10/6/1902 - at Furman

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The turnaround between games was rather short for both A&M and the Furman boys. A&M had lost a close and hard game to Clemson just two days before, while Furman boys had recently returned from Asheville, where they defeated the Robert Bingham School 12-0. The game, played October 3rd, was won with both scores and both goals scored in the first half by the Purple and White. Lawrence, Townes, and Sharpe were reportedly the the stars of Furman's team. Furman returned from Asheville on Saturday, October 4th, as the Farmers were facing the Orange and Purple of Clemson (The Greenville News, October 4th, 1902, p. 10; The Greenville News, October 3rd, 1902, p. 4).


A photo of Furman's team from Bonhomie Vol. III (1903), p. 107.

Local papers wrote that the game was "looked forward to with intense interest by the local cranks." Driven by mostly-valid claims that A&M was "one of the best [teams] in North Carolina" from South Carolinian newspapers. "The members are well drilled and have had several weeks' practice" (The Greenville News, October 5th, 1902, p. 10). While the A&M team was still believed to be a strong one (as described in the Clemson writeup), the Greenville rooters believed their team was ready, writing "A better aggregation of football players has never before been seen at Furman.... It is believed that it will be a winning one throughout the season."


Speculative Roster*

A&M Furman
Gully RE LaBoon
Neil RT Sloan
Carpenter RG King
Gaither C Webb
Koon LG Shirley
Gardner (Capt.) LT McColl
Tucker LE Lawrence
Asbury QB Sharp
Shannonhouse RHB Townes
Darden LHB Holland
Robertson FB Scaife (Capt.)
Carraway SUB Gentry
Isler SUB H. Sublett
Beebee SUB
Hadley SUB
Ross SUB

Source 1; Source 2; Source 3

*Roster interpolated based on reported lineups for A&M vs Clemson and Furman vs Bingham, though it should be noted that Furman's regular captain, A. T. Sublett, sat out of the Asheville trip for a bruised arm, and manager Scaife was promoted to captain for the trip. It is not clear if Capt. Sublett returned for this game.


Period Time Description NCSU FUR
FINAL No Scoring 0 0

NCSU Opponent
Rushing TDs none none
Passing TDs N/A prior to 1906 N/A prior to 1906
Receiving TDs N/A prior to 1906 N/A prior to 1906
Defensive TDs none none
PATs none none
2PT: N/A/ prior to 1958 N/A/ prior to 1958
FGs none none
Safety: none none
Game Notes:
Kick Off Time: unknown - 10/6/1902 - at Furman
Length: 40 (20 / 20) - Duration: unk
Attendance: unknown
Location: University Grounds - Greenville, SC
Temperature: ???
Weather: ???
Wind: ???

Unfortunately, no good descriptions of the game survive. The News and Observer wrote that the game "was the finest exhibition of the sport ever witnessed in Greenville," while the Charlotte Daily Observer noted that "Both teams played a splendid game." Multiple sources wrote that A&M came within 2 feet of scoring at least once. The News and Observer wrote that the Red and White nearly scored at the end of the first half, being stopped only by the ending of the time. Reportedly, that was the only time in the game that either team came close to scoring. The Charlotte Observer claimed the Farmers were within 4 feet of scoring. The Red and White wrote that the Raleigh boys came within 2 feet of scoring twice (News and Observer, October 7th, 1902, p. 1; Charlotte Daily Observer, October 7th, 1902, p. 8; Red and White, Vol. IV, No. 1 (Oct. 1902), p. 11).

Perhaps the longest surviving report of the game came in The Agromeck, which wrote "On the following Monday we played Furman University, in Greenville, S. C. This game, and that of a week later, were our great surprises. In the Greenville game we carried the ball from one end of the field to the other, time after time, twice coming within one foot of scoring, only to lose the ball on a fumble. At the end of two twenty-minute halves the score stood nothing to nothing, with the ball in Furman territory" (The Agromeck, Vol. I (1903), p. 146).

The Purple and White went on to have a decent year of football. Four days later, Furman beat Davidson at Davidson 6-0, followed by a 0-10 loss to UNC the next day and a second game against A&M on October 13th, which the Baptists won. On the 18th, Furman lost to Georgia in Athens 0-12, and on October 22nd lost to Clemson 0-28. On October 28th, Furman tied Georgia Tech 0-0, and on November 8th, Furman got their third double goose-egg in a 0-0 tie against St. Albans. Six days later, Furman defeated South Carolina 10-0, and on Thanksgiving tied Charleston 5-5, giving the Greenville boys a final record of 4-3-4 (Bonhomie, Vol. III (1903), p. 105).

A&M had originally planned on playing the Blue and Gray Cadets of the Robert Bingham School of Asheville, North Carolina, on the way back from their trip to South Carolina. The game was announced as probable in Asheville up until even on October 7th, though the exact same article had been circulating in North Carolina newspapers since the beginning of the month. A&M chose to forgo the trip to Asheville because when team managers tried to contact Bingham while in Greenville, A&M's manager, C. LF. Creech, did not receive a telegraph in response from the "Binghamites," and as such decided not to risk the trip (The Semi-Weekly Citizen, October 7th, 1902, p. 8; The North Carolinian, October 9th, 1902, p. 2).

Bingham's team was directed by Capt. Robert R. Williams, Bingham's mathematics and commercial science teacher. Williams, of Newton, North Carolina, studied at UNC and was class president his sophomore year. Williams also played on the "class" football teams his freshman, sophomore, and junior years (The Sword and Rifle, 1903, p. 10; Yackety Yack, 1901, p. 42). The Binghamites had an abysmal season in 1902. Early in the season, reports predicted that "the cadets will have the best team this year in their histry [sic]," however, these positive assumptions turned out to be incorrect (Asheville Daily Gazette, September 11th, 1902, p. 4).

After losing to Furman 0-12 to open the season, on October 10th, the Cadets lost 0-6 to Kings College (of Bristol, TN). After a break of about two weeks, the Cadets reappeared on the football scene in a game against North Carolina's punching bag, the Morganton School for the Deaf (nicknamed the Morganton Mutes), defeating the Mutes 57-0. Two days later, the Blue and Gray went to Davidson, where they were defeated by the Presbyterians 6-16. The very next day the Cadets went to Columbia, South Carolina, where they lost to the Garnett and Black by a score of 0-28. Reportedly, dozens of players got injured in the Davidson game, which was likely the cause of the large loss in the game against the University of South Carolina. After the South Carolina and Davidson games, the Cadets canceled a game against Furman and several proposed games subsequently fell through. The Cadets had the chance to improve their record on Thanksgiving in a game against the Asheville School, but the game was called off due to the "indisposition of several members of the Asheville school team." The Cadets finished the season with a 1-4 record, which likely would have been worse had their game against A&M not fallen through.

Last updated: 6/4/2024