The Sewanee–Vanderbilt football rivalry was an American
college football rivalry
A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...
between the
Sewanee Tigers and
Vanderbilt Commodores
The Vanderbilt Commodores are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt fields 16 varsity teams (6 men's teams and 10 women's teams), 14 of which compete at the National ...
. They were both founding members of the
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football programs were members of this conferen ...
(SIAA), the
Southern Conference
The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...
, and the
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...
(SEC). Both teams' histories feature some powerhouses of early Southern football, e.g.
1899 Sewanee Tigers football team and
1906 Vanderbilt Commodores football team. It was the oldest of Vanderbilt's rivalries; dating back to
1891 when Vanderbilt played its second ever football game and Sewanee played its first.
Vanderbilt leads the series 40–8–4. It used to be claimed as the oldest rivalry in the south, older than the "
South's Oldest Rivalry
The South's Oldest Rivalry is the name given to the North Carolina–Virginia football rivalry. It is an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Virginia Cavaliers football team of the University of Virginia and the Nor ...
" between
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...
and
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...
. Usually played towards the end of the season on
Thanksgiving Day
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...
, the two teams have not met again since
1944
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 2 – WWII:
** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in No ...
.
The two universities are in the same state of
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...
and are over 90 miles away from each other. A newspaper account of the rivalry reads: "Both schools look upon the game as the big feature of their schedule each year, no matter what other games are included, and it is always the biggest drawing card on either schedule." "Goodbye Sewanee goodbye" was even a song sung by Vanderbilt students.
Game results
Notable games
1891: Sewanee's first game; Vanderbilt's second
Sewanee's first ever football game, and Vanderbilt's second, was the first instance of this rivalry at
McGee Field on November 7, 1891. Vanderbilt won 22 to 0. McGee Field is the oldest stadium in the south still in use, and the fourth oldest in the nation.
1897: Vanderbilt gives Sewanee Hell
Vanderbilt beat Sewanee 10–0. A shocking event occurred in 1897 at the Thanksgiving Day match with Sewanee on the original
Dudley Field
FirstBank Stadium (formerly Dudley Field and Vanderbilt Stadium) is a football stadium located in Nashville, Tennessee. Completed in 1922 as the first stadium in the South to be used exclusively for college football, it is the home of the Vander ...
. The word "hell" had been used in the line of a popular cheer on campus by Vanderbilt students and spread into events as football. This caused uproar with the university administration and the city of Nashville.
Both teams commenced to pass the ball around for the purpose of limbering up. Throughout this preliminary the students of both colleges gave their respective yells and sung their several songs written for the occasion. There was one yell given with great frequency by the Vanderbilt students which was very offensive to decent people. It starts off "Hippity Huz, Hippity Huz; What in the hell is the matter with us." It had become so popular at Vanderbilt that it was in the minds and causes them to be oblivious to the fact that it was not exactly proper to shock refined ladies by such utterances.
Phil Connell and captain
Howard Boogher
Howard Murray Boogher (January 2, 1876 – March, 1933) was a college football player, attorney, and once president of the Boogher, Force & Goodbar Hat Company. Boogher was captain of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association champion ...
dove to recover the ball after the victory, giving Vanderbilt its first conference title.
1899: Sewanee's greatest team; no game with Vanderbilt
Sewanee manager
Luke Lea, after a disagreement with Vanderbilt over gate receipts resulting in the 1899 game being cancelled, sought a way to make up for the lost revenue. In response, Lea put together an improbable schedule of playing five big name opponents in six days. Playing so many games in a short period minimized costs while maximizing revenue. During this road trip, Sewanee outscored its opponents for a combined 91–0, including Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, and Ole Miss. Sewanee obliterated each one, traveling by train for some 2,500 miles. This feat, barring fundamental changes in modern-day football, can never be equaled. Contemporary sources called the road trip the most remarkable ever made by an American college team.
1902: Sewanee drubs Vandy
Sewanee defeated Vanderbilt in a surprising 11 to 5 upset.
John Edgerton
John Emmett Edgerton (October 2, 1879 – August 4, 1938) was an industrialist who gained prominence as the president of the National Association of Manufacturers from 1921 to 1931. Edgerton was also an All-Southern college football fullback ...
's touchdown was the first Vanderbilt had scored on Sewanee since 1897. Captain
Henry D. Phillips
Henry Disbrow Phillips (January 16, 1882 – June 29, 1955) was an American Episcopal bishop (1938–1955) and college American football player and coach (1900–1909). Sportswriter Fuzzy Woodruff called him "the greatest football player who ever ...
made Sewanee's touchdown.
1903: Vanderbilt upsets Sewanee
1903 met difficulty in determining an SIAA champion. Clemson's
John Heisman
John William Heisman (October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was a player and coach of American football, baseball, and basketball, as well as a sportswriter and actor. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College, Buchtel College ...
pushed strongly for Cumberland to share the SIAA title with Clemson, but also originally scheduled a game with the Vanderbilt-Sewanee winner to decide the conference. Cumberland's strongest victory was its win over
Vanderbilt.
John J. Tigert, later a prominent educator, got Vanderbilt's first touchdown, and thus was the first person to score on the Tigers all season.
1905: Vanderbilt drubs Sewanee
Vanderbilt crushed a strong
Sewanee squad 68–4. One publication claims "The first scouting done in the South was in 1905, when Dan McGugin and Captain Innis Brown, of Vanderbilt went to
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...
to see Sewanee play
Georgia Tech
The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part o ...
."
John Scarbrough made Sewanee's only points on a 35-yard field goal.
[ ] On the dedication of
Harris Stadium, one writer noted "The University of the South has numbered among its athletes some of the greatest. Anyone who played against giant
Henry Phillips in 1901-1903 felt that he was nothing less than the best as guard and fullback. Anyone who ever saw a punt from the foot of J. W. Scarbrough."
Honus Craig
John Livingston "Honus" Craig (November 30, 1881 – April 18, 1942) was an American college football player and coach.
Early years
John Livingston Craig was born on November 30, 1881, in Culleoka, Tennessee, to Thompson Sloan Craig and Ella Cl ...
once ran 60 yards for a touchdown.
[
]
1907: Grantland Rice's Greatest Thrill
In the second year of the legal forward pass Vanderbilt won the SIAA championship on a double-pass play. Sewanee led 12 to 11 with twelve minutes to play. At McGugin's signal, the Commodores went into a freakish formation in which Stein Stone
James Nollner "Stein" Stone Sr. (April 18, 1882 – August 25, 1926) was an American football and basketball player and coach. "Stein" is the German for stone.
Vanderbilt University
At Vanderbilt he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraterni ...
remained at center but all other players shifted to his left. Quarterback Hugh Potts took the snap and lateraled the ball to Vaughn Blake, who lateraled it across to Bob Blake, who had lined up deep in punt formation, as Stone ran down the field.[ Blake then connected with Stone on a 35-yard pass down inside the 5-yard line.][ ]Honus Craig
John Livingston "Honus" Craig (November 30, 1881 – April 18, 1942) was an American college football player and coach.
Early years
John Livingston Craig was born on November 30, 1881, in Culleoka, Tennessee, to Thompson Sloan Craig and Ella Cl ...
ran in it to win the game. It was cited by Grantland Rice
Henry Grantland "Granny" Rice (November 1, 1880July 13, 1954) was an early 20th-century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio.
Early years
Rice w ...
as the greatest thrill he ever witnessed in his years of watching sports.

Vanderbilt coach Dan McGugin
Daniel Earle McGugin (July 29, 1879 – January 23, 1936) was an American football player and coach, as well as a lawyer. He served as the head football coach at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee from 1904 to 1917 and again from ...
in ''Spalding's Football Guides summation of the season in the SIAA wrote "The standing. First, Vanderbilt; second, Sewanee, a might good second;" and that Aubrey Lanier
Aubrey Falls "Laney" Lanier (February 18, 1888 – April 25, 1936) was a college football player.
Early years
Aubrey was born on February 18, 1888, in the city of Butler in Lonoke County, Arkansas, to Isaac Hill Lanier and Mary "Ellen" Coope ...
"came near winning the Vanderbilt game by his brilliant dashes after receiving punts."