Graduating linebacker Ed Shubert pleaded to The Triangle for football to be reinstated, even though he had just played his final game as a senior. They pressed on, though; they had notes to review and improvements to make. The third-place finish was their best tournament finish ever, and they may have also brought home a new rival in tournament, winner Johns Hopkins University. It was a trip that the players made every day on their way to practices or games. The players were notified that the University’s board of trustees president, William Hagerty, and Director of Athletics John Semanik had cut the football program. They were all good-looking and all put together.”, They explain what they do as a mix of games and long-form skits, or more simply, stuff you would see on the television show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”. Some thought that football lacked the proper alumni support for long-term sustainability. Its the perfect size, not too big, I run into people I know on the way to class. The CAA also has football, which includes many of Drexel’s rivals like the University of Delaware and Towson University. View the 2020 season's individual player's stats and career pages for the Drexel/Miami football team including receiving yards per game, rushing yards per game, total tds, tackles per game, sacks, interceptions, passing tds, receiving tds, rushing tds, caused fumbles, fumble recoveries, completion percentage and qb rating. Everybody would go to the football game. The 1899 Drexel Dragons football team did not have a head coach. The high point of Halas’ 15-year career as Drexel’s head coach was winning the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Championship in 1937, perhaps the most important win of the 71 he had during his career at the school. Sports Offered Intramural Sports Office. Godfrey ended up being the president who transformed the school completely. Their next opponent was Long Island University C.W. “The reality is we paraded up that street every day because we largely walked up to practice,” Barry Cole, a wide receiver on the team from 1971-73, said. As game attendance grew post-WWII, so did the team’s on-field success. “That’s a lot of B.S.,” Brown told The Triangle in 1973. “Big 5 schools would never allow Drexel to share the spotlight. It will mark the 40th homecoming without football. The team started off the year with back-to-back victories, the first over Fordham University and the next over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Looking for 2017 info? Vincent Vidas, whose name now brands Drexel’s Vidas Athletic Complex on 43rd Street and Powelton Avenue, was named a Little All-American, anchoring the line. Their name serves as an ode to the past, somewhat of an ironic answer to one of the three essential questions every Drexel student will ask at some point during their four or five years at the school: What is the Drexel Shaft? There seemed to be a growing frustration with the lack of interest in the sport. Division III, though, would have required Drexel to develop new rivals and ultimately take a financial risk that administration was not willing to take. THE FIRST INSTALLMENT OF THIS THREE-PART SERIES CAN BE ACCESSED HERE. Following the 1973 season, the football team was discontinued in order to redistribute the funds among other intercollegiate sports and intramural programs. That final win of the 1973 season came against Albright College in their annual Pretzel Bowl. And it all centered around one football game, the capstone of the week’s events. This will be based on an idea from USA Football 7 on 7 tackle football played on a smaller field. Drexel does not have a football team due to its location in West Philadelphia, which does not have enough space for a football stadium. Over the last 40 years, Drexel administrators have been handing out the convenient Kool-Aid that cost is the real issue and that football is too expensive a sport to fund. In 1973, the Drexel football team defeated Albright College in their annual Pretzel Bowl. Football at Drexel University was born from humble beginnings. The Drexel/Miami varsity football team won Friday's home playoff game against Archie (MO) by a score of 49-40. The official athletics website for the Drexel University Dragons. “The close friendships and the tremendous sense of accomplishment it affords its participants simply cannot be measured in terms of dollars and cents.”. Spagnolo was also a wide receiver on the team from 1971-73. Halas is the older brother of legendary Chicago Bears founder and National Football League icon George Halas. Florida State University had just defeated Auburn University in an epic National Championship Game as part of the Bowl Championship Series the week before. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window). Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window). However, the team wallowed in perpetual mediocrity until they hired a familiar name for the position. Under McAvoy’s direction, Drexel joined the Middle Atlantic States Collegiate Athletics Conference. The first semblance of a team came in 1892 and was entirely student-run. Scholarships would be honored and transfers would be granted if so desired, but that was it. Brown and the players pushed on through the 1973 season, not paying attention to the board’s proceedings; they had a tough schedule and needed to stay focused. The official Softball page for the Drexel University Dragons. This causes Drexel to push back their Homecoming to winter, featuring a men’s basketball game as the Homecoming game. ©2021 The Triangle. The Big 5 was formed in 1954 and consists to this day of La Salle University, the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Saint Joseph’s University and Villanova University. THE FIRST INSTALLMENT OF THIS THREE-PART SERIES CAN BE ACCESSED HERE. However, due to the “lack of a proper playing field,” according to an archived summary of football’s history at the school, Drexel discontinued football, only two years after it finally became school sanctioned. They couldn’t fall that easily in their own homecoming game, could they? Drexel students have the best of all worlds — a booming campus culture located in the heart of one of America's great cities. They established A.J. In terms of athletics, Godfrey was the first to really see their value and put a university-wide focus on them. The magic of 1955 was to be short-lived, however. Seriously, why doesn’t Drexel have a football team? The Drexel Dragons have … Drexel University has 18 Division I varsity sports teams, but football isn’t one of them. The NCAA, the main governing body and rule-maker for college sports, was reorganizing their competition structure. This game was part of the 2020 Missouri High School Football Playoff Brackets: MSHSAA - 8-Man tournament. Good luck this fall! We’re here. “It gave me pretty good insight as to what the administration was thinking, and I clearly remember him discussing the football team. “We were down 21-nothing in the first quarter against Gettysburg,” Spagnolo recalled. I hear Drexel students try to justify their lack of school spirit by using that sad, pathetic excuse. THE FINAL INSTALLMENT OF THIS THREE-PART SERIES CAN BE ACCESSED HERE. And university president John A. Fry thinks other schools should follow suit. Hagerty said in the same issue, “It was a matter of eliminating five or six different sports or football to balance the budget.”, “I got to interview [Hagerty] on about a weekly basis,” former news and managing editor of The Triangle Pat Joy said. In the press release sent out to make the announcement public, the school cited the budgetary issues with continuing to fund football as well as opening the new Physical Education Athletic Center. View the 20-21 Drexel/Miami varsity football team schedule. He pointed out — and this would be in the 1965 time frame — that the football team took 50 percent of the total athletic budget.”. The Cougars had the talent: The top six scorers returned from a 25-win team. Luckily, practice was indoors. The Triangle reported that the new center cost about $8.6 million to build and would cost $250,000 annually to operate. Still, the football program was axed to help fund it. Halas also served 15 years as the school’s Director of Athletics and was inducted into the Drexel Athletics Hall of Fame in 1972. The year will forever live as the peak of Drexel football. “We scored a touchdown before the half to cut it to 21-7.”. At the time, nobody would have guessed that in less than 20 years time, Drexel football would be clinging to life support. Brown didn’t see why it would ever happen. “Someone was out to get rid of football,” head coach Sterling Brown told The Triangle of the decision. The Dragons won the game in upset fashion by a score of 16-7. What was amazing about homecoming was its ability to bring the campus together. The Triangle is an independent student organization and is not owned nor operated by Drexel University. Gettysburg — one of the tougher opponents on Drexel’s schedule — was trying to ruin the party. Drexel Dragons Schedule 2020-21 2020-21 2019-20 2018-19 2017-18 2016-17 2015-16 2014-15 2013-14 2012-13 2011-12 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 … Barry Cole, who along with Steve Spagnolo was among the first group of freshmen to be allowed to play varsity football, described Brown as “this little fiery guy who was probably about 3-foot-2 and chewed tobacco.”, Prior to the 1971 season, Brown sat his team down and gave a short speech that Cole hasn’t forgotten to this day: “You guys aren’t here to go school,” Cole said, mimicking Brown’s raspy voice from over 40 years ago, “you’re here to play football.”. The Drexel Football Team is an improvisational comedy group. The official Softball page for the Drexel University Dragons. It would prove to be the program’s final victory, as the team was cut at the conclusion of the season. There were rumors floating around that Drexel was looking to use the extra funds left in football’s void to bolster funding of the basketball team so that they could join the Philadelphia Big 5. The end of Drexel football came Nov. 19, 1973. “From our standpoint, we were just totally floored,” Cole said about the cut. Those teams compete at the Football Championship Subdivision level … The team will take the judges’ criticism and use it to improve as they near show time. Drexel Athletics are a big part of campus culture. Their name serves as an ode to the past, somewhat of an ironic answer to one of the three essential questions every Drexel student will ask at some point during their four or five years at the school: What is the Drexel Shaft? One said that even though Drexel football would be remembered as more of a “doormat” than a “football power,” some of their games were unforgettable. Homecoming festivities were in full swing, students and alumni were back together, beer and spirits were ever-flowing. It was a brisk mid-January night, and the Drexel University football team had practice. Drexel wouldn’t go away, though. Welcome to Drexel Hill Raiders Football One of the committee members was a professor, John Savchak, who had played basketball at Drexel as an undergraduate, so some saw that as a conflict of interest. “Students at a co-op university are doers rather than watchers,” Hagerty said at the time, trying to explain the low interest. Virginia Halas McCaskey — George’s daughter and Walter’s niece — is the current owner of the Bears. “A person who has not played intercollegiate football could not understand what the game really does for a person,” Shubert said, pointing out football’s intangible benefits. Hagerty told The Triangle that the low student interest and the sport’s “impingement” on other sports in the athletic department were considered. The team and fans would parade their way down Powelton Avenue, past the row of fraternity houses, toward what is now known as the Vidas Athletic Complex. “Homecoming was always a big deal,” Pat Joy, class of 1966 graduate and former news and managing editor of The Triangle, said. Walter Halas was hired as the head coach of Drexel’s football, baseball and basketball teams in 1927. Alumni flocked back to campus to join in the fun and relive their college days. Attendance at the football games was always higher for the homecoming game than any other game, especially in the late 1960s and early 1970s when the team struggled to draw a crowd. Athletics: Drexel is a member of the NCAA and has 18 Division I teams. “We sort of felt like we owned Powelton Avenue,” he added, with his former teammate Steve Spagnolo giving a nod and wry smile of approval next to him. Some thought that football was cut because of an institutional bias towards basketball. Vidas also played a season of basketball and lacrosse, and was named to the Drexel Athletics Hall of Fame in 1973. He and Cole met in summer training camp as freshmen and have been best friends ever since. They would have had to pour more resources into a program that they felt was already overfunded. Box Score Tournament Bracket Posted Fri, Nov 13 2020 World War II placed Drexel football in rocky times, and the school had to suspend the program in 1943. The 1973 Drexel football season began just like seasons past had begun. In 1928, the team went 8-1, and in the 1930s, the University saw increases in funding, interest and enrollment. The odd fact about the two World Wars is that after each, Drexel saw increased football success. Skip To Main Content. Under Halas’ direction, the football team made its turnaround. It was Drexel’s first of three losses in their final four games. The College of Charleston appeared to be in line for a conference championship before the season even began. In 1927, Drexel hired W.H. THE SECOND PART OF THIS THREE-PART SERIES CAN BE ACCESSED HERE. Feb 27 @ UNC Wilmington, Drexel (13-17) Loss vs. North Carolina-Wilmington, 65-76 31. Football was already the biggest mouth for the athletic department to feed, and it was about to get bigger as well. Each year, more than 9,000 students participate in club or intramural sports. Sport events aren't regularly attended, and we have no football team - making our homecoming affiliated with the basketball team that not a lot of students support. Homecoming used to be a tradition unlike any other at Drexel. Shubert went on to try out for the hometown Philadelphia Eagles but didn’t make the cut. A 1959 graduate, Vidas is the only player in Drexel history to be named to two All-American teams. He told them that Drexel was going to win, for which he was met with crazy looks. “We came back to win it 28-24 on a last-minute touchdown,” Spagnolo said, a twinkle of nostalgia in his eye. 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