Vanderbilt Upset Minnesota in 1924

Vanderbilt Upset Minnesota in 1924

10/13/2005

by Bill Traughber

The headlines on the front page of The Tennessean dated November 23, 1924 read, “Vanderbilt Wins First Time in North.” The fuss was the 16-0 Commodore win over the powerful Minnesota Gophers. The Gophers had stopped the great back from Illinois, Red Grange, the previous week. The huge upset earned front-page newspaper coverage.

Blinky Horn of The Tennessean wrote:

Those strife scarred but undying traditions of the Southland brought Vanderbilt to a 16-0 triumph over Minnesota in Memorial Stadium here today. After more than half a century the charge of Pickett’s men at Gettysburg was re-enacted. That same matchless courage which guided the ragged Rebel band up those shell-torn heights, led the Commodores to conquest.

It was the first victory of a Vanderbilt eleven ever attained across the line which divorces Dixie from the North. Mirrored here on Yankee sod toady was that unconquerable sprit which enabled forefathers of the Commodores back in ’63 to jest through a tempest of musketry and canister and grape.

Vanderbilt won because its play reflected all the legends, all the chivalry, and all the courage of Southern history. Because its spirit never for a second faltered. Because it grinned at frowning barriers and went through. Because its valor could not be scarred by the flame of that attack which burned Illinois to a crisp a week ago. The team, which stopped Red Grange, was stopped by a sprit immune to any ingredient of defeat.

It appears Mr. Horn is a good ole Southern boy! This writer’s great-great grandfather Tom Joplin, who was a confederate scout (spy), would have felt proud. Sports writers today rarely write with such historical perspective any more.

Dan McGugin’s Commodore club was 4-2-2 entering the game. The Gophers were coached by William Spaulding and were 3-2-2 after the 20-7 victory over Illinois. The game was scheduled for 2:00 pm with a crowd of 16,000. Vanderbilt was out-weighed and a much less experienced team. They were huge underdogs. In this era, southern football was not met with such high regards in the North.

Vanderbilt scored first after eight minutes were gone in the first quarter. Vanderbilt tackle Bob Rives opened a hole for fullback Tom Ryan who blasted his way into the end zone to cap a 63-yard drive. The conversion failed. Vanderbilt led 6-0. Hek Wakefield added a field goal and Fred McKibbon tossed a 10-yard pass to Gil Reese for the final Commodore touchdown. Wakefield added the conversion to make the final score: Vanderbilt 16 Minnesota 0.

The Tennessean continued:

Outplayed were the Gophers. Bill Spaulding, Minnesota mentor graciously conceded that. But above all, the Gophers were outfought. The Gophers were out kicked and out passed. Tom Ryan booted his way to the loftiest heights his toe has ever led him. Fred McKibbon left Minneapolis dizzy with his crafty timing of aerial shots.

Wakefield chose his plays with excellent judgment. His tackling forced the Gophers frequently to take time out, and he repeatedly threw Minnesota backs for losses. There is a sketchy chronicle of the score incubation. But it was the Commodore defense which stripped naked the laurel tree to adorn Bob Rives, Neil Cargile and all the rest. Bob Rives climbed to the crux many times in the past to bring back decoration from gridiron gods. His other upward journeys were trips to the crest of a molehill. This day he reached Mt. Everest.

The intersectional game attracted so much pregame attention that Vanderbilt students and supporters gathered at Dudley Field to receive telegraph updates on the contest. An estimated 4,500 people were in attendance. The Tennessean reported on the exuberant fans when news reached them of the Commodore victory:

All restraint fled yesterday afternoon as a telegraph wire flashed to Vanderbilt stadium the news that a Commodore team had won its most glorious victory of a decade. Man became monkey. He sprang into the air, and wrapped his prehensile tail around an imaginary coconut tree, and tried to scream the stars into alarm.

Vanderbilt, the under-favored, became Commodore the triumph, the king of all sons, charted or uncharted. Vanderbilt had won! Oh, boy! Those were just the 4,500 who came to the stadium and volunteered heroically to stand by the old ship, sink or float. When the news flashed through the streets, 123,000 men, women and children took the cry. This is the directory census of the Nashville directory. That is how many people joined in that mad hallelujah. An extravagant estimate? Maybe. But last night even Davidson County wasn’t big enough to dam the surging emotions of a populace gone victory mad.

College hall, out on Vanderbilt campus, it an old historic building. His stone foundation has withstood the cries of victory and the groans of defeat for, lo, these many years. But last night its firm old foundation faced a new crisis. Hundreds of it undergraduates, post-graduates and non-graduates massed in front of its portals with a song such as never known, and in reparation for a parade that will be remembered here long after other parades will have been forgotten.

It was reported the parade went across the Vanderbilt campus all the way downtown to Church Street. Wherever the parade traveled, traffic was put into a standstill allowing the mass of Vanderbilt supporters to enjoy their victory.

The Vanderbilt win was said to have been the greatest intersectional win for a Southern team at that time. Vanderbilt only played eleven men with no substitutes. The lineup included: Hek Wakefield, Neil Cargile, Fred McGibbon, James Walker, Bob Rives, Zach Coles, Kenneth Bryan, Jesse Keene, Gil Reese, Bill Hendrix and Tom Ryan.

Next week read about the Vanderbilt/University of Nashville (Peabody) game in 1896 where fans stormed the field to cause a ruckus.

If you have any comments or suggestions you can contact Bill Traughber via e-mail WLTraughber@aol.com.