Should college football be credited for shaping American South's identity and restoring its integrity post-Civil War?
By kweltlin
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Is Southern Civilization Worth Preserving?
The Georgia Telegraph,10 years before Civil War. The author shows concern of how the South is not considered to have equal importance to the North."The question has been fairly tried, and it is solemnly decided that the entire machinery of a common government is to be employed for the sole benefit of one portion of the country, and the government is convinced that the other portion is so weak in its purposes and resources, that no heed is to be taken of its arguments, remonstrances, its warning" -
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Civil War - North (Union) vs. South (Confederacy)
The Confederate States of America, commonly known as the Confederacy, initially consisted of seven secessionist states: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. Shortly after the war began, four more states joined the Confederacy: Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. The government of the Confederacy was headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, for most of the war. -
Post-Civil War: North still sees South as being inferior
This article, from The Memphis Daily Avalanche, was in response to a Northern correspondent's article. "This unscrupulous correspondent cites use of an “ax to cut wood,” instead of a buck and saw,” as evidence of Southern inferiority, and points triumphantly to the absence of free schools, decent burial grounds, and of paved and lighted streets, as indications of the same. Were not all our saw-mills, tools, farm implements and all other conveniences destroyed by the Northern armies? -
Economic & Psychic Collapse of the South
After the Civil War the South went under a huge economic and psychic collapse. 1 out 5 males ages 18-45 were killed. If you fail economically and in war where do you take pride? Where do you find a place of saying - hey - we're proud of being Southerners! -
Chip on their shoulder - I'm as good as you are!
The South definitely had a chip on its shoulder after the Civil War. You mix that chip on its shoulder with masculinity and wanting to be the best - my God I'm good as you are - my God I'm better than you are. I think it transferred over into football. -
South Needs Football - post-Civil War
In 1869, Princeton and Rutgers played what is now remembered as the first ever college football game. "Years after the Civil War the South didn't merely embrace college football - they needed it!" -
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Reconstruction - Saturdays in the South - History of SEC Football
"In the aftermath of the Civil War, America's South is looking to put the past behind it, and finds one path in a growing cultural passion of the North - football. In December of 1932, the Southeastern Conference is officially formed."
(https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=59fb75e0-887f-4317-94df-d5eaf5906c81) -
Hatred! The South vs. North
This is an article posted in People's Advocate in 1876, describing the South's hatred toward the North. "Every man living North and West of Mason and Dixon’s line was called a “Yankee,” and the hatred against the “Yankee” was intense and uncompromising. I once heard a prominent Southern lawyer express his sentiments in this way: - “I hate the Yankees beyond measure, and shall always hate them; I shall teach my children to hate them, and my children’s children shall be taught to hate them” -
Creating the entire myth of the lost cause
The way the South took their lost cause they built monuments and memorials to the Civil War dead. "Football - it is as close to replicating a combat experience as you're like to find." "It was to be the next best thing to warfare. A martial engagement - a game to be sure but with high stakes!" -
The Rise of College Football!
The Philadelphia Inquirer published an article in 1893 - "Why Football is So Popular an Expert Gives Interesting Information About the Game". Here is an interesting quote -comparing football to war. "It’s the play on a football field, the real war, with generals, tactics, discipline, and gory wounds of honor that catches the public’s fancy at this season of the year, says Wallace Rice, a well-known expert of the gridiron field.” -
Football in the South Gets Recognized
The Philadelphia Inquirer posted an article in 1895 - “In looking back at the work of some of the major Southern colleges it is found that while some have only made an average showing in football others have made it apparent that their knowledge of the game places them very near the front rank. Each season these Southern teams show marked advancement in the game, and in a few years they may give the Northern colleges serious trouble.” -
Death on field - almost killed college football in the South
After a death on the football field, a bill was presented making football a felony punishable by a year on the state chain gang. Georgia Governor Atkinson vetoed the bill to outlaw football. He was quoted of saying, "What would the Yankees think of us - they will think we are a bunch of backwards rubes". "The yearning to take back the South by mirroring the North had saved football and the tales and traditions already forming around it." -
Southern football moves toward equal grounds with North!
In the early years of the game, everything about Southern college football was understood to be inferior. During this time Southern football was not being taken seriously by the North. In 1910, Vanderbilt, from the South played Yale, from the North and prior year's National Champions. They played to a scoreless tie - it was a major milestone in intersectional football! -
Iconic Speech - Game played in the South.
1st time a Northern team (Michigan) came to the South to play against a team from the South (Vanderbilt). Coach of Vanderbilt Dan McGugin gave this pre-game speech to his players. Pointing that day in the direction of the cemetery with the graves of Confederate soldiers near the stadium he said, "Out there lie the bones of your grandfathers, and down there on the field are the grandsons of the Yankee soldiers that put them there." The game ended in a 0-0 tie. Considered a victory for the South -
Landmark Moment - Rose Bowl - Alabama vs. Washington
Northerners thought that Alabama was not worthy of playing in the Rose Bowl. This infuriated folks from Alabama and everyone from the South! Alabama in a stunning upset defeated Washington 20-19. "This was a landmark moment for Southern football. This was the first time that the South had claim superiority in anything since the Civil War. Football, like nothing else in the country, was revealing itself as a remarkable leveler, a means for the South to let America know how far it had come." -
Southeastern Conference is Born
By the end of 1932 the great depression may have been ravishing the country, but America's growing love affair for college football was hardly flickering. In the South, 13 schools formed their own alliance known as the Southeastern Conference (SEC). -
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A Call to Duty - Saturdays in the South - History of SEC Football
"Multiple SEC schools claim national titles from the 1930s through the '50s, including LSU with star running back Billy Cannon in 1958, prior to Cannon's epic game-winning punt return against powerhouse Ole Miss a year later." (https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=c65a292b-33f1-46f1-a028-edbfa64787f6) -
Tennessee Volunteers - National Champions!
The 1938 Tennessee Volunteers won the school's first national championship and they are regarded as one of the greatest teams in SEC and NCAA history. The South continued to make its mark in college football throughout 27 year period. Winning 13 national championships including Tennessee again in 1951 and and LSU in 1958. -
Sense of Significance to the South
Archie Manning, was the quarterback for the Ole Mississippi Rebels. A former Ole Miss player said, "He gave us a sense of significance. Mississippi hungers for respect." -
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The Best Years of Their Lives - Saturdays in the South - History of SEC Football
"As a new decade dawns, the game embeds itself ever deeper in the culture of the South. Archie Manning becomes a folk hero in Mississippi, Bear Bryant begins a new run of dominance at Alabama, and the rise of television sports transforms the SEC."
(https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=fc5e4bc9-2d55-45ac-b971-0d6ccbec6ffc) -
Southern Football Coaching Legend - Paul "Bear" Bryant
Paul "Bear" Bryant is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time. He coached from 1958 - 1982 and won 6 National Championships and 13 SEC Championships -
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Revolution - Saturdays in the South - History of SEC Football
"The 1990s bring change, with expansion and the sports' first-ever conference championship game. Florida's Steve Spurrier fashions an era of high-octane offense, and his Gators form a rivalry with Tennessee and QB Peyton Manning." (https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=c65f21ac-1e07-4711-8b72-cba30751b55f) -
Tennessee Legend - Peyton Manning
Peyton Manning's legend will never die. He finished his career holding 42 NCAA, SEC and Tennessee records. -
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SEC, SEC, SEC! - Saturdays in the South - History of SEC Football
"The SEC has a run of seven straight national titles, and nine in 12 years. Expansion in 2012 gives the conference 14 schools. Meanwhile, Nick Saban arguably becomes the greatest coach in the history of college football." (https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=c2fb89e5-4f81-4db9-babc-17c95dff318c) -
Southernization of the United States
"The factory town of old -Football is the factory and that is what brings attention to the town and that becomes the identity of the town and because it is the South - it is of course necessarily draped in myth" Vicki Michaelis Georgia Journalism Professor "Its in these last most recent decades some historians have called both the Americanization of the South and Southernization of the United States and football has been a very large part of that." Dr. Bob Hutton Tennessee History Professor