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So they played College Football during the Spanish Flu in 1918
Posted on 8/10/20 at 2:30 pm
Posted on 8/10/20 at 2:30 pm
LINK
quote:
The possibility of holding some form of the 2020 college football season during a pandemic has sent folks scurrying to research the 1918 season. That's when the Spanish Flu outbreak ravaged the World. The flu, which came in multiple waves from 1918-1919, killed more than 675,000 in the United States. Not only was there a deadly pandemic in 1918, but World War I was still winding down. According to a report in the Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier, 18 schools did not play football in 1918 because of the flu and the war. While there were some who felt college football should completely shut down because of the pandemic, President Woodrow Wilson felt that football added to the overall morale of the country. As a result, football teams were created at various military posts around the country and actually played against established college teams. “It would be difficult to overestimate the value of football experience as a part of the soldier’s training,” President Wilson wrote in a letter that was eventually published in 1919. Many schools were not able to play until late October or early November. The annual Army-Navy game was not played. Many schools played only three or four games. One of the teams that played almost a complete schedule in 1918 was Georgia Tech, coached by the legendary John Heisman. The Golden Tornadoes, as they were known then, played a seven-game schedule with six of those games played at home at Grant Field. And despite the threat of the flu, fans turned out at Georgia Tech. The photo that accompanies this story is of an undetermined 1918 Georgia Tech home game that was taken by a student, Thomas Carter, who graduated in the 1920s with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. It’s clear that the vast majority of the spectators in the photo were wearing masks in what published reports said was the peak of the flu in October and November. Georgia Tech, which had won the national championship the year before, did not start its season until Oct. 5. And when it started playing there was no slowing down the Golden Tornadoes. They beat Furman 118-0, The Oglethorpe 11th Calvary 123-0 (in a game that was stopped after the third quarter), and N.C. State 128-0. In fact, Georgia Tech outscored its first five opponents 425-0. Heisman, as you might recall, was never bashful about running up the score as his 1916 team beat Cumberland 222-0 in the most lopsided game in NCAA history. Georgia Tech led that game 126-0 at halftime. The biggest game of the season came when Georgia Tech, 5-0 and on a 33-game winning streak, went to Pittsburgh to play the Panthers of Pop Warner, who had a 30-game winning streak. Pittsburgh won 32-0 at Forbes Field before a crowd of 30,000. The game was played to benefit military charities. That game was on Sunday, Nov. 23. Five days later, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, Georgia Tech closed out its season with a 41-0 win over Auburn at Grant Field. A Georgia Tech game that was scheduled with Pennsylvania was cancelled when the Spanish flu went through Philadelphia. There was a Rose Bowl after the 1918 season, but back then it was called the Tournament East-West game. With so many teams lacking players because of the war, the game was scheduled between two military institutions that had fielded team, Great Lakes Navy of Illinois and Mare Island Marines of California. Great Lakes Navy won 17-0. The MVP of the game was George Halas, a future Hall of Fame coach of the Chicago Bears. According to records 25,000 attended the game. So here we are, about 115 days from the start of college football season, wondering if the games of 2020 will, in fact, be played. And if the games are played, will there be fans in the seats? And if there are fans in the seats, would they be willing to wear masks as they did in 1918? We certainly don't know. We just know that the world has changed a lot since 1918, Stay tuned.
Posted on 8/10/20 at 2:47 pm to BillyBoy22
They did not put politics above life in 1918. Today people consider politics equal or more important than life.
Posted on 8/10/20 at 2:49 pm to BillyBoy22
society was controlled by lawyers and lawsuits back then. and they weren't pussies like now.
Posted on 8/10/20 at 2:53 pm to BillyBoy22
that was literally 100 years ago man
i'm not advocating to cancel the season but that's apples to oranges.
they were still sawing off limbs back then because they didn't know how to fix them
i'm not advocating to cancel the season but that's apples to oranges.
they were still sawing off limbs back then because they didn't know how to fix them
Posted on 8/10/20 at 2:54 pm to BillyBoy22
They actually cancelled most of the games in 1918, but did play some.
Posted on 8/10/20 at 2:58 pm to BillyBoy22
Why the downvotes? There is no opinion being given, just reporting on history. When they played during a "pandemic" that was far far far more lethal than this current thing they are calling COVID. Consider 675,000 deaths out of a little over 100 million. We would have to hit 2+ million deaths to reach even that level, a number that was "debunked" after Neil Ferguson of Imperial College first put out his bogus model which was used to shut us all down in the first place. You remember Neil Ferguson, right? The guy that was banging his friend's wife in the middle of the shutdown.
Posted on 8/10/20 at 3:02 pm to BillyBoy22
LSU elected not to play in 1918.
Posted on 8/10/20 at 3:04 pm to Geauxld Finger
And people are still wearing shitty paper dustmasks in 2020 pretending that it’s going to save them from a highly contagious virus and literally make it disappear. What’s your point? You act like we’re winning the battle against something that would disappear in a month if we let herd immunity progress naturally.
Posted on 8/10/20 at 3:06 pm to BillyBoy22
Yes but COVID is far more severe than the Spanish Flu. The panicked Covidians tell me COVID is similar to the Bubonic Plague.
Posted on 8/10/20 at 3:15 pm to BillyBoy22
Yeah. We weren't pussies back then.
Posted on 8/10/20 at 3:20 pm to BillyBoy22
They also wore helmets made out of newspaper so...
Posted on 8/10/20 at 3:20 pm to doubleb
quote:
LSU elected not to play in 1918.
because of WW 1, not because of the spanish flu...
Posted on 8/10/20 at 3:26 pm to Forever
quote:
You act like we’re winning the battle against something that would disappear in a month if we let herd immunity progress naturally
tough litmus test for a country of our size.
Sweden is way smaller and less diverse (and in better health overall)
Posted on 8/10/20 at 3:44 pm to Geauxld Finger
quote:
that was literally 100 years ago man
i'm not advocating to cancel the season but that's apples to oranges.
they were still sawing off limbs back then because they didn't know how to fix them
So modern medicine has drastically improved since then and they still played?
I'm not trying to downplay the plannedemic because it's obvious that it is real and people die. This is all politically driven and you would have to be mouth breathing, easily influenced titty baby to not see it or you're liberal AF. Simple as that.
If you're scared, stay home and wear a mask. If you are scared to play, don't play and watch your team from the house wearing your mask. If you don't want to school, stay home and wear your mask. It is literally that f'n simple!
They are promoting fear and creating an uneasy society with the designed intent to ruin the one's daily life and an unstable society.
Posted on 8/10/20 at 3:46 pm to Le Tenia
Many schools only played 3 or 4 games at most in 1918.
Posted on 8/10/20 at 3:49 pm to Le Tenia
With all due respect, proofread your work if you want people to take you seriously.
Posted on 8/10/20 at 4:04 pm to tiger81
Ok. Many also played 5 or more. Play as many as you want or can.
Posted on 8/10/20 at 4:08 pm to Sandperson
I'll tell you what, you proofread mine and I will proofread yours. Move on, frog!
quote:
Evan the NCAA would have to wiegh sanctions vs. The lawsuit that would surely to fallow if they were to can him with no real evidence.....right?
I think the NCAA is most afraid of what would come out in discovery during a lawsuit. The Blue Bloods Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas and Duke would all be revealed and the NCAA hand would be forced.
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