Tag Archives: Oscar C. Anderson

New team sports added (p. 281)

Student Army Training Corps, Presentation of Colors, World War I

By 1922 five sports had been added to the four-football, baseball, basketball and track-which had official team recognition; they were lacrosse, soccer, hockey, tennis and a rifle team. That they are all outdoor sports suggests the inadequacy of the gymnasium which was built when Colgate had about 300 students in the College, a figure which had more than doubled by 1922.

Football easily dominated the sports scene. Pre-eminent among the coaches was Lawrence H. Bankhart, a Dartmouth man, trained there under Frank Cavanaugh, one of the greatest football mentors. Not yet twenty-one when he came to Colgate in 1910, he quickly demonstrated his control of the players whom he taught with great skill and from whom he extracted every effort, physical and mental, of which they were capable. His period of service covered the seasons 1910, 1913-16, and 1919. It was under his coaching that the renowned teams of 1913, 1916, and 1919 achieved fame. Five of his players were chosen AII-American-Ellery C. Huntington, Jr., ’14, quarterback; Earl C. Abel, ’16, tackle; Oscar C. “Oc” Anderson, ’18, quarterback; Clarence E. “Steamer” Horning, ’17, tackle; and D. Belford “Belf” West, ’18, tackle. West was named All-American twice, in 1916 and 1919. Assisting Bankhart in his last season was Ellery C. Huntington, one of his protégés and the son of the Professor of Physical Education, who