The 1909 Sewanee Tigers football team represented Sewanee: The University of the South during the 1909 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. The team was coached by Harris G. Cope in his 1st year as head coach, compiling a record of 6–1 (5–0 SIAA) and outscoring opponents 160 to 42 to win the

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football programs were members of this conferen ...

title. Sewanee beat the previous season's champions

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

and Auburn, and upset rival Vanderbilt, handing the school its first loss to a Southern team in six years.

Before the season

The Tigers hired new head coach

Harris Cope Harris Goodwin Cope (March 16, 1880 – September 24, 1924) was an American football and baseball player and football coach. He served as the head football coach at Sewanee: The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee from 1909 to 1916 and ...

, a former Sewanee quarterback. Assisting Cope was former Sewanee fullback and guard

Henry D. Phillips Henry Disbrow Phillips (January 16, 1882 – June 29, 1955) was an American Episcopal bishop (1938–1955) and college American football player and coach (1900–1909). Sportswriter Fuzzy Woodruff called him "the greatest football player who ever ...

; and former Princeton quarterback Edward Dillon.

Schedule

Season summary

Southwestern Presbyterian

Sources: The season opened with a 64–0 win over Southwestern Presbyterian. "The players suffered from the heat and dust." The first score came after three minutes had past, when

Ed Finlay Edward Finlay was a college football player and referee. He played at the University of Virginia and Sewanee:The University of the South, a member of the latter's 1909 team. He played as an end, opposite Silas Williams Silas McBee "Sike" Will ...

ran 60 yards for a touchdown. The starting lineup was Williams (left end), Faulkenberry (left tackle), Cheape (left guard), Juhan (center), Cox (right guard), Moise (right tackle), Finlay (right end), Browne (quarterback), Myers (left halfback), Lanier (right halfback), Hawkins (fullback).

at Princeton

Sources: Sewanee was defeated by eastern power

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

20–0. Princeton's F. B. Read scored first on a 10-yard touchdown through Sewanee's right side, five minutes into the first quarter. Later, Princeton got a safety when Lionel Moise fell on his own punt in the endzone. Later still, Read had a 65-yard touchdown run. The final touchdown was a short run by F. T. Dawson. The starting lineup was Williams (left end), Faulkenberry (left tackle), Cheape (left guard), Juhan (center), Cox (right guard), Moise (right tackle), Gillem (right end), Brown (quarterback), Myers (left halfback), Lanier (right halfback), Hawkins (fullback).

Georgia Tech

Sources: Quarterback Chigger Browne starred in the 15–0 defeat of

John Heisman John William Heisman (October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was a player and coach of American football, baseball, and basketball, as well as a sportswriter and actor. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College, Buchtel College ...

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part o ...

. A touchdown in each half, and a 30-yard field goal from Moise in the second, made the scores. Browne ran in the first touchdown on a run which captured the crowd, and the second was on a forward pass from Browne to Hawkins. The starting lineup was Williams (left end), Faulkenberry (left tackle), Cheape (left guard), Juhan (center), Cox (right guard), Moise (right tackle), Finlay (right end), Browne (quarterback), Myers (left halfback), Lanier (right halfback), Hawkins (fullback).

at LSU

Sources: Sewanee beat the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Dan McGugin Daniel Earle McGugin (July 29, 1879 – January 23, 1936) was an American football player and coach, as well as a lawyer. He served as the head football coach at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee from 1904 to 1917 and again from ...

, Sewanee won due to better punting. Wm H Taft smiling 1908

Sewanee scored with an Aubrey Lanier touchdown and Moise drop kick in the first half. LSU scored when, after blocking a punt,

Robert L. Stovall Robert Luther "Strauss" "Big" Stovall (February 22, 1886 – January 8, 1949) was a college football player and a unit foreman of the state highway department. College football Stovall was a center for the 1908 LSU Tigers football team ...

recovered the ball for a touchdown. Soon after, President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

showed up to the game for about ten minutes. Sewanee added another touchdown. The starting lineup was Williams (left end), Faulkenberry (left tackle), Cheape (left guard), Juhan (center), Cox (right guard), Moise (right tackle), Gillem (right end), Brown (quarterback), Myers (left halfback), Lanier (right halfback), Hawkins (fullback).

Castle Heights

Sewanee beat the

Castle Heights Military Academy Castle Heights Military Academy was a private military academy in Lebanon, Tennessee, United States. It opened in 1902, became a military school in 1918, and closed in 1986. The Academy was founded in 1902 as Castle Heights School by David Mitche ...

38–0. By the second half, Sewanee gained at will. The feature of the game was Gillem's 100-yard touchdown run. The starting lineup was Williams (left end), Faulkenberry (left tackle), Cheape (left guard), Juhan (center), Stoney (right guard), Stone (right tackle), Finlay (right end), Brown (quarterback), Gillem (left halfback), Lanier (right halfback), Hawkins (fullback).

at Auburn

Sources: Sewanee defeated the

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 Assoc ...

by a single point, 12–11, Auburn's missed extra point proving the difference.

Grantland Rice Henry Grantland "Granny" Rice (November 1, 1880July 13, 1954) was an early 20th-century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio. Early years Rice w ...

called this game the season's best contest, and recalled Lanier diving to fair catch a punt, and landing on his head. Auburn scored when

Lew Hardage Lewis Woolford Hardage (February 11, 1891 – August 29, 1973) was an American college football player and college football and baseball coach. Hardage was an All-Southern halfback every year he played: 1908, 1909, 1911, and 1912—the first t ...

put the ball in striking distance with a 30-yard run.

Bradley Streit John Bradley "Bill" Streit (December 18, 1892 – June 30, 1978) was an American college football player. Early years John Bradley Streit was born on December 18, 1892, in Birmingham, Alabama, the son of a prominent builder. "He grew up in the ...

then went over for the touchdowns, Reynolds missed the kick. Sewanee's touchdown was set up by a 45-yard rush from Chigger Browne. Hawkins went over. Later, Browne had another big run of 60 yards and a touchdown. Moise made both extra points. Auburn blocked a punt for another score late. The starting lineup was Williams (left end), Faulkenberry (left tackle), Cheape (left guard), Juhan (center), Cox (right guard), Moise (right tackle), Finlay (right end), Browne (quarterback), Lanier (left halfback), Gillem (right halfback), Hawkins (fullback).

at Vanderbilt

Sources: Sewanee easily defeated its old rival Vanderbilt 16–5, giving Vanderbilt its first loss to a Southern team in six years. and netting the SIAA championship for Sewanee. "Moise, for Sewanee, played the game of his life." For Sewanee's first score, a forward pass netted forty yards and

Aubrey Lanier Aubrey Falls "Laney" Lanier (February 18, 1888 – April 25, 1936) was a college football player. Early years Aubrey was born on February 18, 1888, in the city of Butler in Lonoke County, Arkansas, to Isaac Hill Lanier and Mary "Ellen" Coope ...

went around end for a touchdown. Lanier also got the second touchdown. The third came when

ran through the line. The starting lineup was Williams (left end), Faulkenberry (left tackle), Cheape (left guard), Juhan (center), Cox (right guard), Moise (right tackle), Finlay (right end), Browne (quarterback), Myers (left halfback), Lanier (right halfback), Hawkins (fullback).

Postseason

The Tigers won the SIAA title for the first time since the

1899 Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a ...

"iron men".

called

"the noblest Tiger of them all." The ''Kappa Alpha Journal'' gives similar praise that year, calling Lanier "The greatest performer of the college game on the Southern field.

Players

Line

Backfield

Coaching staff

* Harris G. Cope (Sewanee '01), head coach *

(Sewanee '05), assistant and line coach * Edward Dillon (Princeton '08), backfield coach

References

* {{SIAA football champions Sewanee Sewanee Tigers football seasons

Sewanee Tigers football The Sewanee Tigers football team represents Sewanee: The University of the South in the sport of American football. The Tigers compete in NCAA Division III as members of the Southern Athletic Association. Three Sewanee Tigers are members of the ...