page_title: History of Michigan Wolverines football in the early years
section_title: Victory over Cornell in 1894
hierarchical_section_title: History of Michigan Wolverines football in the early years / History of the program / Victory over Cornell in 1894
caption_attribution_description: English: Official photograph of 1894 University of Michigan football team
context_page_description: The History of Michigan Wolverines football in the early years covers the history of the University of Michigan Wolverines football program from its formation in the 1870s through the hiring of Fielding H. Yost prior to the 1901 season. Michigan was independent of any conference until 1896 when it became one of the founding members of the Western Conference. The team played its home games at the Washtenaw County Fairgrounds from 1883 to 1892 and then at Regents Field starting in 1893.
  While the first official university football team was not formed until 1879, class football teams were formed as early as 1870. The university team played its first game against Racine College in May 1879, and Irving Kane Pond scored the first touchdown in Michigan football history. In 1881, the Michigan football team traveled to the East and played a series of games that marked the beginning of football as an inter-sectional game. In the mid-1880s, the Wolverines had four consecutive undefeated seasons and allowed opponents to score only two points between November 1884 and April 1888.
context_section_description: Prior to the start of the 1894 season, three individuals took charge of the Michigan football program — each of whom would play an important role in its development. The first was Charles A. Baird, manager of the football team who later became Michigan's first athletic director and was the person who hired Fielding H. Yost in 1901. In 1894, Baird hired William McCauley, who had played on Princeton's 1893 championship team, as Michigan's head football coach. In two years as Michigan's head coach, McCauley led the Wolverines to a 17–2–1 record. The third member of Michigan's football triumvirate in 1894 was Keene Fitzpatrick, a nationally known track coach, who Baird hired as the football team's trainer.
  The 1894 team compiled a record of 9–1–1 and ended the season with consecutive victories over Cornell and Chicago. When Michigan played Cornell in Detroit, 2,000 students traveled from Ann Arbor to watch the game. The game attracted 4,000 spectators, the largest crowd that had attended a game in Detroit.
  When the game ended, "[t]he crowd went wild, and hats, canes and everything available flew into the air. Over the ropes went the crowd and the fortunate players were picked up and carried from the field." A group of 500 students, stretching a block in length, towed a large green bus carrying the team from the athletic grounds. The procession moved loudly up Woodward Avenue with the team in tow until the bus reached Russell House where the team spent the night. According to the Detroit Free Press, the city was given over to "the U. of M. boys" for the night: "Wherever one turned he was confronted with the din and tumult; the ear-splitting yells from throats with vocal chords of extraordinary vibratory possibilities." The police "showed no disposition to exercise any authority to quell this miniature riot. Probably they knew that it would be like battling with the raging elements, and wisely resorted to extreme discretion."
  The victory over Cornell was the first by a Michigan football team against one of the elite Eastern football teams. One newspaper wrote: "The victory places Michigan in the position of worthy foeman of Yale, Harvard, Princeton or Pennsylvania." The Detroit Free Press filled its front page with a lengthy account of the game under the headline, "GLORIOUS!" and proclaimed the start of "halcyon days at the university". The University of Michigan yearbook, The Palladium, wrote: "The enthusiasm of that day at Detroit transformed our foot ball team from the practically 'backwoods' organization that they were to skillful, scientific players of the great American game of foot ball. Let the good work go on."
  On the Monday evening following the game, 3,000 students gathered for a mass meeting in University Hall to celebrate the victory. University President James Burrill Angell told the crowd, "I have been asked often today, 'What will be the effect of the game?'  I am neither a prophet or the son of a prophet, but there is one thing of great value that I believe will result. ... I think the benefit of victory lies in the cultivation of this broad, generous university spirit that pervades all departments and makes us feel here one interest and common joy." After the mass meeting, the students gathered until midnight around a large bonfire on the campus. The Michigan Alumnus credited the victory over Cornell with the formation of permanent alumni associations in various cities.
caption: 1894 Michigan Wolverines football team
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