NCAA Football Team History
Tulane History
1893Tulane played its first varsity football game on Nov. 18, 1893, dropping a 12-0 decision to the Southern Athletic Club. Things were a bit less formal in those days, as witnessed by the fact that Tulane Coach T.L. Bayne also played in the game-for the opponent! In his spare time, T.L. Bayne hustled over to Baton Rouge to help coach LSU. This made for an interesting afternoon of Nov. 25, 1893, when Tulane and LSU played for the first time. Hugh Bayne, brother of the coach and a Tulane law student, scored the first touchdown ever for Tulane to open a 34-0 rout. T.L. Bayne did not play that day, but he was on the field as umpire (LSU's coach was the referee). Tulane lost to Ole Miss 12-4 the next weekend to end its first season with a 1-2 record.
1894Fred Sweet replaced T.L. Bayne as head coach and it was a struggle all the way. Just before school opened, Sweet learned that captain C.R. Romeyne had left town with his parents and would not be a member of the 1894 squad. The team struggled to an 0-4 finish, scoring 0, 6, 6 and 2 points in those four games while losing to Texas, Alabama, Sewanee and Ole Miss.
1895T.L. Bayne returned as head coach and Tulane posted its first winning season with a 3-2 record. After losing to LSU in the season opener,
Costa Rica tourismTulane rallied to shut out teams from the Southern Athletic Club and Alabama. A road loss to Texas followed before the season ended with a 28-4 walloping of Ole Miss, representing the most points by Tulane since its 34-0 win over LSU in 1893.
1896Harry Baum replaced T.L. Bayne as coach and matched the 1895 record of 3-2, although one of those losses was a forfeit to LSU. Tulane was ahead 2-0 when an argument broke out over whether Tulane could use a player who was "about" to become a Tulane student. When LSU refused to allow the player to see action, Tulane captain Louis Genella took his team off the field and the game was declared a forfeit. Win No. 3 was a 10-0 shutout of Ole Miss to ensure a winning season.
1897For the only time since the inception of the sport in 1893, Tulane did not field a football team.
1898John Lombard, captain of Tulane's first team in 1893, became the program's fifth coach in five seasons. The team played two games and finished 1-1, beating Ole Miss and then losing to LSU. Charles Eshelman served as captain, and in 1979 he became the first 19th century athlete to be named to Tulane's Athletic Hall of Fame.
1899H.H. Collier became Tulane's sixth coach in six seasons and he must not have enjoyed it very much as the team finished 0-6-1 and did not score a point. A scoreless tie with the Southern Athletic Club was the squad's best showing. Charles Eshelman became the first Tulanian to serve as football captain for two years in a row.
1900What a turnaround! Tulane went from winless and scoreless in 1899 to unbeaten and unscored upon in 1900. H.T. Summersgill was Tulane's seventh coach in seven seasons and he led his team to a 5-0 record. The Southern Athletic Club, Alabama, Millsaps, LSU and Ole Miss all failed to cross the Tulane goal as they lost by a combined 105-0.
1901H.T. Summersgill became the first man to coach Tulane football for consecutive seasons and his success continued. A disputed 2-0 loss to the Mobile YMCA was the only blemish on a 5-1 season. The Tulane coach argued heatedly that there were still several minutes left in the game but was overruled and suffered his only loss in two seasons. However, you can still get an argument about that in Baton Rouge to this day. Although Tulane beat LSU on the field by a score of 22-0, the Tigers protested the game to the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, alleging Tulane had used a professional player during the contest. Months later, the SIAA ruled the game an 11-0 forfeit in favor of LSU. The Tiger record book still claims that 11-0 "victory," while the Tulane ledger shows the contest as a 22-0 win. In two seasons, Summersgill produced a 10-1 record on the field and outscored the opposition 214-19. Hugh Krumbhaar captained both squads.
1902Coach Summersgill left and Tulane's gridiron fortunes took a dive. Virginius Dabney took over the helm and things looked good at first as he coached a 26-0 win over an alumni team. Two ties and four losses followed, however, and the final record fell to 1-4-2. After the disputed forfeit in 1901, LSU disappeared from the schedule for a while.
1903Charles Eshelman, captain of the 1898 and 1899 teams and a future member of the Tulane Athletic Hall of Fame, took over the head coaching job and improved the situation as he guided the squad to a 2-2-1 finish. It was a feast-or-famine type of season as the two wins were by a cumulative score of 64-5, while the team failed to score in the other three outings.
1904Thomas Berry took over the coaching reins from Charles Eshelman and led Tulane to a 5-2 record. The team shut out the opponent in all five victories, and failed to score in its two losses. LSU returned to the schedule for the first time since the 1901 controversy regarding player eligibility and Tulane beat the Tigers again . . . and again LSU complained about player eligibility. Ralph Wood captained the Green Wave for the second season in a row.
1905John Tobin replaced Thomas Berry as head coach and the season consisted of only one game. Tulane lost that contest to LSU 5-0 and controversy marred the series once again. This time, Tulane complained about LSU's use of ineligible players. Things got heated and the series did not resume until 1911.
1906For the sixth season in a row, Tulane had a new head coach as John Russ replaced John Tobin. The 1906 squad showed the effects of the lack of continuity and struggled to an 0-4-1 without scoring a point. A scoreless tie with Howard in the season opener was the campaign's best outing.
1907Joe Curtis was Tulane's seventh coach in seven years and things started looking up as the record improved to 3-2. In defeating Howard 13-0 in the season opener, Tulane registered its first victory and first points since the 1904 season. The squad won its first three and lost its last two, playing three games in one week in November.
1908Joe Curtis returned for his second year as coach and things were definitely looking up for Tulane football as a 7-1 season ensued. It was a new record for victories in a season and five were by shutouts. Biggest wins were a 23-0 verdict over Mississippi State and a 28-15 road decision over Texas four days later. With Temple Brown serving as captain, Tulane outscored the opposition by a cumulative 103-23.
1909Buster Brown replaced Joe Curtis as coach and the team faced a record nine opponents, finishing 4-3-2. Only three of the nine games were decided by more than 10 points. Tulane shut out the opposition four times and was held scoreless in three games. The only games in which both teams scored were ties with Alabama (5-5) and Texas (10-10).
1910A.A. Mason commenced a three-year reign as head coach and things did not get off to a promising start as Tulane suffered its first losing season since 1906. The team scored only twice and finished 0-7 as the opposition enjoyed a 126-6 edge on the scoreboard.
1911Coach Mason's program began to take off in year two as the record improved dramatically to 5-3-1. Tulane fans did not have to wait long for the turnaround as the first four opponents fell by a combined score of 92-0. The Tulane-LSU football rivalry resumed, with the Tigers taking a 6-0 win in Baton Rouge. Semmes Walmsley, a future mayor of New Orleans, captained the team.
1912Coach Mason established a new longevity record with his third season at the helm and produced another strong team. The squad finished with a 5-3 record and outscored the opposition 216-99. High point of the season was a 95-0 win over Southwestern Louisiana. The 15 rushing touchdowns and 95 points scored in that game are Tulane's oldest football records.
1913A.C. Hoffman replaced Mason as head coach and Tulane suffered its first losing season since 1910. The squad managed only three points in its five losses. Highlight of the season came in a 12-6 road win over St. Louis. In that game, Tulane tackle Carl Woodward kicked a 52-yard field goal, a mammoth blast that stood as the school record for 51 years.
1914E.R. Sweetland took over as head coach and Tulane improved its record to 3-3-1. There was a certain symmetry to the 1914 season as Tulane won its first three, lost three in a row and tied the season finale with LSU. The highlight of the season was an 82-0 thrashing of Centenary.
1915As the storm clouds of war thickened in Europe, Tulane changed coaches again, but this move led to serious stability for the program. A 23-year-old Minnesotan named Clark Shaughnessy took over the program and went on to become Tulane's winningest head coach during his 11-year tenure. Incidentally, an assistant coach at Notre Dame named Knute Rockne was scheduled for an interview, but he was told not to come when a deal was struck with Shaughnessy. His first year was nowhere near his best, but he still produced Tulane's second consecutive breakeven season with a 4-4 record. The first of his Tulane record 59 wins was a 24-0 verdict over St. Paul in the 1915 season opener.
1916Shaughnessy continued to lay his foundation, leading Tulane to a 4-3-1 record. For the third year in a row, Tulane opened with three straight wins, only to struggle toward the end of the season. The season's only tie was with LSU, the second deadlock with the Tigers in three years. Earning his second of three football letters for Tulane that fall was a youngster named Felix Blanchard, whose son, "Doc" Blanchard, won the Heisman Trophy at Army during World War II. The trophy is named for John Heisman, whose Georgia Tech team walloped Tulane 45-0 in 1916.
1917The United States had joined World War I by the time the 1917 football season rolled around and some schools had suspended play. The game went on at Tulane, however, and the team had a new stadium, located on the site of the A.B. Freeman School of Business. Tulane played its first game in the new concrete facility against Washington Artillery, winning 19-0. The 1917 team won its first four games by a combined score of 131-0 and finished with a 5-3 record. The season ended with a 28-6 win over LSU, as a Tulane line led by Eva Talbot held the Tigers to only one first down.
1918As the World War commitment escalated, Tulane faced mostly military opponents in 1918. The only loss in a 4-1-1 record was to Camp Pike. The Tulane defense shut out four of its six opponents and allowed only 16 points all season. In a 74-0 battering of Southwestern Louisiana, Harold Gentling broke off a 95-yard run, the longest in Tulane history.
1919World War I ended and the Shaughnessy program picked up speed as the team finished 6-2-1. The Southwestern win that ended the 1918 season and six wins to open the 1919 campaign were a school record seven wins in a row. A 7-7 tie with Georgia ended the winning streak. After a one-year break due to the War, the Tulane-LSU gridiron series resumed and it would stretch uninterrupted into the 1990s. A 73-0 win over Southwestern Louisiana and a 49-0 win over Mississippi College highlighted the season.
1920Another strong start and another 6-2-1 record tell the story of Tulane's 1920 season. The first four opponents were outscored by a combined 140-0 that fall. Tulane then fell to Michigan after a long train ride to Ann Arbor that marked the program's first ever intersectional contest. The team went on to shut out its next three opponents, the last of which was LSU, which fell 21-0 in Baton Rouge. The nickname Green Wave was affixed to the program that season and it endured. Coach Shaughnessy resigned after the season, but returned in 1922.
1921Myron Fuller replaced Clark Shaughnessy as head coach and, as often happens with transitions, things did not work out as well as all parties would have liked. The Green Wave's record slid to 4-6, the first losing season for the program since 1913. The 10-game schedule was the most ever for Tulane up to that point and the team won three of the first four before a collapse that saw only one win in the last six contests. The only win during that skid was a 21-0 verdict over LSU, the second year in a row that Tulane beat the Tigers by the same score. The last TD in that win over LSU came on a 65-yard punt return by a freshman named Alfred "Brother" Brown, who would go on to become one of Tulane's all-time great football players.
1922Clark Shaughnessy returned to the Tulane head coaching job for 1922 and began laying the foundation for one of the great eras in the program's history. The season got off to a strong start as Tulane outscored the opposition 104-10 in racing to a 4-0 record. The final four games of the season were losses, however, and the final record was 4-4. While the final record was not too impressive, Shaughnessy was bringing in football players who would help to make Tulane a national power on the gridiron.
1923One of the highlights of 1923 for Tulane football was the hiring of assistant coach Bernie Bierman, who would eventually replace Clark Shaughnessy as Tulane head coach and go on to a Hall of Fame career himself. The 1923 team compiled a 3-3-1 mark before finishing with a flourish by winning its last three games by a combined score of 58-8. Those three wins at the end of the 1923 season kicked off a school record eight-game winning streak and was the beginning of a four-season stretch where Tulane compiled a 21-1-1 record.
1924Tulane football exploded into national prominence in 1924 with a new school record for wins in a season as only a 14-6 loss to Mississippi State blemished an 8-1 season. The team won its first five, lost to Mississippi State, then won its last three as captain Brother Brown led the offensive charge with several 100-yard rushing efforts. Guard Milton Levy and backs Brown and Charles "Peggy" Flournoy were named All-Southern for their play in 1924 as the Green Wave outscored the opposition 201-59 over the course of the season.
1925For the second year in a row, Tulane set a school record for wins in a season as Coach Clark Shaughnessy's finest Tulane team finished with a 9-0-1 record. The tie came against Missouri in game two and nobody else came within ten points of this juggernaut. All-American Charles "Peggy" Flournoy had one of the great seasons in Tulane annals. One of the game's great punters, Flournoy was also quite a threat toting the football as he established Tulane records for touchdowns and points in a season and in a game that endure to this day. The 1925 team exploded to a 77-0 win over Louisiana College in the season opener as captain Lester Lautenschlaeger returned two punts for touchdowns. Later in the season, Flournoy set two of his longstanding records with four rushing TDs and 31 points in a 37-9 win over Louisiana Tech. The 1925 team did not give up two TDs in any game and scored in double figures against everyone but Missouri. Guard Milton Levy and Flournoy were named All-Southern for the second season in a row as they stood out on a team full of stars that outscored the opposition by a combined 246-32. After the season, Tulane's administration turned down a Rose Bowl bid because of the time the long train trip would keep the team away from its studies.
1926Clark Shaughnessy coached his last season at Tulane in 1926 and suffered his only losing campaign. A 40-0 romp over Louisiana Tech got the season off to a promising start, but the team scored more than 10 points only once the rest of the season and finished 3-5-1. During the offseason, Shaughnessy was released from his Tulane contract and moved across Freret Street to accept the head coaching position at Loyola. On Oct. 23, Tulane dedicated a new stadium on Willow Street that would showcase countless memories for Green Wave football until the program moved to the Louisiana Superdome after the 1974 season.
1927Former assistant coach Bernie Bierman, who had been head coach at Mississippi State for two years, returned to Tulane to replace Clark Shaughnessy as head football coach for the 1927 season. Although Bierman was ultimately to lead Tulane football to its greatest heights, his first season ended with a 2-5-1 record. It marked the first time the Green Wave suffered back-to-back losing seasons since 1905-06 and it did not happen again until 1945-46. The Green Wave defeated Ole Miss in the season opener and LSU in the season finale for its only two wins that fall. It was a dark period for a program used to better times, but the seed of future success was present in halfback Bill Banker, who was to help Tulane back to football prosperity very quickly.
1928Bernie Bierman showed he had things pointed in the right direction when the Green Wave slaughtered its first two 1928 opponents by a combined score of 116-6 as Bill Banker scored eight TDs. Banker, dubbed the "Blond Blizzard" because of the thick mane of light hair that was so visible to spectators as he raced helmetless through opposing defenses, came to Tulane from the southwest Louisiana city of Lake Charles that has provided the Green Wave with some of its all-time greats. A narrow loss to Georgia Tech started a three-game losing streak at that point, but when that streak was over, Tulane did not lose again for nearly two years. From Nov. 3, 1928 until Bierman left the program after the 1932 Rose Bowl, Tulane compiled a football record of 32-2-1. Captain Charles Rucker led a strong offensive line that helped the Green Wave outscore the opposition 264-76 that fall.
1929Coach Bernie Bierman led a team of Tulane legends to a 9-0 finish that featured five shutouts and plenty of offensive fireworks. Captain Bill Banker ended his magnificent Tulane career with All-America recognition. The decades have not erased his name from the Tulane record book in many areas, including the most important, as he is still the Green Wave's all-time leading scorer with 263 points. Running behind a ferocious line anchored by All-Southern center Lloyd "Preacher" Roberts, Banker and fellow halfback Ike Armstrong shredded opposing defenses as the 1929 team outscored the other side 297-45. Making his first appearance for the Green Wave that fall was a young Arkansan named Jerry Dalrymple, whose end play during his three-year career led many to consider him the finest player in Tulane football history.
1930The 1930 Tulane team is not remembered as one of Coach Bernie Bierman's best, which is understandable since, unlike its predecessor or successor, this squad lost one of its games. When the 1930 team lost the second game of the season to Northwestern on a chilly October afternoon in Chicago, it snapped a school record 10-game winning streak. When the team roared back to beat Texas A&M the next weekend, a new streak was started and it stretched to the current school record of 18 wins in a row. In fashioning an 8-1 record, Tulane outscored the opposition 263-30 in 1930, shutting out six of its nine opponents behind the end play of All-American Jerry Dalrymple. From Oct. 18-Nov. 15, the Green Wave shut out five consecutive opponents. Sophomore Don Zimmerman replaced Bill Banker as Tulane's top offensive threat and would go on to All-America recognition himself before his collegiate days were done.
1931Arguably the best in Tulane football history, the 1931 team shut out eight of its regular season opponents, set a school record for wins, finished the regular season unbeaten at 11-0 and earned a Rose Bowl bid. Outscoring the opposition by an awesome 338-35, Coach Bernie Bierman's last Tulane team allowed only one regular season opponent within 14 points of them. Future Tulane Hall of Famers Lefty Haynes, John Scafide, Jerry Dalrymple, Red Dawson, Wop Glover, Don Zimmerman and Nollie Felts manned seven of the 11 starting spots in the Rose Bowl. The unquestioned leader of this great team was Dalrymple, Tulane's first consensus All-American. Dalrymple's aggressive end play helped Tulane shut out eight of its first nine opponents in 1931, and 13 of 15 over a stretch dating back to the middle of the 1930 season. Offensively, Zimmerman's rushing and passing established an individual total offense record (1,459 yards) that endured 48 years. The Rose Bowl encounter saw USC grab a 21-0 third quarter lead, only to have Tulane roar back on a Zimmerman-to-Haynes TD pass and a TD run by Glover that closed it to 21-12 before the Green Wave rally fell short. Dalrymple was Tulane's first inductee into the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1954. A year later, Coach Bernie Bierman, who left Tulane after the 1931 season for continued success at the University of Minnesota, was inducted.
1932Ted Cox, an assistant to Bernie Bierman since 1927, took over the head coaching reins and the winning tradition continued. All-American Don Zimmerman was a leader on both sides of the ball as he ended his Tulane career as Tulane's all-time leader in total offense and passes intercepted, setting records that lasted until the 1970s. The Green Wave beat some big-time football teams in spite of being hard hit by graduation, but finishing 6-2-1 was considered a definite "rebuilding" effort for the Tulane program of that day. The Green Wave lost to LSU for the first time since 1926.
1933After a slow start, Coach Ted Cox rallied his team to a 6-3-1 finish. The 1933 team lost its first two games, the first time Tulane was beaten in consecutive games since 1928, but the team lost only once more the rest of the year. A 13-6 loss to Texas A&M was the first season opener Tulane had lost since 1921. On Oct. 21, Howard "Bucky" Bryan returned a kickoff 100 yards on a muddy field to beat Georgia Tech 7-0. Tulane would not win again at Grant Field until 1980. Tulane was a charter member of the Southeastern Conference in 1933.
1934All-American Claude "Little Monk" Simons, son of legendary Green Wave trainer Claude "Big Monk" Simons, did everything but cut the grass as he led the way to a 10-1 record that included a 20-14 win over Temple in the first Sugar Bowl game. Simons led the team in rushing, passing and scoring, played great defense, punted well and returned kicks for TDs that helped win the season finale with LSU and the Sugar Bowl game. Coach Ted Cox's finest Tulane team's only loss was to Colgate before 50,000 fans in Yankee Stadium. Tulane and Alabama tied for the SEC Championship that fall with 7-0 conference records. Simons took a lateral from Bucky Bryan on a punt and returned it 45 yards for a fourth quarter TD to beat LSU 13-12 to earn the bowl bid. In the Sugar Bowl game, Simons took a lateral from John McDaniel on a kickoff and brought it 85 yards for Tulane's first score to cut the Temple lead to 14-7. End Red Hardy caught second half TD passes from Bryan and Barney Mintz to give the Green Wave a 20-14 win. Only the great 1931 team has won more games in one season.
1935The Green Wave posted its eighth consecutive winning season, but a 6-4 record was not enough to save Coach Ted Cox's job. Tulane got revenge on the Colgate team that dealt the Wave its only loss in 1934 when Barney Mintz's 90-yard interception return sparked a 14-6 win. A 41-0 loss to LSU in the season finale was the final straw, however, and Cox became the only Tulane coach with a winning record ever to be fired. He stands as the only Tulane football coach of more than two seasons who never failed to field a winning team. Cox was replaced as head coach by Lowell "Red" Dawson, quarterback of the 1931 Rose Bowl team.
1936Red Dawson's first Tulane team finished 6-3-1 and started the tradition of strong defense that was the hallmark of his tenure. Six of 1936's opponents were held to less than 10 points. That season, Tulane and Auburn played the first of three consecutive scoreless ties. A four-game winning streak at mid-year was the season highlight, but the team took another thumping (33-0) from LSU at the end. Dawson went national in his recruiting and began to bring in players that would lead Tulane football back to national prominence.
1937The 1937 Tulane team finished 5-4-1, the program's 10th consecutive winning season. Eight of the 10 opponents scored less than 10 points and the team featured the running attack, as you would expect from a Red Dawson-coached squad. Highlight of the season was an 84-0 thrashing of Mississippi College, which saw Tulane rush for a school-record 638 yards, while the opposition gained only seven yards.
1938Coach Red Dawson's program began to take hold in 1938 as Tulane won seven of its last eight to finish 7-2-1. The only losses were by three points each to Clemson and Alabama. All-America end Ralph Wenzel and All-SEC running back Warren Brunner led the charge, but good football players walked the Tulane campus in numbers. Five opponents failed to cross the Tulane goal line that fall. The Green Wave beat LSU for the first time since 1934, but the game was marred by a massive brawl that spilled over into the cane fields that surrounded Tiger Stadium in those days. The battle would stop momentarily when the band played the national anthem, only to resume when the last note sounded.
1939The 1939 team was one of Tulane's finest, finishing the regular season unbeaten and dropping a hotly contested 14-13 decision to Texas A&M in the Sugar Bowl. Captain Paul Krueger led a blue collar team through a tough schedule and won with defense and a punishing running game. Coach Red Dawson assembled this team from 13 states and the Panama Canal Zone. They were products of the Great Depression who were about to fight a terrible World War, but things were looking up in 1939 for Tulane football. Five of nine regular season opponents were shut out and two others scored only once. End Ralph Wenzel and tackle Harley McCollum earned All-America recognition and guard Tommy O'Boyle and back Bobby "Jitterbug" Kellogg were named All-SEC. At one point, the Dawson juggernaut shut out three consecutive opponents by a combined score of 90-0. When the regular season ended 8-0-1, Tulane was matched with unbeaten Texas A&M in the Sugar Bowl, and the game was a great one. A&M led 7-0 at the half, but Kellogg returned a punt 75 yards to tie it in the third period. Tough running by Fred Cassibry set up a TD rush by Monette Butler that staked Tulane to a 13-7 lead after the conversion was blocked. The Aggies struck back through the air, scoring the winning TD on a pass and lateral that Tulane hotly contested was an illegal "pick" play. The TD stood, and one of Tulane's great football teams had suffered its only loss.
1940Hit hard by graduation, Tulane's 1940 team posted a 5-5 record, marking the first time since 1927 that the Green Wave did not field a winning football team. Coach Red Dawson rallied the troops after the season started 0-3, but a loss to LSU in the season finale prevented a winning campaign. Guard Tommy O'Boyle earned All-America recognition as he led the charge for Dawson's ground-oriented attack. The 1940 team still holds the season record for rushing attempts with 649.
1941The nation drifted toward World War II as Red Dawson delivered a winning record in his last season as Tulane head coach.
Costa Rica real estateThe 1941 team finished 5-4 and displayed a bit more offense than Dawson's previous squads, scoring better than 30 points in four of their five wins. Ernie Blandin led the way from his tackle spot and was named a consensus All-American after the season. Bobby Glass, who was killed in action in World War II, led the rushing attack with 683 yards and eight TDs. Lou Thomas established a season record with an average of 6.8 yards total offense per play, and also returned a kickoff 100 yards in a 52-6 win over North Carolina. Dawson's six-year totals as Tulane head coach were 36-19-4.