This time of the year, there are many Bowl Games to be seen. It may surprise you to know of the West Virginia Wesleyan Bowl win on January 1, 1925.
The year started off with a loss in a historic game in Morgantown. The Methodists (aka Bob Cats) lost to WVU in the very first game ever played at Mountaineer Field. Even that game had a uniquely WVWC connection as Wesleyan’s own Harry Stansbury was the Athletic Director at WVU, and was responsible for building that iconic stadium.
Only one other loss marred that incredible season. Coach Bob Higgins and his Cats racked up wins over Navy, Syracuse, and the University of Kentucky along the way. This brought national attention to the squad, and caused the great Knute Rockney to recommend the team for the Dixie Classic on New Years Day.
Dixie Classic
This bowl game was played only three times, and is the forerunner of today’s Cotton Bowl. Wesleyan played in the middle game.
January 2, 1922 saw Texas A&M defeated Centre College 22-14
January 1, 1925
And on January 1, 1934 Arkansas and Centenary College tied with seven points each.
Pharos Pre-Game Coverage
As the exciting news was shared, the coverage in the Pharos was excellent. In the December 17, 1924 edition, there was a complete wrap-up of the season and interviews with the coaches on page 3. There was a story discussing travel plans and hopes to find a way to broadcast the game (on radio) so that the fans could hear the game. On page 4 was a photograph and write-up about each of the players.
Page 5 includes the following story: What Prominent Sports Writers Over the Country Have Said About Wesleyan.
I would recommend reading all of the coverage in that issue here.
And Coverage of the Big Victory
The January 14, 1925 issue was full of the adventure and glory of it all. There was an article written by William B. Ruggles of the Dallas Morning News, entitled Bob Cats Win From Texas Mustangs Nine to Seven. In the article he states:
The West Virginia line, however, deserves all of the praise that has been given it. The right side was weak at the start but when Collins was sent in end to end it succeeded in a large extent to holding its own through the shifting panorama of the offensive game it had to face. Schelb, Kemerer, Comstock, Collins, and Bullman are hard to beat and they succeeded in bringing into the limelight the well-balanced backfield that runs and plunges with ready abandon.
Two columns were written by the players themselves. Page three includes a travel diary written by All-American John Moore (A Bob Cat’s Diary During the Trip to Texas) and also one written by Gale Bullman, Captain Bullman Tells of Texas Trip.
Afterwards
The team members reunited on May 22-23, 1954 to celebrate their achievements thirty years later. In the July 1954 issue of the Sundial, is an article about that event. Nineteen of the twenty-four original playing squad were present, an several staff as well. They came from 12 states and represented 24 vocations.
They gathered again in 1974, but their numbers were fewer. There were eleven members there, and the widows of two others.
The Cotton Bowl Connection in 2019
When Bob Higgins left West Virginia Wesleyan, he coached for two years at Washington University in St. Louis before heading back to his Alma Mater — Pennsylvania State University, where he had been a three time All-American. There he was an assistant coach for Penn State from 1928-29 before becoming their head coach from 1930-48. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954 as a coach.
He returned to the Cotton Bowl with his Penn State team in 1948, only the second time that school had been to a bowl game. There, they played to a tie with none other than S.M.U. He was probably wishing he had his Bob Cats back that day!
This weekend, December 28, 2019, Pennsylvania State University won the Cotton Bowl, beating the Memphis Tigers 53-39. I’ll bet Bob Higgins was smiling.
