Chapter 54

National Coverage of the Game

Headlines all over the country appeared in Sunday newspapers on the morning of October 30, and for days afterward, announcing the totally "amazing" fact that Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, had defeated the mighty Harvard Crimson.

                                                                                                   Boston "Sunday Post"

From the New York "Herald"

Louisville "Herald"- NOTHING SANCTIMONOUS IN PLAY OF "PRAYING COLONELS"

The Boston "Sunday Post" had a similar headline.

The Louisville "Courier-Journal" ran a large, all-column, wide-angle photograph of the Centre campus, with Old Main in the middle, and superimposed on the photo was a large C E N T RE spelled out. Filling out the inside of the letters were students. It was really quite a remarkable effort, as there were over 100 individuals in each of the letters, or nearly half of the student body. 


In Hanover, New Hampshire, a young man named Russell Sanborn Harmon, Dartmouth class of 1922, clipped the headlines out of his paper and carefully pasted them in his scrapbook.

STADIUM VICTORY

OUTPLAYED HARVARD MOST OF TIME IN WINNING 6-O

                           McMILLIN AND ROBERTS STARS OF TEAM, SAYS W.D. SULLIVAN

The Associated Press and NEA wire services provided their various subscriber newspapers with coverage of the game.

Denver "Post"- CENTRE, THE PREYING, NOT PRAYING COLONELS

From the Chicago "Sunday Tribune"

       CENTRE PLAYED "POSSUM" ACCOMPLISHED WHAT YALE, PRINCETON, PENN STATE COULDN'T
                                                                                               Philadelphia "Inquirer"                         

Des Moines "Sunday Register"

The game generated a banner headline even in Iowa!

The M.I.T "Tech," rather gleefully covered the game and reported under the heading-                                                                                                                                          CENTRE GIVES  HARVARD FIRST DEFEAT IN YEARS

Louisville "Herald"- "FIGHTINEST SQUAD I EVER SAW" - ROPER

Louisville "Evening Post"- CENTRE'S LINE OUTCHARGED HARVARD

Philadelphia "Public Ledger"- CENTRE'S VICTORY A HEALTHY EFFECT ON THE SPORT

Howard Reynolds wrote more of his impressions of the game in the Boston "Post" under the heading:

CONFIDENCE AND ABILITY AND WONDERFUL SPIRIT CARRIED CENTRE THRU

The Boston "Globe" summarized up the game with a cartoon from Gene Mack.

The cartoonist, Thornton Fisher, created a large depiction of the highlights of the game for New York's "The Evening World."

"Disappointment" was in Harvard's performance, apparently

The Washington "Post"- McMILLIN SHINES IN COLONELS' TRIUMPH

From the Oakland "Tribune"

Charleston ( W. Va. ) "Daily Mail"- HARVARD MEETS HER WATERLOO IN LITTLE CENTER COLLEGE

( One would have thought that after Centre beat West Virginia in Charleston in 1919, the correct spelling of Centre would have been known, but "Center" it was.)

The NEA supplied a cartoon to its subscribers entitled  "They'll Never Forget This One!" in praise of Bo's winning touchdown which was carried all over the country.

Syracuse "Herald"- CENTRE BEATS PROUD HARVARD 6-O

Fort Worth "Star-Telegram"

From the Pittsburgh "Gazette Times" 

Ogden, Ut. "Standard-Examiner"- CENTRE DOWNS HARVARD  

Galveston "Daily Herald"- CENTRE WINS FROM HARVARD KENTUCKIANS BREAK                                                                                                                  40 YEAR INTERSECTIONAL RECORD OF HARVARD

 ( The Galveston story was on the front page and continued into the sports section. The paper was absolutely correct in pointing out the fact that Harvard had never lost an intersectional game, which would have been defined as having been played against a team outside of the East. It was another of the "amazing " facts which sports fans across the country were finding out as they drank their coffee and read their Sunday papers that October 30 morning, so many years ago.)

A lengthy headline across the entire upper portion of the sports section of the Los Angeles "Times"-

CENTRE DEMOLISHES HARVARD AND REVERSES DEFEAT HANDED BY CRIMSON LAST YEAR

And so it went, as an enormous amount of newsprint was devoted to the Centre­ Harvard game of 1921. Finally, it seems appropriate to share one more headline which demonstrates how much pride there was in the South in learning of Centre's win.

The Augusta, Georgia "Herald" ran a 2 inch high, all-column headline in big, bold, black letters across the top of its front page. It read:

The key was that the editors wanted the readers to know that it was a SOUTHERN football team that slew the giant from the East. In smaller letters, more details were provided.

                    CRIMSON SUFFERS DEFEAT AT HANDS OF CENTRE'S "PRAYING COLONELS"

Army received a telegram from Joe Hunt, a student at Oxford University, congratulating the team on its victory.

Dr. Ganfield received a telegram from Pentriss M. Terry who wasn’t even a graduate of Centre. Terry was the American Relief Administrator who was based in Vienna and wired-Vienna received most important news emanated from America last seven years. Centre beat Harvard! 

Telegrams continued pouring from across the state and nation. The Chief posted them on the bulletin board on the first floor of Old Main and then later had them taken to K.C.W. and posted on a corkboard there.

                                           One of many telegrams sent to the players and Centre after the win over Harvard, this one to Bo