1

Kelsie Cage
Writ. 1133
April 2011
Research Paper

The End to the Pioneer’s Football Team

University of Denver’s football team started with 11 men on the field and only a

few years later they collected a full roster and won championships as they went

undefeated in the season. With such good records, winning streaks and fans, one would

think that the football team would still be around, right? Well after much speculation the

football team ended and so did the spirit of the school for a dull few years.

The question begins with: did an accident occur with the football team more

significant that what is to be believed by the school or did Chancellor Chester M. Alter

feel the need to end the program?

Through the short years of 1885-1960 (not even a hundred years went by with a

football team at the school) the team started off with no official coach and only 11

payers, including the captain William S. Illif (sound familiar?). The first game was

against Colorado College, they took a beating as they lost 12-0. After that game the

Pioneers did not show up on the formal collegiate games until the 1900’s. A. Leland was

hired by Chancellor Henry A. Buchtel (another familiar name) to become the head coach

for the team in 1901. With a new hope for the team the chancellor raised near to $500 to

support the team through their seasons. An immediate effect hit the team as they entered

themselves into their conference with confidence. In 1908 the Pioneers took home their
 2

first win in the conference championship. Following the great success of a win, during

the 1917 season University of Denver won yet another conference championship, and this

began their undefeated streak.

Hilltop to this day and date is the home to Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and

Alpha Phi sorority apartments. However, the name Hilltop first arose in October of 1902

and it wasn’t an apartment. It was a place dedicated to the Pioneers, a place of pride:

Hilltop Stadium. The Pioneers greeted Colorado School of Mines the opening day with

no attention of losing on their new prize possession. And they did not. They defeated

School of Mines with a final score of 27-7. Their streak just kept going, in September of

1930, during their first night game ever played in Hilltop the team smashed it’s opponent:

Regis University 40-0. From their University of Denver’s football team became a well-

known and respected team in not only Colorado but in the West. A few months later the

Pioneers held a crowd of 27,777 at their game on Thanksgiving Day when the team went

head-to-head with University of Colorado (CU). The outcome was a big win for the

Pioneers. The fans rated this game “as the greatest performance by a DU team” (Haraway

8-10).

As 1947 rolled around CU took to the Big Eight Conference. The traditional rival

between CU and DU came to a closing. However, DU walked away with a final victory

win of 20-26 over CU as they walked away from the conference. The Pioneers followed

with remarkable seasons throughout the following years. The Pioneers had a record of 9-

1 and won the Skyline Conference Championship during their 1954 season. The team

walked off the field the season of 1961 not knowing what was coming next. An

unexpected drastic change in the program that’s for sure.

 3

Thirsty six years later John Roning, (the head coach of the team when the

authorities decided to terminate it) reflects back during an interview with the Denver Post

in 1997. "I was a coach that all of a sudden was without a team," Roning remembered. "It

was quite a bad feeling. Something like that really throws a monkey wrench into the lives

of a lot of people. There were 50 players involved.” (Moss). In a later interview Roning

was asked why did they drop the football team, he responded by: “The story in the paper

said it was because the school had lost $200,000 on football. But Tad Wiema, our athletic

director, said that couldn't be…I think the board felt the competition from the beginning

of the Denver Broncos and maybe from Air Force Academy that was just getting started

and was using our stadium at the time.” (Moss) Although Chancellor Buchtel may have

led the school, the football team, the head coach and faculty members that these were the

reasons he ended football at University of Denver, there may be very well different

factors that played a major role as well.

Although CU was DU’s rival on the field in the 1900’s School of Mines was

Denver’s rival in every aspect. The two schools were known for the foul play on their

own campus and towards one another. “Hazing was rampant, as were college pranks.

Some were as innocent as a cow ending up in a University Hall classroom. Others were

more inventive, such as when members of the Beta fraternity stuffed a sophomore named

Joseph Hoery into a coffin-like wooden crate, nailed the top shut, wrapped the box with

rope, then summoned a freight service to deliver the crate to a female student in Templin

Hall, the women’s dormitory on the northeast corner of Josephine Street and Evans

Avenue” (Chapman). So on November 6, 1919 it came to no surprise that at 4:15am there

were a series of loud explosive sounds coming from various parts on campus. Dynamite
 4

had disrupted the silence of the early morning across DU. Many students thought it was

an earthquake because it hit the buildings so hard; windows were blown out, brick was

flying everywhere and Carnegie Library, the Iliff School of Theology, Memorial Chapel

and University Hall all suffered enormous traumas.

“‘If all the dynamite planted on our campus had exploded simultaneously, it

would have knocked down our buildings and destroyed life,’ Chancellor Henry Buchtel

told the Rocky Mountain News” (Chapman). Fortunately only the buildings took a

beating, while students and faculty were miraculously left unharmed. After the discovery

of signs that were found posted around campus stating: “Get DU and “Give ‘Em Hell,

Mines” (Chapman) the school blamed Mines students for the unjust actions. “A wave of

indignation swept the campus, inflaming students like Ralph Gibson, a burly fullback on

the football team” (Chapman). A few members of the football team led a group to

retaliate and show Mines not to mess with the Pioneer’s. Their plan was to paint in

crimson Mines famous “M” (a 107 foot M placed on top of the school). The student’s

were not even close to half way done when students from Mines caught them in the act.

The “M” had been a target from other school’s to mess with so the Mine’s student’s set

up traps and people to watch the “M”, it in fact finally paid off. They tackled all the

members, shaved their heads and engraved “Ms” on the side of their heads with silver

nitrate. “According to the Post, the captured students ‘were placed under heavy guard in

various fraternity houses’ after being paraded through the streets of Golden ‘as prisoners

of intercollegiate war’” (Chapman). After the on going disputes between the two

schools, the president’s of the schools took direct matter into their own hands. Back in

the 1900’s the police did not feel the need to get involved in college pranks and affairs
 5

(although nowadays incidents like these would be unheard of). “American’s skin was

thicker back then” (Chapman).

“Never before has the bitter feeling between the schools reached the blood heat

that is rife now,” the Post wrote. “Late Friday night representatives of the two schools

met and agreed there would be no fighting … to leave it entirely in the hands of the

football teams.” (Chapman). The mood around DU had grown suspenseful, the team

knew they had to prove once and for all they were the best and to put these pranks to a

rest. 5,000 football fans showed up that day to see the battle. DU walked away with

neither a win nor a loss. 0-0 was the final score of the game. The animosity and tension

between the two rivals was unresolved and “hard feelings remained” (Chapman). That

night the top of the “M” was blown off, tempers rose and Mines drew rifles with the

attention for pay back. A few days went by with absurd “battles” between the two

schools, as the football team tried to keep their heads on and fight for a few wins against

the local teams. DU continued to lose against winnable teams, the last game they played

with Mines they won 16-6. And for the most part put a rest to the chaos.

So what was the real reason to why the football came to a close end only a few

short years after these pranks were pulled? Was Chancellor Buchtel reason to end the

program because of the all the “wars” happening between DU and Mines? Or was it

really only because “the board felt the competition from the beginning of the Denver

Broncos and maybe from Air Force Academy that was just getting started and was using

our stadium at the time” (Chapman). Maybe it was the “money loss” the program was

going through. The reasons for the demolishment of the Pioneer’s football team is still up

in the air. Students to this date like to believe it was because of the dynamite incident and
 6

the intense rivalry, however all the news reports say otherwise. If the DU team had a

successful few seasons then why Buchtel feel the need to cut the team? Many interviews

prove that there was no money loss in the program, so in fact Buchtel did have some

undercover reason to shut down the football program. Most likely due to the intense

rivalry between Mines and University of Denver.

 7

Work Cited

1. Chapman, Richard. "Colorado’s College War | DU Today." University of Denver

Blogs. Web. 08 Apr. 2011. <http://blogs.du.edu/today/magazine/colorados-

college-war>.

2. Fisher, Steve. “The Short, Happy Life of Hilltop Stadium.” University of Denver

Magazine. Winter 2006. 3 Oct. 2008 Magazine. Winter 2006. 3 Oct. 2008

3. Haraway, Frank O. “Football.” A Tribute to Champions. Ed. Erik Prenzler. Denver:

MileHigh Alumni Boosters, 1985. 8-10.

4. Moffett, Jessie. “Statues Will Be Placed in Niches by October 25, Sculptor

Announces.” The Clarion 26 September 1926: 3.

5. Moss, Iry. Denver Post Sports Writer INTERVIEW.  (1997, May 25). Memories

preserve DU's football legacy :[Final Edition]. Denver Post,p. MAG, 8:1. 

Retrieved April 7, 2011, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 11844950).

6. “Say Goodbye to an Oldtimer….” Communiqué (DU Faculty and Staff Publication) 21

June 1971.

The introduction sets up the paper very nicely. Within a couple sentences Kelsie
 8

clearly states the thesis of the paper. Giving a little taste of background information, the
question to be addressed was stated and the reader can understand what the paper is
about. The claim is clear throughout the paper. This is because Kelsie uses credible
historical facts as well as quotes to support her argument. There is plenty of historical
support, and she has developed sufficient evidence to the “unseen” reasons to why the
football team was causing trouble to University of Denver. She needs more development
on the schools standpoint on the matter, but overall the body covers the material
necessary for the question she presented.
The thesis was presented early in the introduction, and her body covers much
background evidence and support. She uses a good amount of facts and quotes to set up
her argument, and uses credible sources to respond to the “unseen” evidence to why the
football program ended. More development with the school’s perspective will give a
good balance to the body, because there is much supportive evidence to her side of the
argument.
There needs to be more of a balance between sources to get a more objective basis
on the evidence presented, but the couple sources that were used, were effective and
scholarly. More sources could be used for presenting the school’s perspective. Maybe she
could use a University of Denver piece of writing, or could look up interviews of DU
administrative figures.
The writing is appropriate for the piece. Kelsie used many facts and supportive
evidence with credible sources, while also adding her own style to the writing. The paper
followed nicely even with all of the historical support.
I suggest developing a conclusion with a more settling statement. This may be hard
because we cannot really know why the football team at DU was shut down, but from
your supportive evidence it should slightly be clear the truth. Also finish citation page.

I. Conclusion
a. DU covered up evidence to why the football program was shut down
b. The history proves that DU had a successful football team
c. DU should re-open the football program
II. Body
a. School Rivalries caused destruction and threatened DU safety
i. Dynamite
ii. “M” prisoners
b. DU’s finances were budgeted to cut the football team
c. DU had a successful record
i. Coaches and players were proud of team
ii. There was much development from the start of the team from
eleven players to not even one hundred years later being cut from
the athletic budget.

III. Introduction
 9

a. Speculation to why the football program was cut.

b. Presented background information on the two sides of the argument