ALL-AMERICA | ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA | STATISTICAL ARCHIVE

From a 28-0 pasting of cross-state rival Missouri in 1890 to the first NCAA Division III Playoff appearance in 1999 -- and for 800-plus games in between . . . From the Purities to the Pikers to the Bears . . . From the Missouri Valley Conference to the College Athletic Conference to the University Athletic Association . . . From national Hall of Fame coaches Jimmy Conzelman, Weeb Ewbank and Carl Snavely to Dave Puddington to Larry Kindbom . . . From "Poge" to Polkinghorne to Polacek . . . From the "big-time" days versus the Notre Dames, the Nebraskas and the Armys to the pioneering "re-emphasis" of the 1940s to the proud baptism of Division III . . .

All these patches of history, diverse and seemingly without connection, somehow bind together to form the quilt that is the Washington University football heritage.

Together, 118 years have produced 58 winning seasons, 42 losing campaigns, 11 even, and seven without play. Along the way: 465 wins, 445 losses, 27 ties. But beyond the numbers, large and stark, is a century of commitment and of character.

Kick-off began in 1890 at Sportsman's Park with a coach that history has forgotten and a one-game schedule. The Purities, labeled for their straight-laced academic code, became the Pikers in 1905 in recognition of the amusement corridor leading from the World's Fair site in Forest Park to the east edge of campus. The '05 squad was the first to play on Francis Field, built for the 1904 Olympics.

In 1907, WU became a charter member of the MVC, joining Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. The next three decades saw the Bears take on the biggest and the best. Enthusiasm surged, as evidenced by an approved plan for a 50,000-seat horseshoe-shaped stadium.

The Depression, however, kept those plans locked forever on paper. Following World War II, Chancellor Arthur Holly Compton--a physicist active in the Manhattan (atomic bomb) project--blew the lid off any leftover "big-time" aspirations by administering a department-wide "re-emphasis."

The seeds of that decision, nurtured by post-WWII athletic director Blair Gullion, helped bring to bloom Washington U.'s involvement in the CAC, the subsequent creation of Division III, and the formation of the UAA 15 years ago.

Since head coach Larry Kindbom took over in 1989, the program has really taken off. With a 7-3 record and a school-record 15th-consecutive winning season in 2005, the Washington University football team continues to build upon a tradition of success.

In 1999, the Bears went 8-3, won their first-ever UAA title and advanced to the NCAA Division III Playoffs for the first time in school history. WU's best season ever also capped the finest decade in the club's 116-year history. Washington U. followed that up with an 8-2 mark in 2001 and a 6-4 record in 2002, 2003 and 2004, all which saw WU capture outright UAA titles.

The 1990's marked the winningest decade in team history (66-35)--one in which the Bears posted the second-highest winning percentage among four-year football playing schools in Missouri. Over that 10-year stretch, the Bears won 65-percent of their games--including 64-percent over the last five years (32-18)--produced 14 All-Americans, won five University Athletic Association titles, had seven players named UAA Player of the Year (three offense, four defense) and boasted four Academic All-Americans and 12 all-district choices.