Spring Convocation - Students - University of Saskatchewan

The greatest U of S football squad
As each new football season begins and the hopes for another
championship are high, many a fan casts their mind back to
the glories of years past. Which version of the gridiron Huskies
was our greatest
To many the 1998 Vanier Cup championship team would
be the prime candidate, but according to an article in the
November 2, 1922 Sheaf, it was the 1914 team, Champions of
Northern Saskatchewan.
Football, called rugby at the time, began to be played on
campus in the 1911-12 season. The game was regionally
very popular, with the U of S being only one of several
Saskatoon‐based teams. The 1914-15 squad was the first
official varsity team, although inter-university play did not
begin until 1922.
The 1914 team had a splendid season, only to suffer a loss
(called “a valuable lesson”) to Regina in the provincial final.
The Regina Leader describes it as follows:
“Though vanquished, the students were by no means
disgraced, the plucky showing which they put up against their
more experienced rivals resulting in giving the Regina fans what
was conceded to be the best game of the season. Holding the
local champions scoreless during the first quarter, the visitors
combined confidence with pluck, and, although they were
gradually mowed down by their heavier and infinitely betterschooled
opponents, they stuck to the fight with grim and
determined obstinacy that was deserving of something better
than a scoreless effort.”
They were, however, not destined to become a football
dynasty. The conflict in Europe depleted their ranks and
scattered the survivors. The 1922 Sheaf asked the question
which Huskie fans ask every year, “Can we produce another
squad of winners”
Patrick Hayes
University of Saskatchewan Archives
1914 Rugby Football Team
The 1914 University
of Saskatchewan rugby
football team members
pose before playing at
Regina, with bleachers
and spectators in the
background. Team
members are, from
left (Back row): R.S.
Turriff, J.C. Scott, A.L.
Silverson, M.L. Skinner,
J.D. Mitchell, F.J. Freer,
R.J. Fyfe, R.L. Shannon.
(Front row): J.S. Balfour,
R.J. Haney, C.M. Bayne,
A.M. Walker (manager),
A.S. Bell, W.E. Walker,
P.G. Makaroff,
W.B. Thompson. B-77