scholarship and intellectual interests both in the classroom and in their own literary exercises which were still a feature of fraternity life. He saw them also as instruments for supporting high standards of discipline and developing among their members manners, courtesy and gentlemanly conduct.
In athletics, as in fraternity life, Colgate reflected developments to be found in other American colleges. Baseball continued. to attract support; the first track team was organized in 1892; and basketball began as an interclass sport in 1899. But it was the introduction of football, which had been rapidly gaining popularity throughout the country, that marked a radical departure from the old pattern. John W. Peddie, ’94, a freshman who had played the game in preparatory school, is credited with organizing the first team in 1890. It was difficult to find eleven men willing to join in the new game since probably no more than three among all the undergraduates had ever played it before, he recalled nearly 40 years later. The first season two games were scheduled-Hamilton College and St. John’s Military Academy at Manlius. Colgate lost to Hamilton, 14 to 28, a score one spectator interpreted as most encouraging since the losers had little over two weeks’ practice and no “trainer”
while their opponents had played all fall and under a coach’s direction. Colgate won the St. John’s game by 14 to 6. The captain was Charles de Woody, student in the Seminary in the Class of 1892.
The 1891 season saw a decided improvement with Colgate winning all five games scheduled. They included the first encounter with Syracuse University with a score of 22 to 16. Contributing in no small measure to the team’s success were the efforts of Samuel Colgate, Jr., the first coach. He had graduated in 1891 from Yale where he had been on a class football team and had come to Colgate that autumn to study in the Seminary. During the 1896 season the team had its first professional coach, Aaron J. Colnon, Cornell, ’93; a training table was provided and athletic tax to defray expenses was introduced.
Control of athletics had rested with the specific teams and their managers and the Athletic Association. In 1893, however, the Association, apparently in a move to re-allocate responsibility, established an Advisory Committee consisting of representatives of faculty, alumni, residents of Hamilton, the three upper classes of the College, and the managers of baseball, football, and track. They were to raise funds,
