Talk:1905 University of Florida Blue and White football team

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@MisterCake: There are a number of problems with this article and the unsourced "facts" asserted in it:

1. The modern University of the State of Florida was created by the Buckman Act in 1905. The new university held classes during the 1905–06 academic year (i.e., fall 1905 and spring 1906) on the Lake City campus of the old Florida Agricultural College (a.k.a., the "University of Florida" from 1903 to 1905), while the buildings of the new campus were being constructed in Gainesville.
2. The "1905 team," to the extent it existed, was a team of the modern University of Florida (a.k.a., the "University of the State of Florida" from 1905 to 1909), not the old FAC/UFLC. If the team had played a recognized season (or even a complete game), it would have been the first football team of the modern University of Florida.
3. The "1905 team" played one half of one game -- apparently suspended at the half for reasons that are not entirely clear. It is also unclear whether the game was intended to be a scrimmage or a regular season match. The game was not recognized.
4. Writing 69 years after the fact, sportswriter Tom McEwen got the name and character of the opponent school wrong: it was the Julia Landon Institute, the previous name of the current Julia Landon College Preparatory and Leadership Development School. JLI was not a college or university level institution, but a college preparatory school, including grades below the high school level. It is now a unit of the Duval County Public Schools [1].
5. The 1905 season was cancelled in its entirety when the new university president, Andrew Sledd, discovered that several (if not all) of the players on the small team were academically ineligible. Sledd was a Harvard and Yale graduate who believed the new university should have high academic standards and academic integrity.
6. The 1905 coach was not retained; the failure to comply with the new university's academic eligibility standards probably had something to do with it.
7. Conjecture about the scheduling of a state championship game with Stetson is meaningless when the university president canceled the season in its entirety.
8. The UAA does not recognize the coach, team, season or game, and the UAA dates the founding of the University of Florida football team to the fall of 1906. The Florida Gators football team recently celebrated its 100th anniversary during the 2006 national championship season ("100 Years of Florida Football").

In short, Cake, this article as written misrepresents the actual history of the "1905 team" in a number of critical ways. Given that the "1905 team" did not play a complete game against a college-level opponent, let alone a recognized season, it would be better if this article were converted into a section-specific redirect to the Florida Gators football main article, with a brief explanation regarding the cancellation of the 1905 season for academic reasons. The JLI half-game can be mentioned in a footnote, which explains that JLI was a prep school not a college-level opponent. Grouping the 1905 season with the FAC/UFLC teams of 1901–04, also misrepresents the identity of the new state university created in 1905. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 15:18, 29 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for this - it was something we needed to confront. Your points are well thought out. I would advise against thinking of JLI as a mere scrimmage simply because it was a prep school. Real games between high schools, athletic clubs, and other oddities are the norm in early team histories. Consider that Memphis University School gets recognition on the SIAA page. That said, its lack of recognition warrants concern. Also, given what you said, it seems best to redirect to the 1906 season, and explain things there, and then give a still shorter explanation on the main page. It cannot be passed over in silence, especially if one wants to mention William W. Gibbs. Cake (talk) 01:16, 30 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]