The Year No One Could Beat Emporia
1987 Football Preview by Tony Hall

When the subject of Emporia football came up in the past, it was not long before talk turned to something else. The times they are a changing. Recent success has rekindled a flame of tradition and memories of seasons like 1926 . . .

     United States Marines had been dispatched to Nicaragua to calm a revolt, Babe Ruth was still a year away from hitting 60 home runs in a season and was considering playing football, and Calvin Coolidge was President. The year was 1926 and football was king in Emporia.
     Throughout history, football teams playing between the Cottonwood and Neosho Rivers have tended toward rough times. Some would say more than their share. No matter what name they have played under — Kansas Normal, Kansas State Teachers College, Emporia Kansas State College, Emporia State University, College of Emporia, Emporia High, Normal High, or Roosevelt — they have all been testimony at times that winning isn't the only thing. It couldn't have been.
     But buried in memories, in dusty boxes, and on hidden shelves, are reminders that there have been some great years and great accomplishments on the gridirons between the rivers. The year 1926 might have been the greatest of all.
     Kansas Normal, which was also called Kansas State Teachers College and would evolve into Emporia State University years later, had the only perfect season of its football history that year.
     The man that put this talented group together? Bill Hargiss, a football wizard who had once coached at the College of Emporia and would later leave Kansas Normal to take the head coaching job at the University of Kansas in 1928, where he would win a Big Six championship in 1930.
     "He was the man that controlled practice," said Hoch. "He had assistants but they didn't do anything but stand around. Bill was a very capable coach. They claim the huddle was invented by this Zuppke of Illinois (Bob Zuppke supposedly first employed the full team huddle in 1921), but I know Hargiss was one of the first to use it. He also was early in the use of the pass.
     "I know, when he yelled at you, you could hear him for a mile," added Hoch.  Bill Hargiss really could chew you up and spit you out.  But when the ballgame or practice was over, he'd come to you and put his arm around you and if you had been mad at him, you couldn't be mad at him anymore. He left it all on the practice field. He told you what he wanted you to do and if you didn't he would let you hear about it, though.
     "I can remember him getting on me once and I told him after the practice on the way into the gym, I said, `Bill you just tell me what you want done and I'll do my very best to do it.' Well Bill was about a foot taller than me, he put his arm around my shoulder and said, 'Arthur, if I didn't think you could do better, I wouldn't waste my breath on you.' He said, "See those guys sitting over there on the sidelines? They aren't worth wasting my breath on."'
     "He was quite a guy," added Burnett, who played under Hargiss two years and then was tempted by the coach to follow him to Kansas University. "I remember out there one time, we had a big tackle and we was out there running up and down the field on punts. And after we got through, Coach Hargiss followed us all the way over to the huddle and said, 'Arlie,' he said, 'there's a heck of a lot of rules to this game of football, but I'll be damn if there's a rule that tells you to run like a cow."'
     Burnett didn't follow Hargiss to KU. Instead, he finished up at KSTC and went on to play in three World Championship games for the New York Giants.

The Season's Record

Teachers 10      Bethany      0
Teachers 14      Hays         0
Teachers 21      Wichita      0
Teachers 42      Southwestern 0
Teachers 35      Washburn     0
Teachers 21      Pittsburg    3
Teachers  6      C. of E.     0

Teachers 144     Opponents    3

Coaching Staff

H. W. Hargiss
L. W. McGahan
V. T. Trusler
F. G. Welch
Thos. Fleming