2008 Woodie Awards
Stoopball, anyone?
A brief history of sports at Guilford
Kevin Bryan
Issue date: 4/20/07 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
Through good times and bad, Guilford has been a sports college. Guilford was a sports college before there were college athletic associations. Guilford had sports before it was a college. Athletics at Guilford don't take Guilford away from its roots but back to them.
"Back in the Civil War, the first baseball game south of the Mason-Dixon Line was played here," said Max Carter, director of the Friends Center.
Guilford was one of the first three colleges to have a basketball team, only 14 years after the sport was invented.
Guilford also used to have more sports. Archery, boxing, wrestling, tumbling, speedball, hockey, riding, folk dancing, modern dancing, badminton, ping pong, gymnastics, yoga, skiing, cycling, jogging, judo, ice skating, weight lifting and handball all had either varsity or intramural teams.
"We never had a contradiction between archery and the peace testimony … (we) never hit the mark anyway," said Carter.
Some sports were organized with one year's class competing against each other. "There was dormitory affiliation. Cox hall and Archdale were organized by section. Each section would get a team together," said Binford Farlow '50
Not all athletics were official; pickup games of all kinds were played.
"It was called stoopball, use a tennis ball, and bounce it on the steps, on a corner (you get) so many points, it bounces back to you, you keep going until it drops. Then the other guy tries," said Farlow.
Students started the Guilford athletic program. After some of the original students graduated, they backed the athletic program as alumni. Over time, the program became officially supported by faculty and administration. Guilford involvement in athletics went up and down over the years; it was at its lowest during World War II.
World War II led to the growth and diversity of the women's athletic program. During the war, male enrollment in Guilford College was down, so the athletic program expanded its offerings for women. When male enrollment went up after the war through the G.I. Bill, the offerings of women's sports remained diverse, and many of the sports carried over to the men's program.
The popularity of individual sports also fluctuated over the years. Baseball was often the most popular. From the late 1800s to 1919, there wasn't enough support for a football team, but basketball support was strong. Archery, despite no longer being practiced, was a celebrated sport during its time at Guilford.
Though Guilford athletics were originally student driven, many of today's celebrated aspects are not. The Quaker man logo wasn't created until 1968 and was created by a nearby high school student named Duke Hilliard. Earlham quickly copied the Guilford logo, only making one small change. They removed the hair, they "didn't approve of long hair."
"The Fighting Quakers" name came from the 1920s in a game versus Elon; sportswriters wrote about it as a game of Christians versus Quakers. Fighting Christians and Fighting Quakers. According to Carter, when Elon got more popular, they dropped the Christian (name).
"Back in the Civil War, the first baseball game south of the Mason-Dixon Line was played here," said Max Carter, director of the Friends Center.
Guilford was one of the first three colleges to have a basketball team, only 14 years after the sport was invented.
Guilford also used to have more sports. Archery, boxing, wrestling, tumbling, speedball, hockey, riding, folk dancing, modern dancing, badminton, ping pong, gymnastics, yoga, skiing, cycling, jogging, judo, ice skating, weight lifting and handball all had either varsity or intramural teams.
"We never had a contradiction between archery and the peace testimony … (we) never hit the mark anyway," said Carter.
Some sports were organized with one year's class competing against each other. "There was dormitory affiliation. Cox hall and Archdale were organized by section. Each section would get a team together," said Binford Farlow '50
Not all athletics were official; pickup games of all kinds were played.
"It was called stoopball, use a tennis ball, and bounce it on the steps, on a corner (you get) so many points, it bounces back to you, you keep going until it drops. Then the other guy tries," said Farlow.
Students started the Guilford athletic program. After some of the original students graduated, they backed the athletic program as alumni. Over time, the program became officially supported by faculty and administration. Guilford involvement in athletics went up and down over the years; it was at its lowest during World War II.
World War II led to the growth and diversity of the women's athletic program. During the war, male enrollment in Guilford College was down, so the athletic program expanded its offerings for women. When male enrollment went up after the war through the G.I. Bill, the offerings of women's sports remained diverse, and many of the sports carried over to the men's program.
The popularity of individual sports also fluctuated over the years. Baseball was often the most popular. From the late 1800s to 1919, there wasn't enough support for a football team, but basketball support was strong. Archery, despite no longer being practiced, was a celebrated sport during its time at Guilford.
Though Guilford athletics were originally student driven, many of today's celebrated aspects are not. The Quaker man logo wasn't created until 1968 and was created by a nearby high school student named Duke Hilliard. Earlham quickly copied the Guilford logo, only making one small change. They removed the hair, they "didn't approve of long hair."
"The Fighting Quakers" name came from the 1920s in a game versus Elon; sportswriters wrote about it as a game of Christians versus Quakers. Fighting Christians and Fighting Quakers. According to Carter, when Elon got more popular, they dropped the Christian (name).
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