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Topic: OHIO’S legendary 1897 victory over WVU

Topic: OHIO’S legendary 1897 victory over WVU

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OhioCatFan
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Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 14,817

Status: Offline

OHIO’S legendary 1897 victory over WVU

Posted: 8/29/2025 10:32:10 AM

After Ohio’s victory over WVU in Athens in 1897 a reporter for the Athens Messenger & Herald was inspired to write a poem. Years ago I discovered this poem while doing research on the reporting of 19th Century football. I later placed it on Ohio’s football Wikipedia page. I thought it appropriate to reproduce it here the week of another Mountaineer trip to Athens. Hopefully, in 2025 the Bobcats will put up another effort worthy of such a literary accolade:

And they came and they were conquer'd
With swift dispatch and ease,
And they felt that twinging sorrow which
In vain they could appease
Thought not that woe awaited them
Across Ohio's stream.
And like the poet found that things
Aren't ever what they seem.

And they came from fair Virginia
The place of Morgantown.
Where swift Monogahela flows
Past mountains looking down:
Proud and boasting came they hither
To wrestle for the goals
Which they found almost as quickly
As disembodied souls.

Badly battered left they homeward
In vain could they conceal
The awful havoc of their bucks
'Gainst O.U.'s pointed steel:
And they left here sad but wiser
Of many manly tricks,
For the gridiron here is hot
As Athens politics.

The only BLSS Certified Hypocrite on BA

"It is better to be an optimist and be proven a fool than to be a pessimist and be proven right."

Note: My avatar is the national colors of the 78th Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry, which are now preserved in a climate controlled vault at the Ohio History Connection. Learn more about the old 78th at: http://www.78ohio.org

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