American college and professional football player who was a halfback and quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for a single season in 1930 ...

through tackle. A 10-yard pass from Red Bethea to

Dale Van Sickel Dale Harris Van Sickel (November 29, 1907 – January 25, 1977) was an American college football, basketball and baseball player during the 1920s, who later became a Hollywood motion picture actor and stunt performer for over forty years. Van ...

brought the second touchdown. The last score was a 15-yard pass from Red McEwen to Jimmy Nolan. After the game, acting under orders of Governor Graves, law enforcement officers seized and destroyed some 75 pints of liquor which had been brought to the contest. The starting lineup for the Gators against Harvard: Green (left end), Waters (left tackle), McRae (left guard), Haines (center), Houser (right guard), Dedge (right tackle), Hall (right end), Crabtree (quarterback), Bethea (left halfback), Goodbread (right halfback), Cawthon (fullback).

Week 4: at Georgia Tech

Florida lost to coach Bill Alexander's

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Rambl ...

Grant Field Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field is the football stadium located at the corner of North Avenue at Techwood Drive on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. It has been home to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets foo ...

19–6. Fumbles cost Florida dearly. Georgia Tech's ability to stop the Gator backfield was surprising. A 30-yard pass, Earl Dunlap to

Warner Mizell Luke Warner Mizell (October 8, 1907 – May 1971) was an American football player. He played at the halfback position for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team and was selected by the Associated Press, United Press, and Central Press ...

, and 7 yards after the catch from Mizell, got the first touchdown for the Yellow Jackets. A 25-yard pass from Dunlap to Vance Maree got the second. The final score for Tech came on a pass from Mizell to

Stumpy Thomason John Griffin "Stumpy" Thomason (February 24, 1906 – April 30, 1989) was a professional American football player who played running back for seven seasons for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football for t ...

. A pitch to

got the lone Gator score.

Week 5: Georgia

The Gators upset the

for the second year in a row, by a score of 18 to 6, just two days after the

Stock Market Crash A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especia ...

. Georgia had already defeated

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

. A long pass from Red Bethea to Green started things going in the second quarter, down to Georgia's 14-yard line. After driving down to the 3, Bethea scored on a wide

end run In gridiron football, an end run is a running play in which the player carrying the ball tries to avoid being tackled by running outside the end (or flank) of the offensive line. It is distinct from a dive, which is a run "up the middle", or an o ...

recovered a blocked punt in the third quarter inside the 30-yard line.

and company drove the ball inside the 10-yard line. A pass from

to Van Sickel got a touchdown. Crabtree later returned an interception for a touchdown. In the final minutes, Ed Sauls ran 60 yards through the Georgia defense, the highlight of the contest. Georgia quarterback

Austin Downes Austin J. Downes (1905-1979) was a college football player. He later worked for the US government in Phoenix, Arizona. Early years Downes came from an Irish family in Chicago. Downes was to play for Knute Rockne's Notre Dame Fighting Irish ...

broke his arm during the game. Florida running back

also suffered an injury.

Week 6: at Harvard

Coach

Arnold Horween Arnold Horween (originally Arnold Horwitz; also known as A. McMahon; July 7, 1898 – August 5, 1985) was an American college and professional American football player and coach. He played and coached both for Harvard University and in the Nati ...

Harvard Crimson The Harvard Crimson are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at ...

defeated the Florida Gators 14 to 0 in front of a crowd of 35,000.

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

coach

Fielding Yost Fielding Harris Yost (; April 30, 1871 – August 20, 1946) was an American football player, coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at: Ohio Wesleyan University, the University of Nebraska, the University ...

watched the game from the stands. The starting lineup for the Gators against Harvard: Nolan (left end), Proctor (left tackle), Reeves (left guard), Clemons (center), Steele (right guard), Waters (right tackle), Van Sickel (right end), Crabtree (quarterback), Bethea (left halfback), Dorsett (right halfback), Cawthon (fullback).

Week 7: Clemson

The Gators beat

Josh Cody Joshua Crittenden Cody (June 11, 1892 – June 17, 1961) was an American college athlete, head coach, and athletics director. Cody was a native of Tennessee and an alumnus of Vanderbilt University, where he played several sports. As a versatil ...

13–7 at homecoming. The first Florida score came on a 9-yard pass from Red Bethea to

. The second came on a short run by

after a 28-yard run by Bethea.

Week 8: at South Carolina

The Gators defeated coach

Billy Laval William Lawrence Laval (January 15, 1885 – January 20, 1957) was an American minor league baseball player, baseball manager, and college baseball, football, and basketball coach. He held head coaching positions at the University of South Carol ...

20 to 7. Florida substitutes started the game, coming in some 5 minutes in after a blocked punt on the 18-yard line. Six runs at the line later,

scored. A pass from

got the extra point. Early in the second quarter, South Carolina blocked another punt. This time they capitalized with a 15-yard touchdown pass, Rhame to Stoddard. Boineau added the extra point from placement. The same Boineau later fumbled a punt, recovered by Florida. A pass from Crabtree to Red Bethea gained 12 and a run around right end from Bethea got a touchdown. Crabtree passed to Van Sickel for the conversion. A Van Sickel interception ended South Carolina's fiercest threat, which eventually turned into another Cawthon touchdown. The final touchdown drive caused injuries to both Van Sickel and Bethea. The try was missed. The starting lineup for the Gators against South Carolina: L. Greene (left end), Phiel (left tackle), McRae (left guard), Clark (center), James (right guard), Dedge (right tackle), Vickery (right end), McEwen (quarterback), Dorsett (left halfback), Goodbread (right halfback), Silsby (fullback).

Week 9: Washington & Lee

The Gators defeated coach Gene Oberst's

25–7 in their annual Thanksgiving matchup. Sophomore halfback Monk Dorsett was the star of the game, scoring two touchdowns.

Week 10: Oregon

At the old Madison Square Garden Stadium in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

on December 7, in front of more than 25,000, the Gators had a major inter-sectional victory over coach

's Oregon Webfoots 20 to 6. The Gators had a light drill on Fleming Field on the afternoon of the 5th. At 9:30 they embarked on a special train, which transferred to the train bearing the Oregon players at Palatka. The heat forced many Oregon players to take off their jerseys.

, in his final game, had a touchdown on a punt return of 80 yards, Ed Sauls had one on a run through the line of 38 yards. The other score came on 10-yard run by Red McEwen. The starting lineup for the Gators against Oregon: Parnell (left end), Waters (left tackle), Steele (left guard), Clemons (center), Reeves (right guard), Proctor (right tackle), Nolan (right end), Crabtree (quarterback), Dorsett (left halfback), Goodbread (right halfback), Cawthon (fullback).

Postseason

Red Bethea was elected captain of next year's team.

Personnel

Depth chart

The following chart provides a visual depiction of Florida's lineup during the 1929 season with games started at the position reflected in parenthesis. The chart mimics a

Notre Dame Box The Notre Dame Box is a variation of the single-wing formation used in American football, with great success by Notre Dame in college football and the Green Bay Packers of the 1920s and 1930s in the NFL. Green Bay's coach, Curly Lambeau, learne ...

on offense.

Line

Starters

Subs

Backfield

Starters

Subs

Coaching staff

*Head coach:

*Assistants:

Nash Higgins Alfred Nash Higgins (February 29, 1896 – October 29, 1984) was an American football and track and field coach as well as athletic director, the first in the history of the University of Tampa. He later worked as superintendent of recreation for t ...

(line),

Joe Holsinger Joe F. Holsinger (January 20, 1904 – August 16, 1946) was an American football, basketball, and golf player and coach. Holsinger was a star athlete for the Kansas State Wildcats. He was then a backfield coach under Charlie Bachman for the Florid ...

(backfield),

Brady Cowell Warren C. "Brady" Cowell (December 12, 1899 – April 15, 1989) was an American college football, basketball, and baseball coach and college athletic director. Cowell played football, basketball and baseball at Kansas State Agricultural College, ...

(freshmen), George Weber, A. P. Pierson.

References

Additional sources

* {{Florida Gators football navbox

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Florida Gators football seasons

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of ...

Before the season

Schedule

Season summary

Week 1: Florida Southern

Week 2: VMI

Week 3: at Auburn

Week 4: at Georgia Tech

Week 5: Georgia

Week 6: at Harvard

Week 7: Clemson

Week 8: at South Carolina

Week 9: Washington & Lee

Week 10: Oregon

Postseason

Personnel

Depth chart

Line

Starters

Subs

Backfield

Starters

Subs

Coaching staff

See also

References

Additional sources