Oberlin’s Gridiron Glory

A week or so back I was delighting in George Will’s annual disparagement of the Super Bowl and suggested that perhaps, when young George was at Princeton, he’d been humiliated by some football hearties, leaving him forever embittered, and suggested that if he had only gone to Oberlin, like me, where there are none such, he would be able to take America’s annual post New Year’s orgy more in stride. This prompted Larry Piper, a fellow ’67 man, to email me to the effect that, back in the day—way, way back in the day—Oberlin had been a football power, to the extent even of trouncing Ohio State, 2014 victor in the National College Championship Bowl, or whatever it’s called.

So, okay, Ohio State, congratulations. That was (or, rather, is) now, but let’s go back a few years. In 1892, Oberlin and Ohio State played twice. The result? Two Oberlin victories, 40-4 and 50-0, the latter humiliation occurring before the despairing hometown fans in Columbus. In 1893, Oberlin won, 38-10. In 1895? Twelve zip. In 1896? Sixteen zip. In 1897? Forty-four zip!

Things calmed down a little after that, but in 1901 the Yeomen (that’s what they’re called) were back on track, winning 6-zip. In 1904, 4-2. In 1909, 26-6. Remarkably, Oberlin even won in 1921, in a 7-6 heartbreaker,¹ in a year in which Ohio State went to the Rose Bowl (losing to “California”² 28-zip).

Larry tweaks me on the fact that my site doesn’t allow comments (I thought it did, but Tumblr ain’t exactly geezer-friendly³) and also congratulates me on not having posted any recent dumb-ass comments questioning the need to halt global warming. I still believe that it makes much more sense to learn to live with global warming than to spend trillions trying to halt it, but Larry has a Ph.D. in chemistry from MIT while I have a BA in English from Oberlin, so you be the judge.