Post by Clueless Fan on Aug 14, 2017 10:36:14 GMT -5
www.msgr.com/articles/2017/08/11/mercer-football-getting-its-%E2%80%9Cbear%E2%80%9Dings-pt-1-jake-mcmillian
"The university participated in its first official contest against UGA in Athens on January 30, 1892. The Baptists, as Mercer’s team was originally called, battled the Red and Black, who carried a goat named “Sir William” as its team mascot, in the first football game in the history of the state of Georgia. The contest was also the first football game in the history of the Deep South. I imagine that the University of Georgia would have a much more peculiar fan base had it used “Billy Goats” as its team nickname. It actually has quite a nice ring to it. Nonetheless, UGA fans, I will allow you to have a moment of immense pride. The Red and Black throttled the Baptists 50-0 to claim the first gridiron battle in our state’s history. The use of a bear as Mercer’s team nickname is also attributed to a UGA player. During that inaugural game, a Georgia player saw a Mercer player erupt through the line of scrimmage, and he is quoted as saying, “Whence cometh that bear?” On November 5, 1892, Mercer hosted Georgia Tech at Macon’s Central City Park, earning its first victory in program history by a 12-6 score. To add insult to injury, Tech fans, not only did UGA win the first game in state history but Mercer also defeated your beloved Yellow Jackets in Georgia Tech’s first official football game. From that moment on, the program experienced a pretty good history in the infant days of college football. The school hired its first paid football coach, E.E. Tarr, in 1906. In 1925, the university added Centennial Stadium, which later became Porter Stadium, for a cost of $100,000. Though this number may seem miniscule in comparison to the coliseums of modern sports, it was quite an expensive venture in 1925 (numerical equivalent to $1,395,560.69 in 2017). The Bears also began to develop rivalries of sorts. Mercer dominated the Florida Gators in their first five matchups, shutting out their opponents in all five games (winning four of them and tying one)."
"The university participated in its first official contest against UGA in Athens on January 30, 1892. The Baptists, as Mercer’s team was originally called, battled the Red and Black, who carried a goat named “Sir William” as its team mascot, in the first football game in the history of the state of Georgia. The contest was also the first football game in the history of the Deep South. I imagine that the University of Georgia would have a much more peculiar fan base had it used “Billy Goats” as its team nickname. It actually has quite a nice ring to it. Nonetheless, UGA fans, I will allow you to have a moment of immense pride. The Red and Black throttled the Baptists 50-0 to claim the first gridiron battle in our state’s history. The use of a bear as Mercer’s team nickname is also attributed to a UGA player. During that inaugural game, a Georgia player saw a Mercer player erupt through the line of scrimmage, and he is quoted as saying, “Whence cometh that bear?” On November 5, 1892, Mercer hosted Georgia Tech at Macon’s Central City Park, earning its first victory in program history by a 12-6 score. To add insult to injury, Tech fans, not only did UGA win the first game in state history but Mercer also defeated your beloved Yellow Jackets in Georgia Tech’s first official football game. From that moment on, the program experienced a pretty good history in the infant days of college football. The school hired its first paid football coach, E.E. Tarr, in 1906. In 1925, the university added Centennial Stadium, which later became Porter Stadium, for a cost of $100,000. Though this number may seem miniscule in comparison to the coliseums of modern sports, it was quite an expensive venture in 1925 (numerical equivalent to $1,395,560.69 in 2017). The Bears also began to develop rivalries of sorts. Mercer dominated the Florida Gators in their first five matchups, shutting out their opponents in all five games (winning four of them and tying one)."