1897 VPI football team

1897 VPI football
Conference	Independent
1897 record	5–2
Head coach	Charles Firth (1st year)
Captain	Howard Archer Johnson
Home stadium	Sheib Field

The 1897 VPI football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute in the 1897 college football season. The team was led by their head coach Charles Firth and finished with a record of five wins and two losses (5–2).

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
October 16, 1897		King College	Sheib Field • Blacksburg, VA	W 54–0	-
October 30, 1897		vs. North Carolina	Danville, VA	W 4–0	500[1]
November 2, 1897		Roanoke	Sheib Field • Blacksburg, VA	W 41–0	-
November 6, 1897		vs. UMBC	League Park[2] • Norfolk, VA	L 4–18	500[2]
November 13, 1897		at Richmond	Broad Street Park[3] • Richmond, VA	W 36–0	500[3]
November 15, 1897	9:30am[4]	at Hampden–Sydney	Venable Field[4] • Hampden Sydney, VA	W 10–0	-
November 25, 1897		vs. Tennessee	Roanoke, VA	L 0–18	-
*Non-conference game.

• Source: HokieSports.com: 1897 Virginia Tech football schedule^[5]

Players

The following players were members of the 1897 football team according to the roster published in the 1898 and 1903 editions of The Bugle, the Virginia Tech yearbook.^[6][7]

VPI 1897 roster
	Quarterback William Frazier Bell Guards W. F. Cox Joseph Glenwood Pelter Tackles Richard Ainsworth Herbert Charles Morton Wood Center John Walter Stull		Ends Howard Archer Johnson (Capt.) Harold Benjamin Lewis Halfbacks Thomas Roy Barnett(e) Charles Weedon Cochran Fullback Obediah Francis Whitehurst		Substitutes Charles Whitfield Painter Curtis Grant Rorebeck Bayard Ambrose Rucker Fleming Saunders Robert Mayo Scott Edward Colston Taylor

References

1. "A Great Victory". The Times. Library of Virginia. October 31, 1897. p. 5. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
2. "Maryland, 18; Blacksburg, 4". The Times. Library of Virginia. November 7, 1897. p. 2. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
3. "V.P.I.'s Victorious". Richmond Dispatch. Library of Virginia. November 14, 1897. p. 15. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
4. "H.S. and V.P.I. - A Hotly-Contested Game of Foot-Ball". Richmond Dispatch. Library of Virginia. November 16, 1897. p. 6. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
5. Virginia Tech Football Past Schedules "1897–1898". Virginia Tech Sports Information Department, Hokiesports.com. Accessed November 5, 2015.
6. "The Bugle 1898". Virginia Tech Bugle. 1898. p. 139. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
7. "The Bugle 1903" (PDF). Virginia Tech Bugle. 1903. p. 129. Retrieved 2015-11-05.