McDaniel Green Terror football

McDaniel, formerly known as Western Maryland, football dates back to 1891 when the first game was played against northern rival Gettysburg College.[3]

In 1908, sportswriter Grantland Rice describe that Carl "Molly" Twigg, tossed the first forward pass. The revolutionary invention was patented in the autumn of 1908 and perfected against Lehigh in 1910. That year the six-foot-three Marylander shocked the Engineers by hooking up with Chandler Sprague 20 times (in 21 attempts) for 350 yards handing Lehigh, fresh off a win over the eastern powerhouse, Princeton, a 10–0 defeat.[4]

The Green Terror became a power house in college football in the 20s and 30s. During this decade the Terror Squad had three undefeated seasons, despite only having around 500 students. The Green Terror were nationally ranked and were commonly beating schools such as Boston College and Bucknell University. Other impressive victories included, beating University of Maryland College Park, Georgetown University, and Temple University.[5] Many of these victories were played in front of crowds of over 20,000 at Baltimore Memorial Stadium. Such was the case in 1927 when they won the MacArthur Cup handed out by General Douglas MacArthur, when The Terror beat an all-army team made up of the best players from all the regional army bases, 48–0.[6]^: 288

In 1929 the Green Terror was the only team to play an 11-game schedule, going undefeated. After the season the associated press proclaimed in New York Times: "Western Maryland With 11 Straight Victories Leads the List. Fourteen teams remained unbeaten at the close of the football season, Western Maryland leading the major teams with eleven straight victories, according to The Associated Press."[7]

In 1934, during the Great Depression, Western Maryland was invited to play in the first Orange Bowl. Coach Dick Harlow declined so that his best player, Bill Shepherd, could play in the then more prestigious East–West Shrine Game, which hosted over 55,000 fans. Shepherd was the MVP of the game, playing 59 of 60 minutes as his East team lost. In the initial Orange Bowl (which only 5,000 attended[8]) Bucknell, shut out earlier in the season by the Terror, defeated the Miami Hurricanes 26-0.[6]^: 334

In 1947, the Green Terror football team was featured in a cartoon in The New Yorker before a game against the Harvard Crimson. Soon after World War II, WMC decided to play only other small colleges described as the college's natural rivals. The McDaniel-Hopkins rivalry game has annually been the last game of the regular season since 1947 and played over 90 times since their first meeting in 1894.

In 1992, the Green Terror became the first college football team to play in Russia. Against an all-Europe team, they won 47–4. Running back Eric Frees set the then NCAA Division III rushing record in 1992.[6]^: 638

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