Connecticut Aggies (Huskies), 1919

The 1919 season should have been a happy one for the University of Connecticut's football program. After all, the Aggies (their name before Huskies was adopted in the 1930s) were back on the field after sitting out the last two seasons because of World War I, and like the rest of America, they badly wanted was a "return to normalcy."

Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

Gardner Dow was a Connecticut sophomore and a veteran of the U.S. Navy Reserve who was supposed to miss the Aggies' season opener Sept. 27 at New Hampshire with a bad ankle, but he decided to play anyway. During either the third or fourth quarter, depending on your source, Dow launched a flying tackle at New Hampshire ballcarrier Earl Farmer, who had been tripped up by the Aggies' Eddie Vorhees. Dow and Farmer collided in midair, and Dow's head struck Farmer's knee. Farmer got up; Dow did not. He died that night without regaining consciousness.

Newspaper reports on the death of Gardner Dow.

Three days later, classes and all other school activities were canceled while memorial services were held for Dow in his hometown of New Haven. On Oct. 6, the school renamed the field in his honor; Gardner Dow Athletic Fields, which housed several sports on campus, remained UConn's gridiron home until 1953.

The Aggies voted to continue the season in Dow's honor, and perhaps not surprisingly, they did not play well, losing their first six games before season-ending wins over Boston University and Rhode Island gave them a 2-6 record. Dow's death was college football's only on-field fatality of 1919; while the sport had come a long way toward cleaning up the game following the disastrous 1905 season, when 19 players reportedly died from on-field injuries, Dow served as a reminder that in football, danger is always right around the corner.

***

A group shot and a team shot of the 1919 "Aggies."

Connecticut's uniforms were typical fare for the era, with Princeton-style stripes down the sleeves. I can't tell if the Aggies wore numbers on the back based on the handful of existent photos, so for now they will be left blank. A couple years later, Connecticut decided to wear orange uniforms to stand out from blue-clad foes such as New Hampshire, Maine and Trinity.

UConn's 1920 Nutmeg yearbook was dedicated to the memory of Gardner Dow.