Page 140 - Toledo Football Media Guide - 2012

HISTORY 141

t Football Timeline

1917

• John Brandeberry, an en-gineering professor, is “se-lected” coach when he be-gins conversing with some students on the gravel feld near the 11th Street UT cam-pus. Team member Charles Morgan later says, “Nobody else wanted the job.” Each of the team’s 13 members pur-chases his own uniform. The team has no practice scrim-mages prior to playing the frst game in school history, acontest atpowerfulDetroit. UT not only loses the game, 145-0, it loses four players

to injury. But the program is sustained by the whopping $150 guarantee it receives for playing the game. Toledo fnishes theseason0-3, outscored262-0 by its opponents.

1918

• The frst win in school history comes over Defance, 19-12. UT fnishes the season with a 1-1 record.

1920s

•TheBladenewspaper refers totheteam as “Munies,” short for Municipal Univer-sity, and also as the “Fighters.”

1922

• The frst football feld, usually refered toasUniversityStadium, isbuilt at Scott Park. Seating, consisting of seven rows of wooden bleachers, is added in 1923. From 1918-1936 games are also played atArmoryPark, andWaite, Scott, Libbey and St. John’s high schools.

1923

• Toledo acquires its current nickname following a game with powerful Car-negie Tech. Surprised to learn that Toledo has no nickname, Pittsburgh sports writers pressure James Neal, a UT student working in the press box, to comeupwithone.Neal, impressedwith his team’s fashy performance against a superior Carnegie Tech team, labels UT the “Skyrockets,” which the writers shorten to “Rockets.”

• Toledowins itsfrst football champion-ship (Northwest Ohio Conference), also

the school’s frst in any sport.

• JimPierce is the frst African-American teamcaptain, and becomes a professor upon graduation.

1929

• The UT marching band, 30 members strong, appears for the frst time at a home football game.

• The football annual budget grows to $2,000.

1931

• Amid the Great Depression, football is cancelled due to a lack of funds.

1932

• The fght song is written by Athletic Director Connelly.

1933

• Jerry Welling, a halfback, is the frst Rocket voted All-Ohio (by AP). He leads Ohio college scorers with 66 points.

1934

• The frst night game is played, a 20-0 victory over Capital, at Swayne Field.

1935

• A Toledo game is broadcast on radio for the frst time as the Rockets defeat Dennison, 13-0.

• Toledo defeats Bowling Green, 63-0. BGSU drops UT from its schedule until the 1948 season.

1936

• The Glass Bowl Stadium (then called

“University Stadium”) is built on the present-day UT cam-pus. AWorksProgressAdmin-istration project, it is paid for with a $272,000 grant from the federal government and $41,558 from the city of To-ledo and the university.

1937

• The Glass Bowl debuts in a game versus Akron.

1938

• Players use the towers in the Glass Bowl as living quarters.

• UT hosts and defeats 12th-ranked Marshall, 13-7, in front of 9,500 fans.

1943

• With the country at war, football is suspended from 1943-45.

1946

• After lying dormant for almost four seasons,UniversityStadiumisrenovated and renamed “Glass Bowl.” Lights are installed for the stadium’s frst night games.

• Toledo hosts the frst of four post-seasoncontestsknownastheGlassBowl Game. Arecordcrowdof13,500watches UT defeat Bates College, 21-12.

1948

• The frst Toledo football game is tele-vised by WSPD-TV13 (nowWTVG).

1952

• Toledo plays its frst season in theMid-AmericanConference,whichat thetime also includes Cincinnati, Miami, Ohio, BowlingGreen, Kent,WesternMichigan andWestern Reserve.

1953

• The cannon is fred of at home games following Toledo scores for the frst time.

1961

• A U.S. army Nike-Ajax missile is frst installed in the north end zone. Later it is moved to just outside the stadium.

Frank Lauterbur (with ball) and his coaching staf from 1970.