re: 1908 team / champs

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who wore 7?

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Back then we only had 6 digits. We didn't start with having '7' until Albert Einstein discovered octal (it helped make his relativity math come out nicer). We didn't get the ninth digit and the idea for zero until Neo discovered them to prevent Y2K from destroying the world.

LSU recognized the 1908 team as National Champions long before any of us were born, it is not until the late 1980's for some reason they stopped.

The 1908 had a reunion in the middle 1930's in Baton Rouge on the LSU campus, this if I remember correct was not long after The National Championship Foundation declared them as 1908 co champs.

The saying 1908, 1958 and next year was on every LSU fans mind a long time and even the Baton Rouge and New Orleans press used to publish on the next year theme many times between 1960 until the later 80's.


LSU like almost all the schools in 1908 did not use numbers, that is for a later time.

LSU played in Leather helmet, Blue jersey, kaki colored pants in 1908 for the most part. You may have seen someone in the older brown type shirt or white in the later part of the season if the blue jersey was not mendable. LSU bought the Blue jerseys after a funding drive of interplayed football at the start of the season.

Rice was wrong in his article on many accounts and every team I looked into in any depth from 1908 played the same type players. Smith Brothers Rice thought were under assumed names and I had photographs of their graves taken to prove that they played under their real names. Gandy did not play football in school and went out for the team when he came to LSU, he was taught in the old 1 room schools of much of Louisiana at that time. Martin Lally is a transfer like Fenton form a perp school not a college, Mansfield normal was a perp school for college and a teacher factory (you did not need a college degree in those days to teach; you only needed to be a perp school grad).

I know who was in the room with Rice the night of the LSU talk and much of what was said and by whom and Rice writes the story the next day. The only one he got semi correct is Bauer of the 1907 team who with his friend came to LSU after sitting out one year after playing at one Ohio school, both were eligible to play under rules at that time. Bauer played under his father's name, not his and he wrote Wingard a letter on this subject after the 1908 season. Bauer and his friend both were not on the 1908 team.

Wingard took the fall for the SIAA and Martin Lally. Lally was cleared by the end of the 1909 season. Lally had signed over a check for a sub to sing for him so he could play baseball. In 1908 you are allowed to play baseball for 10.50 a week and not be a pro. Lally is a singer at the Columbia Theater in Baton Rouge while at LSU and when he went home in the off season he sang in theaters. Lally and Mrs. Wingard are the key singers at Clearance Smith's Funeral service in Baton Rouge after his death.

I still need to research who among the cadets escorted Smith body back to Michigan and I think this is also when Wingard bought Fenton the suite and the reason was for this trip to Michigan.

Very long hours of research on the 1908 football.

Rice talk at the Tennessean is easy to come by from that night, you have Rice's article, and two others letters on the subject that night. From those letters and the article it is easy to track down the names of everyone in the room and who said what. Rice got much wrong, which is easy to prove with research tools we have at our finger tips now days.

I have 2 whole boxes on the 1908 team, were everyone is born, their nicknames, what happens to them all.

Wingard's brother in law is a sub on the 08 team and on the first LSU basketball team, he is one of the many that die at the time of the Spanish flu outbreak.

Wingard somehow ends up raising his brother in-laws children.

I had to do hours of research on Michigan football on this subject, they are the key player in what all is going on, as is Tulane.

That is only 2 of many teams I had to research from 1908, you name the team and I likely did hours of research (example Clemson, Wabash, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Army, Navy, etc.)

We appreciate your passion and sharing the info you've worked to obtain

How about we focus on being the 2021 champs?

How do I add a photo from an iPhone to this thread?

I thought we already claimed 1908?

LSU absolutely WAS National Champs that year.