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Topic: 120th Anniversary of Legendary OHIO victory

Topic: 120th Anniversary of Legendary OHIO victory

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OhioCatFan
General User

Member Since: 12/20/2004
Location: Athens, OH
Post Count: 14,379

Status: Offline

120th Anniversary of Legendary OHIO victory

Posted: 11/10/2017 6:30:21 PM

I thought that I would post to call your attention to the fact that this week marks the 120th Anniversary of a very interesting football contest that took place in Athens between OHIO and West Virginia. What made this game so interesting is that it moved a local journalist to put pen to paper and write a poem that commemorated and immortalized that OHIO victory.

Here's just a little background, as well as the poem. The 1897 season, which produced the best record of any of the 19th Century campaigns, started with two straight losses�to Marietta College and Cincinnati. The team then reeled off seven straight with victories over Muskingum College, Dennison College, Ohio Medical University, West Virginia University, Otterbein College, and Marietta College. The home victory over WVU inspired this wonderful poem that appeared in The Athens Messenger and Herald newspaper on Nov. 11, 1897:

�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

Mark Lembright '85
General User

Member Since: 8/22/2010
Location: Highland Heights, OH
Post Count: 2,460

Status: Offline