Return to the 1900 season page

Entering 1900, expectations for Guilford's football team were mixed. Only two men were returning from the previous year's team--Daniels and Hill. Several other positions were filled with subs from the previous year. "The new material," lamented the Guilford Collegian, "is only ordinary." Despite that, the back field had looked promising early in the season, though the tackles were not as strong as the previous year. A newspaper report bore a similar description of the Guilford team's skill, writing "there are many new and awkward candidates for positions on the team" (The Guilford Collegian, Vol. XIII, No. 1 (October, 1900), p. 18; The Greensboro Evening Telegram, September 6th, 1900, p. 6). Their match against A&M had been arranged by early September to be played at the newly built fair grounds of the Central Carolina Fair.

The Central Carolina Fair was held for the very first time in 1900. A group of prominent Greensboro citizens, led by John Van Lindley, a very successful local nurseryman, and soon-to-be Mayor, W. H. Osborn, the men organized and planned the fair in late June, buying 35 acres of land on the edge of city limits, by the railroad track. Reportedly, "a more suitable location could not have been secured." They planned to organize a large, prominent fair; "no ordinary county fair, but an up-to-date, thoroughly modern exhibit of everything interesting and attractive usually seen at the biggest fairs." The organizers had built "one of the best half-mile race tracts in the South," among other improvements. In addition to the standard features common to fairs at the time, ranging from an exhibit on road vehicles to a poultry show and an exhibit of musical instruments, was a dog show--reportedly the first one ever held in the state of North Carolina. After serving for several years as the fair grounds for the Central Carolina Fair, the Greensboro Memorial Auditorium was constructed on the site in the late 1950s; the Auditorium itself razed in 2014 and replaced with a parking lot. The fair was initially intended to run from October 9th to the 12th, but due to incliment weather was pushed back a day (The Greensboro Evening Telegram, June 26th, 1900, p. 1; The Greensboro Evening Telegram, September 7th, 1900, p. 1; The Greensboro Evening Telegram, October 9th, 1900, p. 1; The (Baltimore) Sun, September 25th, 1900, p. 6; Salsi, p. 22).

Heading in to the game, neither team had found much success on the gridiron to that point in the season. The lone game A&M had scheduled prior to the Guilford game, against the Bingham school of Mebane, was canceled. Guilford, on the other hand, had played in two games with little success; the first game was an exhibition game between the Guilford team and her scrub team which had ended in a 0-0 tie; the other was a 0-16 loss at the hands of Davidson about two weeks later, on October 6th. Though Guilford's defense was described as "almost nothing," and the interference was "slow and spiritless," the game still served as a valuable learning experience; most of the men on Guilford's team had never played in a game before (The Greensboro Evening Telegram, September 21st, 1900, p. 6; The Guilford Collegian, Vol. XIII, No. 1 (October, 1900), pp. 24-25).

Unfortunately, not much in the way of a game summary has survived for this game. Though Guilford was publishing a monthly editorial, the game was played too close to the publication of the magazine to get much of a report. Though A&M was publishing Red and White, and had been since the year before, all copies before 1901 have been lost to history. Reportedly, the Guilford team did not practice much between the playing of the A&M game and their Davidson game, with "only one hour's blackboard signal practice" before her team left for Greensboro. The game was played in two 20-minute halves.

A&M's team was reportedly 10 pounds heavier than the Guilford team, but "The Agricultural and Mechanical showed little team work, was slow in handling the ball and fumbled frequently." Guilford, on the other hand, reportedly had a strong defense. The only score of the game was made in the first of the two 20-minute halves, and was "the result of an unfortunate accident"--an A&M kick was blocked and run back 40 yards by Millikan, of Guilford. Reportedly, Guilford's goal was never in danger. Additionally, A&M's team was described by the Collegian as follows: "Their team work was ragged, and they failed to kick when kicks were needed. Over confidence and poor passing from center and quarter lost the game for them." In a paper published earlier in the season, before the Bingham game, A&M's center was reportedly Grimsley, and the quarterback either Lougee or Worth (The Guilford Collegian, Vol. XIII, No. 1 (October, 1900), p 25; Charlotte Daily Observer, October 11th, 1900, p. 3; The (Raleigh) Morning Post, October 14th, 1900, p. 5; The Greensboro Evening Telegram, October 11th, 1900, p. 1).

Much of the crowd was likely Guilford fans; Guilford College's students were given an official holiday to visit the fair. The crowd was described as "a large crowd of interested spectators." Reportedly, "most of the students attended the fair" and enjoyed the festivities. The game was reportedly "fairly clean" and free of violence or disagreement (The Guilford Collegian, Vol. XIII, No. 2 (December, 1900), p. 56; The Wilmington Messenger, October 16th, 1900, p. 3).

There are two known A&M players who were not in the Guilford game--Dalton and Worth, the two former Guilford students who later caused the A&M game against Oak Ridge to be ruled out. Though A&M sat them out of the game against Guilford, they attempted to play them the following day against Oak Ridge (News and Observer, October 12th, 1900, p. 5; The Greensboro Evening Telegram, November 14th, 1900, p. 1).