page_title: History of Florida Gators football
section_title: Early History (1906-1959)
hierarchical_section_title: History of Florida Gators football / Overview / Early History (1906-1959)
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of Raymond Wolf, U. Fla. head coach and athletic direcotr
context_page_description: The history of Florida Gators football began in 1906, when the newly established "University of the State of Florida" fielded a football team during its first full academic year of existence. The school's name was shortened to the University of Florida in 1908, and the football team gained the nickname "Gators" in 1911. The program started small, usually playing six to eight games per season against small colleges and local athletic club teams in north Florida and south Georgia, and developed an early rivalry with the Hatters of Stetson University in nearby Deland and Mercer in Macon.
  During the 1910s, Florida began playing a wider range of opponents from larger universities across the southeastern United States and faced off against several future rivals - such as Georgia, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, and Auburn - for the first time. The program first rose to national prominence in the 1920s, when coach Charlie Bachman's 1928 team led the nation in scoring and were kept from a perfect season and a possible invitation to play in the Rose Bowl by a season-ending one point loss to Tennessee in Knoxville.
context_section_description: The state university's football team began varsity play when the Gainesville campus opened in September 1906. Tackle William Wetmore "Gric" Gibbs is the only known member of the lost 1905 team who played for the new university's team in Gainesville. Football and baseball games and track meets were held at University Athletic Field, a grassy playing surface flanked by low bleachers on West University Avenue just north of the present stadium site. Permanent bleachers were installed in 1911, and the facility was renamed Fleming Field in honor of former Florida governor Francis P. Fleming. From 1911 to 1930, Florida's football squads posted a 49–7–1 record at Fleming Field. Because of the facility's limited capacity (about 5,000) and the relative inaccessibility of Gainesville in the early 20th century, most home games against top opponents were scheduled at larger venues in Jacksonville or Tampa; a handful were played in St. Petersburg and Miami. The school's first football coach was "Pee Wee" Forsythe, who led the Florida team for three winning seasons (including a 6–0 win over the Rollins College Tars in their first game). Forsythe used the Minnesota shift and also played on the team. The 1907 team was co-state champion with Stetson. Captain Roy Corbett was also the athletics editor of the Florida Pennant. The 1908 team defeated Stetson at home and played a scoreless tie on the road. William A. Shands, future state senator and namesake of Shands Hospital, played on the 1907 and 1908 teams. During these early years the Florida sports teams adopted their orange-and-blue team colors, reportedly a combination of school's predecessors: the blue and white of the FAC and the orange and black of the EFS.
  The new university's name was shortened to University of Florida in 1909, and George Pyle became the new head coach of its football team. The only blemishes that season were two games with Stetson: a loss on the road and a tie in Gainesville. Pyle had a 26–7–3 (.764) record with the Gators, the third-winningest coach in school history.
  The 1910s saw the newly-named Gators face many of their current rivals and regular opponents for the first time. The 1911 Gators, captained by center Neal "Bo Gator" Storter, tied the South Carolina Gamecocks and defeated the Citadel Bulldogs, Clemson and the College of Charleston (the self-proclaimed "champions of South Carolina"), finishing the season with a 5–0–1 record—the Gators' only undefeated football season. Earle "Dummy" Taylor, the only five-letter winner in team history, scored 49 of the season's 84 points (including a school-record eight field goals). Before the 1912 season Florida joined the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA), the first southern athletics conference, and began the season by facing the Auburn Tigers for the first time. Florida posted a 5–2–1 record, including South Carolina's first defeat.  After the season, the team played its first post-season game: the Bacardi Bowl in Havana, Cuba, a two-game series against two Cuban athletic clubs. During the first quarter of the second game Pyle and his team left, alleging that the Cuban team persisted in playing by the old rules, and the coach was arrested for violating a Cuban law prohibiting a game's suspension after money was charged. When his trial was delayed, Pyle and the Gators quickly left the island and he was branded a "fugitive from justice." The 1913 Gators began the season by defeating Southern 144–0, the widest margin of victory in program history. The following week, the future SIAA champion Auburn Tigers beat the Gators 55–0. Florida finished the see-saw season with a 4–3 record, and Pyle left to become athletic director of West Virginia.
  In C. J. McCoy's first season, 1914, the team posted a much-improved 5–2 record. Unlike the previous season, the Gators played respectably against Auburn despite a 20–0 loss. The following year, McCoy also became the school's first basketball coach. The 1915 Gators played the Georgia Bulldogs and Tulane for the first time. Led by quarterback Rammy Ramsdell, UF's
caption: Coach Bear Wolf of Florida's "golden era"
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