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Missouri football trivia
Posted on: September 1, 2020 at 10:44:06 CT
alstl MU
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The Missouri coach with the best winning percentage is Bill Roper who coached 1 season - 1909 - at Missouri with a 7-0-1 record. Only blemish a 6-6 tie at Iowa State. Final game of the season undefeated Missouri won vs previously undefeated Kansas.
Rules were different then and it was a dangerous sport. 10 men died across college football in 1909 and many more seriously injured. Forward pass was legal but they used a rugby ball which made it difficult to pass. It wasn't until 1930 that today's more pass friendly football was used. A punt of more than 20 yards was a live ball. No such thing as a neutral zone. Linemen locked arms while blocking which led to people being trampled.
Roper had won a national championship at Princeton in 1906 but had difficulty beating rival Yale and came to Missouri because of alumni who were unhappy. After going 7-0-1 he returned to Princeton where he won 3 more national championships. Retired in 1930 due to illness and died in 1933 at the age of 53 due to septic poisoning caused by infected teeth.
Picture of Bill Roper and the 1909 team at Rollins Field. Scroll down the page.
https://tiptop25.com/top25_1909.html
The season finale was the big rivalry game against Kansas on Thanksgiving Day. The game was held in Kansas City, as it almost always was 1891-1910. Both teams were undefeated. Kansas' star player, quarterback Tommy Johnson, was injured in the first half, suffering from what we now know to be a concussion. His teammates could not understand him, and he could not remember which plays he'd called, but his coach wouldn't take him out. Still, he played well enough that Missouri only won 12-6. Missouri fans rushed the field and tore down the goalposts, and that night they built a bonfire in the street in front of the Kansas contingent's hotel, and burned a turkey in it that they labeled "Jayhawk."
Rules were different then and it was a dangerous sport. 10 men died across college football in 1909 and many more seriously injured. Forward pass was legal but they used a rugby ball which made it difficult to pass. It wasn't until 1930 that today's more pass friendly football was used. A punt of more than 20 yards was a live ball. No such thing as a neutral zone. Linemen locked arms while blocking which led to people being trampled.
Roper had won a national championship at Princeton in 1906 but had difficulty beating rival Yale and came to Missouri because of alumni who were unhappy. After going 7-0-1 he returned to Princeton where he won 3 more national championships. Retired in 1930 due to illness and died in 1933 at the age of 53 due to septic poisoning caused by infected teeth.
Picture of Bill Roper and the 1909 team at Rollins Field. Scroll down the page.
https://tiptop25.com/top25_1909.html
The season finale was the big rivalry game against Kansas on Thanksgiving Day. The game was held in Kansas City, as it almost always was 1891-1910. Both teams were undefeated. Kansas' star player, quarterback Tommy Johnson, was injured in the first half, suffering from what we now know to be a concussion. His teammates could not understand him, and he could not remember which plays he'd called, but his coach wouldn't take him out. Still, he played well enough that Missouri only won 12-6. Missouri fans rushed the field and tore down the goalposts, and that night they built a bonfire in the street in front of the Kansas contingent's hotel, and burned a turkey in it that they labeled "Jayhawk."
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Missouri football trivia - alstl MU - 9/1 10:44:06