1903 Columbia Blue and White football team

1903 Columbia Blue and White football
ConferenceIndependent
Record9–1
Head coach
CaptainRichard Shore Smith
Home stadiumPolo Grounds
Seasons
← 1902
1904 →
1903 Eastern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Princeton   –   11 – 0 – 0
Yale   –   11 – 1 – 0
Columbia   –   9 – 1 – 0
Dartmouth   –   9 – 1 – 0
Geneva   –   9 – 1 – 0
Holy Cross   –   8 – 2 – 0
Temple   –   4 – 1 – 0
Washington & Jefferson   –   8 – 2 – 0
Lehigh   –   9 – 2 – 1
Harvard   –   9 – 3 – 0
Penn   –   9 – 3 – 0
Army   –   6 – 2 – 1
Carlisle   –   6 – 2 – 1
Amherst   –   7 – 3 – 0
Lafayette   –   7 – 3 – 0
Cornell   –   6 – 3 – 1
Colgate   –   4 – 2 – 1
Penn State   –   5 – 3 – 0
Swarthmore   –   6 – 4 – 0
Brown   –   5 – 4 – 1
Syracuse   –   5 – 4 – 0
Fordham   –   1 – 1 – 0
Frankin & Marshall   –   5 – 5 – 1
Buffalo   –   4 – 4 – 0
Rutgers   –   4 – 4 – 1
Delaware   –   4 – 4 – 0
Villanova   –   2 – 2 – 0
Bucknell   –   4 – 5 – 0
Vermont   –   4 – 5 – 0
Tufts   –   5 – 8 – 0
Wesleyan   –   3 – 6 – 1
Springfield Training School   –   1 – 3 – 1
NYU   –   2 – 5 – 0
New Hampshire   –   2 – 6 – 1
Pittsburgh College   –   1 – 5 – 1
Western U. Penn.   –   1 – 8 – 1

The 1903 Columbia Blue and White football team was an American football team that represented Columbia University as an independent during the 1903 college football season. In its second season under head coach Bill Morley, the team compiled a 9–1 record, shut out its first seven opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 148 to 43.[1][2]

Fullback Richard Shore Smith was the team captain.[2] Smith and tackle Tom Thorp received first-team honors on the 1903 All-America team. W. E. Metzenthin also starred in the backfield for Columbia. The team's sole loss was to the 1903 Yale team that featured seven first-team All-Americans, including Foster Rockwell and Tom Shevlin.

Columbia's sports teams were commonly called the "Blue and White" in this era, but had no official nickname. The name "Lions" would not be adopted until 1910.[3]

The team played its home games at the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan.

  1. ^ "1903 Columbia Lions Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Columbia Football 2018 Record Book" (PDF). Columbia University. 2018. p. 197.
  3. ^ "How Columbia Became the Lions". Columbia Football 2019 Record Book. New York, N.Y.: Columbia University. p. 238. Retrieved July 26, 2020.