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1932 COLGATE RED RAIDERSUNBEATEN, UNSCORED ON, AND UNINVITED

By Ray Schmidt

One of the great and seldom told stories ofpre-WorId War II football is the success often experienced bythe teams from little Colgate University of Upstate New York. Despite the relatively small emollmentsthrough the years, the school still produced some of the outstanding players of Eastern football history,and for many years were led by one of the great coaching names in college football history.

Perhaps the greatest team in Colgate football history was the widely-heralded 1932 outfit that continuesto be remembered in college gridiron lore primarily because of an unofficial title given to them at thetime by their coach, and years later repeated on numerous occasions by the legendary sportswriter,Allison Danzig. As football historians perhaps we should consider the claim implied by that title whilelearning something ofEastem football of the time.

Coming into the 1932 season, Coach Andy Kerr was starting his fourth year at Colgate. Kerr started hiscoaching career in 1914 as an assistant to Glenn (Pop) Warner at Pittsburgh, and during the followingyears he became an expert on the execution of Warner's innovative double-wing offense. When Warnersigned a contract with Stanford with two years remaining on his pact at Pitt, Kerr was dispatched to the

. West Coast school to take over as head coach for the 1922 and 1923 seasons, during which time he wasto install Warner's offensive techniques before the great man arrived in 1924 to take over.

Kerr remained at Stanford as an assistant once Wamer showed up, but he moved back east in 1926 totake over as football and basketball coach at Washington & Jefferson for three years. Then in 1929 hebecame the head football coach at Colgate, and quickly set about installing the double-wing offense withall the razzle-dazzle variations that featured clever ball handling, a deceptive running game with lots ofreverses, laterals, and the double-spinner play, and a well-conceived passing game. Kerr's Colgate teamsquickly began parlaying these offensive theories into impressive records and from 1929-1931 the RedRaiders lost only one game each season.

Despite a lineup that was not particularly heavy, especially up in the line, Kerr still recognized in 1932that he had the makings of another outstanding gridiron machine. A believer in hard work with extensivepractice of their offensive concepts - Kerr in fact never missed a practice or game during his 18 seasonsat Colgate - the result was an exceptionally well drilled team that had the timing and execution of theirassignments in the double-wing attack mastered to the point of the proverbial "well oiled machine."Colgate had lost a considerable amount of talent from the teams that ran wild over the past three seasons,but Kerr did have some capable replacements on hand in the line - guards Bob Smith and Joe Hill, alongwith end Winston Anderson, considered among the standouts at their positions in the East. The backfieldwas loaded with experience, speed, and depth to execute the ball-handling and timing so important to thedouble-wing, Ornulf "Whitey" Ask leading a trio of talented halfbacks that included Renato Antoliniand Bob Samuel, while Charlie Soleau was a standout at quarterback and powerful Bob Rowe helddown the fullback spot.

The Red Raiders opened the 1932 season by debuting their new game uniforms that featured maroonpants and white jerseys, trimmed with maroon, and the traditional all-white helmet. After notching aneasy 41-0 win over little St. Lawrence College, in the second week Colgate had all it could handle incoming up with a 27-0 win over Case, a small college opponent from Cleveland.

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In the last of its tuneup games, Colgate next rolled past Niagara University for a 47-0 win. In the firsthalf the Red Raiders could manage just one score against a Niagara team that had dropped a narrow 7-0decision to Cornell the week before, but in the last two quarters Kerr's line began opening some bigholes and the running game tacked on six more touchdowns. Then came the first major opponent on theschedule in Lafayette, on the way to a mediocre season, and Kerr unleashed his new double-spinnerplays and Colgate quickly took charge in the first half. Behind the deceptive new play and the usualwide-open use of laterals everywhere on the field, the Red Raiders rolled to a 35-0 win as Whitey Askand Rowe each tallied a touchdown while Soleau ran wild while in the game.

After four relatively routine wins, Colgate now braced itself for a real test against an unbeaten NewYork University team at Yankee Stadium in a showdown in front of an expected 35,000 fans in one of

the East's top games that day. The Red Raider offense wasclicking on all cylinders from the opening whistle, andstarting from its 20 yard line after the kickoff Colgatequickly pounded the ball up to its 47. On the next play Roweflipped a lateral to Ask, who dropped back and rifled a shortpass to Jack Fritts who was crossing the middle after theends had lured the defense away. It was strictly no contest asthe speedster roared to the touchdown to give Colgate a 7-0lead less than five minutes into the game.

Late in the first quarter Ask intercepted an NYU pass - oneof five aerial thefts for the day by Kerr's defense - to startColgate off at the Violets' 39 yard line. Ask sparked the

; following drive 'with a: 14-yaid nin, and'the series wascapped off - with the action now in the second quarter ­when he took a lateral and outran a lone NYU defender tothe comer of the end zone on a seven-yard scoring play thatupped the lead to 14:-0. With the Colgate offense dazzlingNYU with an array of spinners, double spinners, andreverses, while the defense was throttling the Violets' attack,the first half was completely one-sided. In the second halfthe Colgate offense seemed to ease up and coasted throughthe last two quarters. Meanwhile, the Red Raider defensecontinued to pound on NYU, seldom allowing the Violetspast midfield and never within 40 yards of the end zone,while allowing the host team just three first downs and 70yards of total offense for the day. The impressive 14-0victory got the attention of everyone in the East.

Colgate next welcomed Penn State to its campus for Homecoming Day. The Nittany Lions were in themidst of a dismal season and so Kerr was able to keep most ofhis dazzling offense under wraps, yet theRed Raiders still dominated the action from the opening whistle. It started quickly as Bob Samuelreturned the opening kickoff 50 yards to midfield, followed by a rapid drive that saw Rowe and Askripping the State line to shreds. Rowe blasted up the middle for the final eight yards to the touchdown,and Colgate led 6-0. That's the way it stood in the second quarter when Rowe intercepted a pass at theState 30, and on the next play Soleau bolted through tackle for 25 yards. Two plays later Rowe plungedin for the score and Colgate then rolled to two more scores before halftime, including an eight-yardsweep around right end by Ask. Samuel added another six-pointer on an eight-yard run to open the third

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quarter and that closed out the day's scoring in Colgate's 31-0 romp. Penn State had threatened once inthe third quarter, but otherwise was allowed just three fIrst downs and 83 yards of offense for the day.

The next week brought a breather in a visit from little Mississippi College, and Kerr opened the gamewith his reserves on the fIeld. The Colgate subs pounded out an early 65-yard scoring march for the lead,Howie Conroy dashing 25 yards for the TD, and Kerr kept them in the game most of the way. Theregulars saw some action in the second half and wrapped up the 32-0 romp as the small collegeopponent could manage just two fIrst downs and 50 yards ofoffense while yielding fIve interceptions.

Colgate then traveled to Syracuse where they struggled past an average outfIt in the arch-rivalOrangemen. In the second quarter guard Bob Smith blocked a Syracuse punt to give the Red Raiders theball just fIve yards from paydirt, and three plays later Rowe plowed in for the TD and a 7-0 lead. Therewas no further scoring until the fourth quarter when Soleau gave Colgate a break when he intercepted aSyracuse pass. After moving to one fIrst down, Ask then connected with a pass to Vern Lee for a 47­yard touchdown. Late in the game Lyon tacked on a 32-yard fIeld goal to fInish up the 16-0 win forColgate to advance their record to 8-0-0 heading into the Thanksgiving showdown against Brown.

Also carrying an unbeaten record at 7-0-0, Brown's list of victims included Yale, Harvard, Holy Cross,and Columbia - all these major opponents subdued after hard-fought struggles. The narrow 7-6 win overColumbia was no embarrassment, as this was the only loss for a Columbia team which just one yearlater would be heading to the Rose Bowl game. The showdown against Colgate would be played atAldrich Field in Providence before about 26,000 fans, and temporary bleachers were being set up behindeach end zone to provide greater seating. Colgate and Brown were evenly matched and generallyconsidered to be the two strongest candidates for the mythical Eastern championship, and thesportswriters had installed the Red Raiders as a slight favorite. Ailison Danzig of the New York Timesmade it offIcial for history when he declared that the winner would be the champion of the East.

The two top-flight teams came out and went right to work pounding each other through a scoreless fIrstquarter. The fIrst break of the game came in the second quarter when Ask boomed a tremendous 55-yardpunt that bounced out of bounds on Brown's six yard line. Bob Chase of the Bears then went to punt itright back but his kick was short and gave Colgate the ball just 34 yards from paydirt. Three plays laterAsk dropped back and rifled a pass to Winn Anderson on a slant pattern that was good for 19 yards tothe seven. After two plays went nowhere, Ask sliced over tackle down to the one and on the next playRowe plunged over left guard for the TD and a 6-0 Colgate lead after the PAT try was blocked.

Brown then fought back with a vengeance, and starting from their 22 yard line after the kickoff theBears staged the fIrst sustained drive of the entire season against Colgate. Two big pass interferencepenalties helped the march, and with time running short in the half Joe Buonnano plowed fIve yards tothe Colgate one. With time left for one play Bob Chase slammed into a massive pileup at the right tacklespot, and when the officials pulled everyone off, the football rested just inches from the goal line andColgate's unscored upon defense was still alive.

In the second half Colgate opened up its offense, but again it was the defense that came up big for theRed Raiders when Bob Smith blocked a punt attempt by Chase that bounced out of the end zone for asafety and Colgate led 8-0. That's how it stood until late in the fourth quarter when Ask intercepted apass to give Colgate the ball on its 32 yard line. From there the Red Raiders began to pound the footballup the fIeld to a series of fIrst downs on spinners and reverses, until Samuel capped it off with a 10-yardrun over left tackle off a double reverse for the touchdown. The next time with the ball a Brown gambleon fourth down failed and gave Colgate the ball at the Bears' 36. A few plays later, with a number of

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Colgate reserves in the game, Howard Conroy lofted a 28-yard touchdown pass to Joe Bodganski toclose out the scoring in Colgate's brilliant 21-0 victory.

Just as predicted, Colgate was generally acclaimed the champion of the East by almost everyone. RobertKelley of the New York Times wrote that "there is no longer the slightest doubt about the right ofColgate to call its football team a great one." The Red Raiders had finished with a record of 9-0-0 andhad scored 264 points while allowing its opponents to tally exactly ZERO. Kelley added that the Colgateteam left the field "with dreams of the Rose Bowl and California shining before them and behind themone of the greatest records ofmodern years."

Yet a trip to Pasadena was not to be for the Red Raiders. Waiting out west was mighty SouthernCalifornia with a 9-0-0 record. Immediately the general consensus everywhere except in the East wasthat Michigan with the great Harry Newman was the team that should be taking on the Trojans. In fact,the Wolverines continued to practice while Midwestern newspapers raged on that the Big TenConference had to vote them an exemption for the post-season game. Apparently learning that Big Ten

officials were going to vote down therequest, USC quickly invited, notColgate, but the Pittsburgh Panthers tocome out west for New Years.

Pittsburgh, which had compiled an 8-0-2record against a rugged schedule, quicklyaccepted the invite to play USC. At thetime this happened there was virtually nosignificant stir or comment about it insports sections east of the Mississippi,and less than a week later when theColgate team was honored by 700 peopleattending the school's annual post-seasondinner, not a peep of complaint found itsway into the newspapers.

Colgate's schedule had unquestionablysuffered in comparison to Pitt's, the RedRaiders playing four minor opponentswhile its five major foes compiled only

average records for 1932 except for Brown and possibly NYU. Pittsburgh on the other hand played amonster schedule with only one minor opponent and had a number of very impressive wins, along witheveryone of their major foes having winning records for 1932. It was Andy Kerr who first made thefamous "unbeaten, untied, unscored upon and uninvited" quote at the 1932 Colgate football dinner, yet itwas not until years later that Allison Danzig, in his famous book American Football, really began to givethe saying some historical momentum with its implication that with their record the Red Raiders hadbelonged in the Rose Bowl against USc.

Years later Kerr would call his 1932 Colgate team "the fmest football unit that I have ever beenassociated with." Quite a statement by the legendary coach. Yet while this writer is certainly not a sportshistory "revisionist," I have to wonder why Pittsburgh was not declared the Eastern champion at thetime. Also, I think the Red Raiders may have been very fortunate not to get the bid to play SouthernCalifornia. Despite its talented squad, Pitt still was trampled 35-0 by the mighty Trojans.