1895 Tennessee Volunteers football team
Encyclopedia
The 1895 Tennessee Volunteers football team unofficially represented the University of Tennessee
in the 1895 college football season
. In October 1894, the Athletic Association resolved to drop varsity football and look forward to baseball
in the spring. After the humiliating 1893 season with two wins and four imposing defeats, only two athletes willing to admit they had played on the 1893 team returned to campus in 1894. To complicate matters further, the practice field, located just west of the main entrance to the Hill, was being graded and improved.
Soon after this decision, W. B. Stokely, a UT senior who transferred from Wake Forest University
, persuaded a group of students to form a team. Stokely, who was elected captain, gave encouragement and direction to the other players. Even though the institution chose not to be represented officially on the gridiron, Stokely and his unofficial team kept football interest alive during this period when almost certainly it otherwise would have been allowed to lapse completely.
These unofficial games, referred to as "The Lost Years" are not included in NCAA
statistics or in official University of Tennessee won-lost records.
1895 was the second and final student-coached team.
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
in the 1895 college football season
1895 college football season
The 1895 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing Penn and Yale as national champions....
. In October 1894, the Athletic Association resolved to drop varsity football and look forward to baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
in the spring. After the humiliating 1893 season with two wins and four imposing defeats, only two athletes willing to admit they had played on the 1893 team returned to campus in 1894. To complicate matters further, the practice field, located just west of the main entrance to the Hill, was being graded and improved.
Soon after this decision, W. B. Stokely, a UT senior who transferred from Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University is a private, coeducational university in the U.S. state of North Carolina, founded in 1834. The university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina, the state capital. The Reynolda Campus, the university's main campus, is...
, persuaded a group of students to form a team. Stokely, who was elected captain, gave encouragement and direction to the other players. Even though the institution chose not to be represented officially on the gridiron, Stokely and his unofficial team kept football interest alive during this period when almost certainly it otherwise would have been allowed to lapse completely.
These unofficial games, referred to as "The Lost Years" are not included in NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
statistics or in official University of Tennessee won-lost records.
1895 was the second and final student-coached team.