HISTORY OF MARIETTA FOOTBALL
HISTORY OF MARIETTA FOOTBALL
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2012 Pioneers look to make their own history
ake a long look at the first Marietta College football team on the top right of the next page. Those 15 players may not stack up against today’s athletes, but they certainly were a rugged group. The first football team at Marietta College went 1-1-1; its win was a forfeit against Otterbein. In the first game ever, Ohio State pounded the Pioneers 80-0. But much has changed since those early beginnings. Marietta College has a 409-537-36 record in its 100-plus years of action. It took Marietta just three years to earn its first winning season (5-3 in 1894). The Pioneers remained strong in those early years as Marietta recorded 23 winning seasons in the first 32 years. The shining moment during that time was on Nov. 29, 1906, when Petey Gilman threw a 52-yard pass, one of the first official forward passes in football, in a 12-2 win against Ohio University. Gilman’s heave held the forward pass distance record until 1920. Somehow, Marietta’s football program could not continue its winning ways and the competition began passing the Pioneers by on the playing field. From 1924-1993, Marietta College had just 16 winning campaigns. There were some bright seasons—8-1 in 1969 and 6-4 in 1986—but it was a down time for the Pioneers. The 1969 team ranks second on Marietta’s all-time list of best seasons, second to 1906 when Marietta went 9-1 (only loss was 4-0 to Ohio State Medical). The ‘69 squad fell victim to Muskingum in the second game of the season, 17-0. The 1968 campaign was also a strong year for the Navy Blue & White. Marietta College went 7-2 with wins against Muskingum, Mount Union and Heidelberg and a Homecoming win against Otterbein. The dark days set in on the Marietta College football program in 1981, when the Marietta College’s Greatest Victories nation’s longest losing streak 1895 Marietta 24 Ohio State 0 1900 Marietta 19 West Virginia 6 began with a 1903 Marietta 43 Pittsburgh 6 1910 Marietta 17 Miami (Ohio) 0 24-0 loss to 1918 Marietta 7 Ohio 0 Capital to open 1920 Marietta 23 Michigan State 7 1920 Marietta 20 Cincinnati 0 the season. 1928 Marietta 14 Muskingum 13 Marietta went 1935 Marietta 31 Bowling Green 0 1954 Marietta 20 Wittenberg 19 0-9 in 1981, ’82 1959 Marietta 90 Wash. & Jeff. 0 and ’83 then 1968 Marietta 7 Muskingum 0 1977 Marietta 20 Mount Union 6 opened the 1984 Marietta 15 Wooster 12 1995 Marietta 27 Baldwin-Wallace 10 1984 season 1996 Marietta 38 Central (Iowa) 18 0-7. The 2006 Marietta 32 Baldwin-Wallace 31 2006 Marietta 16 Ohio Northern 6 Pioneers ended 2009 Marietta 25 Otterbein 22 the skid with a
3-3 tie against Ohio Northern on Homecoming and picked up their first win in nearly four years with a 15-12 victory against Wooster. In 1983, Sports Illustrated visited the Marietta College campus and did a story on Pioneer Football entitled “A Losing Proposition.” The 1990s brought forth a new era for Pioneer football. After Mike Schonewolf coached the Pioneers to a 2-8 mark in 1990, Pennsylvania native Gene Epley took over the program and instilled a new pride and enthusiasm. After going 0-10 his first year, Epley strung together three straight non-losing seasons in 1994 (5-5), 1995 (8-1-1) and 1996 (7-3). The ‘95 season produced some of the greatest excitement Pioneer fans have seen in southeastern Ohio in more than 50 years. Facing