Return to the 1894 season page

Unfortunately, we do not know much about the 1894 Oak Ridge football team. I was unable to find any information about any games they would have played before this, and the first mention of A&M playing Oak Ridge was made just 4 days before the game was to be played, on November 20th, 1894. In the report was also a brief prediction of the game: "The college boys will win easily" (Evening Visitor, November 20th, 1894, p. 1). Another article, originally written in the Greensboro Record but partially reprinted in the Evening Visitor spoke up on behalf of the local team by saying "They say the A. & M. boys play football from way back. All the same the Oak Ridge boys have an eye open for business and know how to play too. So the game is likely to be of much interest" (Evening Visitor, November 23rd, 1894, p. 1). Another paper wrote that "The A. & M. boys have been playing hard, snappy ball this season and the NEWS AND OBSERVER predicts that they will win by a large score" (News and Observer, November 24th, 1894 p. 4).

On Saturday, November 24th, the A&M team left for Greensboro. The game, however, never took place. That afternoon it was reported that the game had been declared off; one Raleigh paper wrote that Oak Ridge canceled the game because of "a little woeful experience with the A. & M. last season," mocking Oak Ridge's 24-8 and 12-6 losses the previous year (Evening Visitor, November 24th, 1894, p. 1). The Greensboro Patriot would later write that the cancellation of the game was due to a "conflict in dates" (The Greensboro Patriot, November 28th, 1894, p. 3). Finally, historian William Beezley wrote that the game was canceled by the A&M faculty due to a "lack of travel funds" (Beezley, p. 7).

The only other game played by Oak Ridge that I know of from the 1894 season was the game the Oak Ridge Institute instead played in Winston, NC, on November 24th, against Davis Military School; they would ultimately lose 8-0 in a game described as "interesting." This fact makes it most likely that the cancelation of the game was indeed due to a scheduling conflict. Incidentally, that was also the only recorded game played by the Davis School, so unfortunately no comparisons can be made and no victor presumptuously drawn. Oak Ridge's team was described post-game as "somewhat fatigued but plucky" (News and Observer, November 25th, 1894, p. 1; The Western Sentinel, November 29th, 1894, p. 3).