Phil Connell

Phil Connell
Born William Phillip Connell
(1874-08-24)August 24, 1874
Nashville, Tennessee
Died February 13, 1932(1932-02-13) (aged 57)
Mexico
Occupation business man

College football career

Vanderbilt Commodores
Position Fullback/Halfback
Class 1896
Career history
College Vanderbilt (18921897)
Career highlights and awards
  • SIAA championship (1897)
  • All-time Vanderbilt first team (1912)
  • All-Southern sub (1895)

William Phillip "Phil" Connell (August 24, 1874 February 13, 1932) was a college football player and later a prominent business man of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.[1]

Vanderbilt University

He was a running back for the Vanderbilt Commodores football team of Vanderbilt University.[2] Considered one of the sport's early greats,[3][4] he was picked for an all-time Vanderbilt team in 1912.[5] Connell was captain of the 1895 and 1896 teams.

1892

The oldest team in the memory of Grantland Rice was the 1892 team. Rice claimed Connell then would be a good player in any era.[6]

1894

Connel featured in Vanderbilt's first ever defeat of Ole Miss in 1894, giving the school its only loss of the season by the score of 40 to 0.[7]

1895

Connell was selected as a substitute for the All-Southern team.[3]

1897

He and captain Howard Boogher dove to recover the ball after the victory in the school's rivalry game with Sewanee in 1897.[8] Vanderbilt allowed no points on the season and split a claim to the championship of the south when it held Virginia to a scoreless tie.[9] Casper Whitney said he was the South's finest football player.[10]

Bachelor of Ugliness

One of the highest honors that a student could achieve was the "Bachelor of Ugliness," a title given to the male undergraduate student believed to be most representative of ideal young manhood an the class's most popular member, devised by Professor William H. Dodd in 1885. In 1898, that honor was given to Connell.

References

  1. Vanderbilt University. "Non Graduate Members of '96". Vanderbilt University Quarterly 6: 141–143.
  2. cf. Vanderbilt University. "The "Famous" Class of '96". Vanderbilt University Quarterly 6: 246–248.
  3. 1 2 "[No title]". The Daily Tar Heel. April 18, 1896. p. 4. Retrieved March 14, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  4. cf. "High School Defeats Normal". The Courier-Journal. November 30, 1900. p. 6. Retrieved April 12, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  5. Vanderbilt University. Vanderbilt University Quarterly 13. p. 56.
  6. Grantland Rice (November 24, 1937). "Two of Year's Outstanding Games in South This Week". Lincoln Evening Journal. p. 12. Retrieved May 13, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Seventh Province". The Sigma Chi Quarterly: 167–168. 1895.
  8. Bill Traughber (September 14, 2011). "Vandy Students' 1897 cheer banned".
  9. Bill Traughber (October 11, 2006). "Vandy Shuts Out 1897 Opponents".
  10. "The Football Teams of the South". The Courier-Journal. October 2, 1898. p. 18. Retrieved August 14, 2008 via Newspapers.com.

External links

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