1908 College Football All-Southern Team

1908 LSU Tigers football team.

The 1908 College Football All-Southern Team consists of American football players selected to the College Football All-Southern Teams selected by various organizations in 1908.

Consensus eleven

The eleven selected by a majority of selectors included:

• Vaughn Blake, end for Vanderbilt. One of the prominent Vanderbilt Blake family, he was later an FBI agent involved in the capture of Alvin Karpis.
• J. G. Davis, center for Auburn.
• J. R. Davis, tackle for Georgia Tech; Davis was known as "Twenty percent" because he was considered twenty percent of the team's worth.^[1] Vanderbilt coach Dan McGugin wrote, "He has one glaring fault—a tendency to tackle around the eyebrows. Otherwise he is a splendid foot ball man. He weighs two hundred pounds, is never hurt, never fumbles, bucks a line hard and furnishes excellent interference. He was the strength and stay of Tech."^[2]
• Nathan Dougherty, tackle for Tennessee. The 1908 team was widely considered the best Tennessee football season up to that point.^[3] He was selected for the AP Southeast All-Time football team (1869-1919 era). He was also the chairman of the UT Athletic Council from 1917 to 1956 and instrumental in the establishment of the Southern Conference. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1967.
• Frank Faulkinberry, tackle for Sewanee, later a coach.
• Louis Hasslock, tackle for Vanderbilt. Before Vanderbilt played Michigan, Hasslock had been on duty at Reelfoot Lake with a militia who were to guard against night riders. When he learned he could be granted a leave of absence if he were to join his football team, he walked a distance of twenty miles through a country infested with night riders, and caught a train at Union City.^[4]
• Ike Knox, halfback for Mississippi, inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1964. Commenting on the game between Vanderbilt and Ole Miss which he officiated, Grantland Rice called Knox, “a sensation in light hair, broad shoulders and stocky frame that gave both the Commodore offense and defense a shock that will not soon be forgotten.” Knox was later a surgeon in Vicksburg. His former house there is on the National Register of Historic Places.
• Walker Leach, halfback for Tennessee. McGugin noted "All things considered, Leach was perhaps the best football player of the year in Dixie."
• Lawrence Markley, fullback and captain for Sewanee. McGugin wrote of Markley, "He has always been a very stubborn man on the defense, effective on a short plunge, and his cool head has helped to steady his team through many a crisis."
• Tom McLure, quarterback for Auburn. McGugin describes his play: "McClure was not particularly fast, but a spirited leader, an excellent general and a sure tackler." McLure later served in the First World War. He declared that going over the top in France beats charging into an opposing eleven.^[5] Such an attitude did eventually get him wounded.^[6]
• Silas Williams, end for Sewanee. He later played for Harvard Law School.

All-Southerns of 1908

Ends

• Vaughn Blake†, Vanderbilt (H-1, DM, NB, VA)
• Silas Williams, Sewanee (H-1, DM)
• Carlton Elliott, Virginia (VA)
• Strick Coles, Clemson (H-2)
• Chip Robert, Georgia Tech (H-2)
• C. Logan Eisele, Sewanee (GR-2)
• Walker Reynolds, Auburn (GR-2)

Tackles

• Frank Faulkinberry†, Sewanee (H-1, DM, NB, VA)
• J. R. Davis, Georgia Tech (H-1, DM)
• William Evans, Sewanee (GR-2, NB)
• Cecil Garrett, North Carolina (VA)
• W. P. Brown, Tennessee (H-2, GR-2)
• Henry Thomas Burks, Alabama (H-2)

Guards

Nathan Dougherty.

• Louis Hasslock, Vanderbilt (H-1, DM, NB)
• Nathan Dougherty, Tennessee (College Football Hall of Fame) (H-1, DM, NB)
• Van Dyke, North Carolina A & M (VA)
• Hoss Hodgson, VPI (VA)
• James L. Harris, Sewanee (H-2, GR-2)
• T. C. Locke, Auburn (H-2, GR-2)

Centers

• J. G. Davis, Auburn (H-1)
• Fatty McLain, Vanderbilt (GR-2, DM)
• Willie Hillman, LSU (NB)
• William Gloth. Virginia (VA)

Quarterbacks

• Tom McLure, Auburn (H-1, DM)
• Ray Morrison, Vanderbilt (H-2, GR-2, NB [as e])
• Doc Fenton, LSU (College Football Hall of Fame) (NB)
• Sam Honaker, Virginia (VA)

Halfbacks

• Walker Leach, Tennessee (H-1, DM, NB)
• Ike Knox, Ole Miss (H-1)
• Lewie Hardage, Auburn (H-2, GR-2, DM)
• Mike Lally, LSU (NB)
• Art Shea, Georgetown (VA)
• Forest Stanton, Virginia (VA)
• Aubrey Lanier, Sewanee (H-2, GR-2)

Fullbacks

• Lawrence Markley†, Sewanee (H-1, DM, NB, VA)
• Clarence McCollum, Tennessee (H-2, GR-2)

Key

Bold = consensus choice by a majority of the selectors

† = Unanimous selection

DM = selected by Dan McGugin, coach at Vanderbilt University.^[2][7]

H = selected by John Heisman, coach at Georgia Institute of Technology.^[8] with help from Grantland Rice. Both Rice and Heisman had separate second teams.^[9]

NB = selected by Nash Buckingham in the Memphis Commercial Appeal.^[10]

VA = selected by University of Virginia trainers.^[11]

See also

• 1908 College Football All-America Team

References

1. Triumph Books. Echoes of Georgia Football: The Greatest Stories Ever Told. p. 35.
2. Spalding's Football Guide. 1909. p. 75.
3. Big Orange: a pictorial history of University of Tennessee football. 1982. p. 34.
4. "Walks Many Miles To Join Football Team". The Winchester News. October 30, 1908.
5. "Going Over Top Is Better Than Football" (PDF). The Herald. February 21, 1918. p. 8.
6. "Letter from Penrose Vass Stout, stationed in France, to his mother, Zemmie Stout Lawton, in Hartsville, South Carolina".
7. "1909 Football Program - UT vs Central University of Kentucky". October 2, 1909.
8. Percy Whiting (November 24, 1909). "Not News, But Views". p. 12. Retrieved March 5, 2015 – via Digital Library of Georgia.
9. Grantland Rice (November 29, 1908). "Sewanee Gets More Than Any Other One Team In This Group". The Tennessean. p. 5. Retrieved April 25, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "All SIAA Teams of Past Six Years". Atlanta Georgian. November 27, 1909. p. 12. Retrieved March 5, 2015 – via Digital Library of Georgia.
11. "Virginia Makes Claim On The Championship". Atlanta Georgian. December 18, 1908. p. 12. Retrieved March 5, 2015 – via Digital Library of Georgia.