The 1925 Project (Part 2)

In Part 1 of this series, we looked back at the six New England state schools that played college football in 1925. Today, the spotlight shines on the non-Ivy, non-Moo U Division I teams. Part 3 will look at the Ivy League, back when Ivy football meant big-time football.

Boston College

High point: The Eagles ended the season with a 17-6 win over hated rival Holy Cross in front of 47,000 fans at Braves Field, back when BC-Holy Cross was one of the highlights of the New England sports calendar.

Low point: After a 5-0 start, BC fell to (distant) future Big East rival West Virginia to spoil any dreams of an undefeated season.

Other trivia: BC played its entire eight-game schedule at Braves Field. … Left halfback Jack Cronin went to play for the NFL’s Providence Steam Roller, who are the answer to a trivia question: What was New England’s only NFL championship team before Belichick and Brady came along?

Uniforms: Check out the Princeton-style striping on the sleeves. Otherwise, pretty basic stuff here.

Boston University

High point: The Terriers (or Pioneers; I’ve seen both names used for this season) defeated Providence 14-6 on Nov. 14 for their only win of the year.

Low point: All five BU losses were one-sided, but I can’t imagine a 51-7 loss to city rival Boston College was very fun.

Other trivia: The season was the fifth and final one for head coach Charles Whelan (three straight one-win seasons will do that to you). Whelan, a graduate of the Tufts School of Medicine, had been a chief radiologist and head of x-rays at multiple hospitals when not coaching.

Uniforms: I discussed the Terriers’ uniforms in this post. Note their use of white helmets when most other teams wore varying shades of tan and brown. Like their Commonwealth Avenue rivals, BU used Princeton-esque stripes on the sleeves.

Colgate

High point: On Nov. 14, Colgate defeated arch-rival Syracuse 19-6 in front of 30,000 fans at rain-soaked Archbold Stadium en route to its first undefeated season since 1892. All-American halfback Eddie Tyron scored two touchdowns and added a PAT.

Low point: A pair of ties against Lafayette (7-7) and Brown (14-14) were Colgate’s only blemishes on the season. 

Other trivia: Tyron, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, scored 15 touchdowns and 21 PATs in 1925. Two years earlier, he scored seven TDs (still a school record) against Niagara. He was later a teammate of Red Grange on the New York Yankees of the original AFL and lead the one-and-done league in scoring in 1926.

Colgate was one of the powerhouses of this era, as touched upon in this post, especially after Andy Kerr became head coach in 1929. Dick Harlow, the coach from 1922-25, went 24-9-3 before leaving for something called Western Maryland (now McDaniel, a D-III school). He also coached Harvard from 1935-42 and 1946-47, going 45-39-7.

Uniforms: Pretty basic stuff here. Nary a front patch or friction strip to be found.

Delaware

High point: The Blue Hens defeated Upsala 24-7 on the strength of two blocked kicks for touchdowns. (Upsala, which closed in 1995, sounds like the name of a place you'd be sent to without a paddle.)

Low point: Delaware ended the season with back-to-back shutout losses.

Other trivia: Frazer Field, the Hens’ home field in 1925, opened in 1913 and I believe is still used today in some capacity or another. ... Delaware may be jumping to FBS in 2025, but the 1925 schedule was littered with decidedly small-time fare, including Ursinus, St. John's of Maryland, Juniata, Haverford and Dickinson.

Uniforms: Again, very basic, but easy to figure out from my end.

Holy Cross

High point: Holy Cross’ 7-6 win over Harvard on Oct. 17 marked the Crusaders’ first-ever win over the Crimson after nine losses dating to 1904.

Low point: BC’s high point, of course, would have to be Holy Cross’ low point.

Other trivia: This was the first Holy Cross team to bear the “Crusaders” moniker. As I noted in the last post, Vermont and New Hampshire added their current nicknames in 1926; I get the impression that the concept of schools having an official mascot took off during this period. According to Wikipedia (which means you know you’re getting the straight dope), Crusaders won a student poll over Chiefs and Sagamores.

Look at those numbers! They look perfect!

Uniforms: I noticed looking through photos how professional the numbers look on Holy Cross’ jerseys — big, sharp block digits. So many other teams in this period had a decidedly amateur look.

Providence

High point: Yup, Providence College — better known for its feats in basketball and hockey — once had a football team. On Oct. 17, the Friars beat St. John’s — another future basketball power — 14-6 at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field, speaking of entities not known for football.

Low point: PC lost to New England Jesuit rivals Boston College and Holy Cross by a combined count of 73-0.

Heck Allen is all like, "Helmets are for wimps, brain cells be damned."

Other trivia: PC was the anti-BC in another regard — the Friars played all nine games on the road. … Halfbacks Joe McGee, Junie Bride and Heck Allen are members of the Providence College Athletic Hall of Fame. 

Uniforms: I discussed them in the BU post linked above. All the Friars appeared to have friction strips and front patches to help grip the football better..