Interesting. My college’s motto was Spera in Deo, but our team name was the Flying Dutchman.
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Billy Rojas Sent: Sunday, September 2, 2018 12:53 PM To: Centroids Discussions <[email protected]> Cc: Billy Rojas <[email protected]> Subject: [RC] Fighting Methodists The 1888 USC Methodists football team was an American football <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football> team that represented the University of Southern California <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Southern_California> during the 1888 college football season <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1888_college_football_season> . The team competed as an independent under coaches Henry H. Goddard <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_H._Goddard> and Frank H. Suffel <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frank_H._Suffel&action=edit&redlink=1> , compiling a 2–0 record.[1] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1888_USC_Methodists_football_team#cite_note-1> USC first fielded a football team in 1888. Playing its first game on November 14 of that year against the Alliance Athletic Club, USC achieved a 16–0 victory. Frank Suffel and Henry H. Goddard <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_H._Goddard> were playing coaches for the first team which was put together by quarterback Arthur Carroll, who in turn volunteered to make the pants for the team and later became a tailor.[7] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USC_Trojans_football#cite_note-USC2004MediaGuide201-7> USC faced its first collegiate opponent the following year in fall 1889, playing St. Vincent's College <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyola_Marymount_University> to a 40–0 victory.[7] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USC_Trojans_football#cite_note-USC2004MediaGuide201-7> In 1893, USC joined the Intercollegiate Football Association of Southern California (the forerunner of the SCIAC <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCIAC> ), which was composed of USC, Occidental College <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occidental_College> , Throop Polytechnic Institute (Cal Tech) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Institute_of_Technology> , and Chaffey College <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaffey_College> . Pomona College <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomona_College> was invited to enter, but declined to do so. An invitation was also extended to Los Angeles High School <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_High_School> .[8] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USC_Trojans_football#cite_note-8> Before they were named Trojans in 1912, USC athletic teams were called the Methodists (occasionally the "Fighting Methodists"), as well as the Wesleyans. During the early years, limitations in travel and the scarcity of major football-playing colleges on the West Coast limited its rivalries to local Southern Californian colleges and universities. During this period USC played regular series against Occidental <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occidental_College> , Caltech <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Institute_of_Technology> , Whittier <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittier_College> , Pomona <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomona_College> and Loyola <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyola_Marymount_Lions> . The first USC team to play outside of Southern California went to Stanford University <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_Cardinal_football> on November 4, 1905, where they were trampled 16–0 by the traditional West Coast powerhouse. While the teams would not meet again until 1918 (Stanford dropped football for rugby union <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union> during the intervening years), this was also USC's first game against a future Pac-12 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-12_Conference> conference opponent and the beginning of its oldest rivalry. During this period USC also played its first games against other future Pac-12 rivals, including Oregon State <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_State_Beavers_football> (1914), California <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Golden_Bears_football> (1915), Oregon <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Ducks_football> (1915) and Arizona <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Wildcats_football> (1916). Between 1911–1913, USC followed the example of California and Stanford and dropped football in favor of rugby union <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union> . The results were disastrous, as USC was soundly defeated by more experienced programs while the school itself experienced financial reverses; it was during this period that Owen R. Bird, a sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Times> , coined the nickname "Trojans", which he wrote was "owing to the terrific handicaps under which the athletes, coaches and managers of the university were laboring and against the overwhelming odds of larger and better equipped rivals... ------------------ Which leads to the question: What if other colleges had religion-inspired team names? Some choices are obvious- Notre Dame Catholics Baylor Baptists Harvard Congregationalists BYU Mormons Other possibilities- Colorado Vajrayana Buddhists Oregon Agnostics Ohio State Protestants ASU Sunny-disposition Christians University of California / Berkeley Atheists Columbia University Reform Jews University of Illinois Fighting Presbyterians University of Minnesota Fighting Lutherans Rutgers Hindus UMass Snooty Episcopalians This would make for some interesting sports pages headlines Mormons trash Baptists 38-7 Snooty Episcopalians squeak past Hindus in close contest, 21-20 Reform Jews win in overtime against Hindus, 27- 23 Fighting Lutherans smash Sunny-disposition Christians with 4th quarter rally Well, this is amusing to me, anyway.... :-/ -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
