The 1903 Kentucky University Pioneers football team represented Kentucky University, today known as

Transylvania University Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky. It was founded in 1780 and was the first university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is accredited by the Southern ...

, during the

1903 college football season The 1903 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the ''Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book'' listing Michigan and Princeton as having been selected national champions. Conference standings Major conference standings ...

. The team claimed a championship of the south.

Nash Buckingham Theophilus Nash Buckingham (May 31, 1880 – March 10, 1971), commonly referred to as Nash Buckingham, was an American author and conservationist from Tennessee. He is perhaps most famous for writing a collection of short stories entitled De Sh ...

rated Kentucky University and Vanderbilt as best in the south. A game with

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

was scheduled; derailed by the

Purdue Wreck The Purdue Wreck was a railroad train collision in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Saturday, October 31, 1903, between two special trains that killed 17 people, including 14 players of the Purdue University football team. Team captain and future Indiana ...

. Former

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 ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

John de Saulles John Gerard Longer de Saulles (May 25, 1878 – August 3, 1917) was an American football player and coach, real estate broker, and businessman whose murder by his millionaire wife (accused, but acquitted) led to a widely reported trial. Early lif ...

credited

end End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: ** End (category theory) ** End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games **End (gridiron footbal ...

Lois Thompson Lois Thompson was a college football player for the Kentucky University Pioneers, selected All-Southern in 1903. Former Yale quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position i ...

as playing "a better end than any man in the South." Later Lexington mayor

Hogan Yancey Hogan Lowndes Yancey (October 1, 1881 – March 7, 1960) was an American football and baseball player and attorney. He was a one-time mayor of Lexington, Kentucky. Yancey attended Transylvania University (then Kentucky University). Yancey was a s ...

was a star

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

on the team.

Schedule

Season summary

Week 7: Indiana

Kentucky University defeated the

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the Nationa ...

18 to 5.

Zora Clevenger Zora G. Clevenger (December 12, 1881 – November 24, 1970) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, coach, and pioneering athletic director. He served as the head football coach at Nebraska Wesleyan University (1908–1910), t ...

scored Indiana's lone touchdown. The starting lineup for Kentucky University against Indiana: Simpson (left end), Woodard (left tackle), Ware (left guard), Miller (center), Kelly (right guard), Wallace (right tackle), Thompson (right end), Pyle (quarterback), Cantrill (left halfback), H. Yancey (right halfback), Knight (fullback)

Week 8: vs. Kentucky State

A fear of riots plagued this contest ever since their second-team played

Kentucky State Kentucky State University (KSU and KYSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Frankfort, Kentucky. Founded in 1886 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons, and becoming a land-grant college in 1890, KSU is the second ...

Awards and honors

* All-Southern:

References

Kentucky University The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state' ...

Transylvania Pioneers football seasons Kentucky University football {{collegefootball-1903-season-stub