1895 Haskell Indians football team

The 1895 Haskell Indians football team was an American football team that represented the Haskell Indian Institute (now known as Haskell Indian Nations University) as an independent during the 1895 college football season. Prior to the fall of 1895, Haskell had fielded a baseball team. The 1895 season was the school's first competing in football.[1] It was also in 1894 and 1895 that Haskell expanded its curriculum to include a teacher-training program and a commercial program; the school had previousy been limited to training its students for jobs of manual labor.[2] In her history of Haskell Institute, Myriam Vuckovic wrote that footall competition with white schools served a symbolic function: "The gridiron became a mystic space where Native Americans and whites were reliving their turbulent history and where old scores were settled. But unlike their fathers, grandfathers, and ancestors, Indian students at the end of the nineteenth century had the sympathy of the crowd. White football fans loved to cheer for Indian teams . . . "[3]

1895 Haskell Indians football
ConferenceIndependent
Record1–2
Head coach
  • Unknown
Seasons
1896 →
1895 Midwestern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Miami (OH)     3 0 0
Carthage     2 0 0
Washington University     2 0 0
Michigan     8 1 0
Chicago     10 3 0
Wittenberg     5 2 0
Minnesota     7 3 0
Wisconsin     5 2 1
Wabash     6 3 0
Illinois     4 2 1
Baldwin–Wallace     3 1 0
Notre Dame     3 1 0
Northwestern     6 5 0
Purdue     4 3 0
Indiana     4 3 1
Buchtel     3 2 0
Doane     3 2 0
Chicago P&S     3 2 1
Butler     2 2 0
Cincinnati     3 3 0
Michigan State Normal     3 3 0
North Dakota Agricultural     1 1 0
North Dakota     1 1 0
Ohio State     4 4 2
Iowa Agricultural     3 4 0
Ohio     2 3 0
Rush-Lake Forest     4 6 0
Ohio Wesleyan     2 4 1
Haskell     1 2 0
Iowa State Normal     1 2 0
Lake Forest     1 2 0
Northwestern Law     1 2 0
Drake     1 4 0

After Haskell defeated the Kansas City High School team, The Kansas City Times wrote:

The Haskell players were big, heavy en who made the High school boys look like boys, indeed. They showed a lack of sufficient coaching, but, considering the fact that foot ball is something entirely new to all of them, they played a remarkably good game. They worked hard and ran fast, and had one of two men who could kick the ball from Dan to Beersheba. They were the most gentlemanly lot of players ever seen in a foot ball game, and the young men who play upon college and Y.M.C.A. clubs might do well to take a lesson from the Indians in how to be less like savages while on the foot ball field. When some of the High school boys scratched and gouged a bit, the big red fellow said: 'Don't do that, boys. We don't want to hurt you' ... The best work on either side was done by Bain, the big Indian full-back. When he started whatever was in front had to give way.[4]

The team was reported to "terrify their opponents" with a "war cry" as follows:

Civilization! Rah! Rah! Rah
Heap Big Indian! La! La! La!
Scalp Em! Scalp Em!
Rah! Rah! Rah![5]

Schedule edit

DateOpponentSiteResultSource
October 26at Kansas second teamL 0–22[6]
November 2Kansas City High School
W 12–10[7][4]
November 28Junction City AthleticsJunction City, KSL 0–6[8]

Players edit

  • Augusta - right guard[4]
  • Bain - fullback[4][8]
  • Buckhart or Buckheart - left guard[4][8]
  • Carl - left tackle[4][8]
  • Fielder - left halfback[4]
  • John - left end[4]
  • Long - center[4][8]
  • Smith - left halfback[8]
  • Swamp - right tackle[4][8]
  • Swett or Sweat - quarterback,[4] right guard[8]
  • G. Vandall - right halfback[4]
  • T. Vandall - right end[4]
  • F. Vandull - right end[8]
  • J. Vandull - right halfback[8]
  • Wild Horse - left end[8]
  • Williams - quarterback[8]

References edit

  1. ^ "Haskell Institute Football". Topeka State Journal. October 1, 1895. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Myriam Vuckovic (2008). Voices from Haskell: Indian Students Between Two Worlds, 1884-1928. University of Kansas Press. p. 28. ISBN 9780700616176.
  3. ^ Voices from Haskell, p. 158.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Lo, the Poor Indian Won: His Tutored Mind Has Grasped the Game of Foot Ball". The Kansas City Times. November 3, 1895. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "College World". The Wesleyan Advocate. November 1, 1895. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Football News". Lawrence Daily Journal. Lawrence, Kansas. October 28, 1895. p. 4. Retrieved January 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com  .
  7. ^ "Notes". Lawrence Daily Journal. November 4, 1895. p. 4.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Athletics Win". The Junction City Weekly Union. November 20, 1895. p. 2.