Return to the 1896 season page
Both NC State's and Guilford's university athletics websites include a game between the two schools, listing the outcome as a 6-0 win for the Farmers and Mechanics, but not including a date, a location, or any additional details. Further, I have found no further documentation of this game in any NC State or Guilford football histories, except for two vague mentionings by Herakovich and Mumau which likely used the universities' reported record as their sole source (Herakovich, p. 3; Mumau, p. 29). Herakovich is the sole historian to make a mention of the game; sources that did not include a mention of this game include Joel Whitaker's 1907 history of NC State football, C. D. Harris's 1910 history, and William Beezley's 1975 history, in addition to the usual local papers and Guilford's Collegian. Just to be sure, I went through all of Guilford's 1896 season, game-by-game.
| Period | Time | Description | NCSU | GUIL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FINAL | Remainder of game not reported. | 0 | 6 | |
| NCSU | Opponent | Rushing TDs | none | (Assumed) UNKNOWN (1) | Passing TDs | N/A prior to 1906 | N/A prior to 1906 | Receiving TDs | N/A prior to 1906 | N/A prior to 1906 |
|---|---|---|
| PATs | none | (Assumed) UNKNOWN (1/1) |
| 2PT: | N/A/ prior to 1958 | N/A/ prior to 1958 |
| FGs | none | (Assumed) none |
| Safety: | none | (Assumed) none |
Length: unk (unk / unk) - Duration: unk Attendance: unknown Location: unknown Temperature: ??? Weather: ??? Wind: ??? | ||
Guilford was one of the few teams in North Carolina to field a team at the start of the 1896 season, with A&M, Wake Forest, and Trinity all banning intercollegiate football before the start of the season, though Wake Forest did eventually try to start a team in late November, with the hopes of having a game in Charlotte (The Press-Visitor, November 24th, 1896, p. 1). Guilford's president at the time, L. L. Hobbs, was in the minority of college administrators in the 1890s, reportedly making a speech for the athletic association where he "incidentally remarked that in spite of the dangers of foot ball, he favored the game, and would encourage his own boys to play it" (News and Observer, January 16th, 1896, p. 2).
With so few local teams to play against and a young team with little history, Guilford instead resorted to sceduling back-to-back games against UNC and three games against the local athletic club.
| Date | Opponent | Ranking | Location | Result | Attendence | Time | Sources | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10/10/1896 | at North Carolina | - | Campus Athletic Field - Chapel Hill, NC | L, 4 - 26 | [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6] | |||
| 10/17/1896 | North Carolina | - | Athletic Park - Greensboro, NC | L, 0 - 34 | [1], [2], [3], [4] | Guilford's Athletics website reports date as October 24th | ||
| Greensboro Athletic Club | - | Hobbs Field - Guilford, NC | W, 10 - 0 | [1], [2], [3] | ||||
| Greensboro Athletic Club | - | Hobbs Field - Guilford, NC | W, 6 - 4 | [1], [2], [3] | Order of locations is assumed | |||
| 11/14/1896 | Greensboro Athletic Club | - | Athletic Park - Greensboro, NC | T, 6 - 6 | [1], [2], [3] | |||
| 11/26/1896 | at Salisbury | - | Salisbury, NC | N/A | [1], [2], [3], [4] | Apparently canceled | ||
| vs North Carolina A&M | - | L, 0 - 6 | Unconfirmed |
Two of the three games against Greensboro were played on Guilford's campus, and the third game was played elsewhere in Greensboro. Guilford had also planned a game against Salisbury, but the game appears to have never been played, with Salisbury instead playing Davison College's Med team (The (Salisbury, NC) Evening World, November 28th, 1896, p. 1). The Guilford Collegian's comment on the loss of the game was: "By a peculiar combination of unlooked-for circumstances the team was prevented from securing a game on Thanksgiving day" (The Guilford Collegian, Vol. IX, No. 4 (December 1896), p. 113).
Last updated: 5/30/2024