Skip to Main Content

Greene Connections Blog

The Man Who Brought Football to Waynesburg College

by Candice Buchanan on 2023-03-15T18:34:00-04:00 in Case studies, Local history, Sports, Waynesburg College Alumni | 0 Comments

(Originally published in Greene Speak, June 2006.)

Thomas Davies Whittles, Waynesburg College, Class of 1896; item no. WAYN_AN001_1896_0019, Waynesburg University Paul R. Stewart Museum Collection, Greene Connections Archives Project.

In the fall of 1894, a 20-year-old transfer student arrived on the Waynesburg College campus bringing with him a passion for a young and still developing pastime.

Thomas Davies Whittles, the man who brought football to Waynesburg College, was born in Bardsley, Lancashire, England, on December 27, 1873, to Robert and Emma (Davies) Whittles. When he was ten years old, he immigrated to the United States with his mother and sister, landing in New York on May 21, 1884, after a voyage aboard the ship Helvetia.

Thomas was privileged to receive a preparatory school education at an institution where football was already being played. Outside of the ivy-league schools that had developed the game, football was only being introduced into a wider selection of colleges and universities in the 1890s, and Waynesburg, for its part, had neither received nor encouraged any such introduction, until Thomas came to town.

Football was being denounced by many as an amoral and violent game. Few had actually seen the game played and even fewer understood its rules, so most of the anti-football sentiment came from rumors and ignorance about what really was involved. On the other hand, there was some reason for concern, at least regarding physical health. The sport was still being refined with few official regulations yet adopted and little or no protective equipment available. Death and injury were a reality of the game.

Alfred Brashear Miller, Waynesburg College President 1859-1899; item no. WAYN_AN001_1853_0007, Waynesburg University Paul R. Stewart Museum Collection, Greene Connections Archives Project.

So, when Thomas Whittles arrived at Waynesburg College determined to play this notorious sport, he had more than one challenge to overcome. He first raised the $5.25 to buy a football. Then Whittles began to recruit his classmates and teach the basics of the game. The real challenge came when it was time to convince Alfred Brashear Miller, much respected President of Waynesburg College, to permit an official team to form. In The Waynesburg College Story 1849-1974, author William H. Duesenberry recaptures this task, “Whittles and Miller had many private talks, with Miller stressing moral philosophy, and Whittles instructing him about the game.”

In the end, both men were apparently persuasive. Miller allowed for a football team to form and Whittles in a few years' time would graduate into an esteemed Presbyterian minister.

In the fall of 1895, the first Waynesburg College football team took to the field. Duesenberry points out, “Whittles felt that Miller wanted to give football a chance, because five members of the squad were ministerial students.” With a minister-to-be as coach (and player) and five more minister-to-be men as teammates it became harder to make a moral argument against the game.

At the side of Thomas Whittles, was another Thomas playing a major role in the team’s development and continued existence. Thomas Spencer Crago, an 1892 Waynesburg College graduate, stepped up to serve as team manager. His presence undoubtedly added another degree of endorsement to the controversial sport. Crago was to become a celebrated military leader and United States Congressman.

The first Waynesburg College football team, 1895.
BACK ROW – Thomas Spencer Crago [team manager], Unidentified, Thomas Davies Whittles [credited with bringing the sport to Waynesburg], Jesse Hunnell Hazlett [credited with the first-ever touchdown for the team];
MIDDLE ROW - Unidentified, Unidentified, Unidentified [holding football], Unidentified, Unidentified;
FRONT ROW – Unidentified, Frank Sellers Ullom, Unidentified, Unidentified, Unidentified.
Item no. GCHS-AN028-0006, Greene County Historical Society Collection, Greene Connections Archives Project.

On December 4, 1895, the Waynesburg Republican gave one of its earliest football recaps, “A game of foot ball was had on the Fair Grounds here on Thanksgiving Day, between the Washington boys and the home team. The game was an interesting one, and at times very exciting. Those who understand the rules of foot ball, say the game was a good one, well contested. The majority of the onlookers, however, ourself included, knew nothing whatever about the rules of the game, and were reminded more of a pig-fight in a hog-wallow than anything else, though it was interesting in the extreme. The recent rains had softened the ground, and after twenty-two young men had rolled and tumbled and dragged each other through four or five inches of very soft mud for an hour or two, the result was announced four to nothing in favor of Waynesburg….”

So began football in Waynesburg.

Jesse Hunnell Hazlett, Waynesburg College, Class of 1896; item no. WAYN_AN001_1896_0003, Waynesburg University Paul R. Stewart Museum Collection, Greene Connections Archives Project.

Thomas Whittles had only a short football career at Waynesburg College, graduating in 1896. Capped and gowned with him, was teammate Jesse Hunnell Hazlett, the man to score the first-ever touchdown for the College team.

Thomas attended Princeton Theological Seminary from which he received his degree in 1899 and was ordained in October of that year. He married Sarah Canning, of Minnesota, on July 16, 1902 and with her raised two children. After Sarah’s death, Thomas was united in marriage with a Greene County native and former Waynesburg College classmate, Anna Neonette Iams (Class of 1897). Thomas and Nettie were a fitting match, as Nettie, while still known as “Miss Iams,” served as the very first basketball coach for the newly developed women’s team at Waynesburg College at the turn of the century.

In April 1943, when Waynesburg College was trying to raise money selling war bonds via a football analogy that pitted students vs. alumni, Thomas’s name and status as the “father of football at Waynesburg College” and “our first coach” were used to help in the fundraising.


Sources:

  • Dusenberry, William Howard. Waynesburg College Story, 1849-1974. 1975: Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio.
  • “Introduction: A Brief History of College Football.” Article. College Football Encyclopedia. footballencyclopedia.com/cfeintro.htm : 2012.
  • Minnesota. Department of Health, Section of Vital Statisics Registration. Death Certificates. Minnesota Historical Society Library, St. Paul.
  • “New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957.” Digital images. Ancestry.com : 2012.
  • Pennsylvania. Greene County. Marriage License Dockets. County Clerk’s Office, Courthouse, Waynesburg.
  • Sitherwood, Frances Grimes. Throckmorton Family History: Being the Record of the Throckmortons in the United States of America with Cognate Branches. Bloomington, Illinois: Pantagraph Printing & Stationary Co., 1929.
  • Waynesburg College Alumni Office, compiler. Waynesburg College Alumni Directory 1966. Waynesburg, Pennsylvania: Sutton Printing Co., 1966.
  • Waynesburg College football team, 1895; item no. GCHS-AN028-0006, Greene County Historical Society Collection, Greene Connections Archives Project.
  • Waynesburg Republican, Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, 4 December 1895.

 Add a Comment

0 Comments.

  Recent Posts



Flu 1918: Greene County, Pennsylvania
The flu epidemic of 1918 impacted Greene County, Pennsylvania families in ways that are hauntingly familiar today as the world fights a similar battle in 2020.
The Long and Sad Goodbye: World War I Families Wait to Bury Their Fallen Soldiers
On Memorial Day 1920, most WWI families were still waiting to bring their sons home for burial. Highlighting the circumstances of Greene County, Pennsylvania's fallen soldiers, this is a brief explanation of the reasons for the long delays.
The Man Who Brought Football to Waynesburg College
In the fall of 1894, a 20-year-old transfer student arrived on the Waynesburg College campus bringing with him a passion for a new pastime. He raised the $5.25 to buy a football and then began to recruit his classmates.
Love Stories in Shades of Greene
Romance genealogy-style, as we share the tales of courtship from a handful of Greene County, Pennsylvania family histories.
That's Our Henry!
With a face a descendant is ready to love, Henry Bowler’s photograph prompted a search that added a “peculiar” and remarkable personality to his preserved pose.

  Subscribe



Enter your e-mail address to receive notifications of new posts by e-mail.


  Archive



  Follow Us



  Facebook
  Instagram
  Return to Blog
This post is closed for further discussion.

title
Loading...