During our annual stint on the Great Day to Be a Bobcat livestream yesterday, we shared a few fun and interesting CatFacts with viewers, which we now share with you.

Great Day 2024 was another great success for �ֲ���ý and the �ֲ���ý Fund: nearly 2,400 alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students, and friends made gifts this year, busting past the donor goal of 1,907 (which is the number of students enrolled on campus). All told, donors contributed more than $1 million to �ֲ���ý.

And in keeping with the arrival of St. Patrick’s Day on Sunday, we found two Irish-flavored CatFacts.

Tackling COVID in a thesis

The focus on a senior’s honors thesis in biochemistry is how certain metabolites in various plant species might help stop the spread of COVID-19 by blocking how the coronavirus enters cells.

The virus that causes COVID-19 rapidly mutates, so the search for antiviral compounds must take the quick mutation rate into account.

One approach is to target the initiation of the COVID-19 infection cycle, which takes place outside cells, meaning an inhibitor would not need to be transported into the cell to be effective.

Bobcats might be Irish?

In 1905, the Boston Evening Transcript ran a story about bobcats with this subhead: “A Decidedly Interesting Animal with Unconventional Ways and of Anomalous Design.”

In conveying the animals toughness, the writer invokes Irish temperament.

“The bobcat’s eyes are fierce and not a bit sly or cunning. I know of no other beast, large or small, that has so much good Irish blood. There isn’t a cowardly fiber in him. Add to that temper muscular strength five or six times bigger than he looks.”

The first Irish-born �ֲ���ý graduate

The first �ֲ���ý graduate who was born in Ireland was Dennis Joseph Callahan, Class of 1876. He was born in Bishopstown, Ireland, on Christmas Day in 1852.

His residence during college was on Lincoln Street in Lewiston; it’s possible he lived with his parents, who may have emigrated to Lewiston to work in the mills, as Lincoln Street runs alongside Lewiston’s mill buildings.

Callahan was “fitted” for �ֲ���ý at Latin Nichols School, a bygone prep school associated with �ֲ���ý that is now John Bertram Hall.

Studying the law under Lewiston lawyer Mandeville Treat Ludden, Callahan was admitted to the bar in 1878 and thereafter emerged as one of Lewiston’s leading citizens, including service as president of the school board.

Changes in latitude

�ֲ���ý is located at approximately 44 degrees North latitude. Here are six cities around the world that have a similar latitude:

Bordeaux, France
Genoa, Italy
Podgorica, Montenegro
Bucharest, Romania
Vladivostok, Russia

Open water

After a mild Maine winter, the �ֲ���ý rowing team began training on the Androscoggin River on March 13, 18 days earlier than any year in head coach Peter Steenstra’s 16 years and probably the earliest since �ֲ���ý rowing first took to the Androscoggin River in the early 1990s.

Standout athlete and sportswoman

Mary VanWyck ‘46 was a standout athlete and sportswoman of her era.

In 1946, she earned a rating to officiate girls basketball games anywhere in the nation. She helped to coach the Lewiston High School girls team and officiated local girls games, and was a catcher for the Smith Middle intramural softball team.

The rating was from the Women’s National Officials Rating Committee, established in 1928 as the first national women’s officiating board to improve the quality of officiating for girls sports.

Play ball!

A traveling team of ethnic Chinese baseball players from Hawaii played �ֲ���ý in June 1915.

“We are glad to have these men with us and to engage in competitions,” said The �ֲ���ý Student. “The world is hourly becoming more cosmopolitan, and after all the fundamental differences in men are small.”

Speedy Bobcat

As far as we can tell, two automobiles have carried the bobcat name: the forgettable Mercury Bobcat and the more sharp-looking Marion Bobcat, a “powerful speed car” made by the Marion Motor Car Co. of Indianapolis, Ind., that you could pick up in 1914 for $2,150.

It was advertised as a “low hung, sturdily built, powerful and fast, ideal for long-distance runs in hilly, sandy, and rugged country.”

“The touring season is close at hand,” said an advertisement in The Daily Republican of Rushville, Indiana, in July 1915, “fresh air, renewed vigor and health are yours to obtain after a hard winter. The Marion Bobcat will show you the beauties of the open road and do it safely, economically, and constantly.” The Marion Motor Co. merged with other car companies in 1915.

Lucky 13 for Fulbright

�ֲ���ý is one of just 21 undergraduate liberal arts colleges that can claim being a Fulbright Student Top Producer for 13 straight years.

Twice in the past six years, �ֲ���ý has been the No. 1 producer of Fulbright Student awards. 

This edition of CatFacts — our occasional collection of fun tidbits about �ֲ���ý, then and now, here and there — gives a nod to the gridiron, as (Friday, Sept. 15) vs. Wesleyan University, in a game moved from Saturday due to impending effects of Hurricane Lee.

1. The First Game: ‘Gracious Juggernaut!’

This inscribed stone rests near the southern entrance to Garcelon Field, commemorating Maine’s first college football game, played on bygone Rand Field on Nov. 6, 1875, between Tufts and �ֲ���ý. The stone was installed in 1975 on the 100th anniversary of the game.

“Occasionally 10 or 12 men got into a promiscuous scramble for the possession of the ball,” the bemused Lewiston Evening Journal reported in its game story, “and came forth rubbing their shins and using such phrases as, ‘Gracious juggernaut.’”

2. The �ֲ���ý ‘Marriners” of World War II

The official records say that �ֲ���ý fielded no varsity football team during the World War II years of 1943 to 1945. But that doesn’t mean there was no football played on Garcelon Field.

Enter the �ֲ���ý “Marriners.” 

By summer 1943, �ֲ���ý had welcomed the Navy to campus, in the form of an officer-training program known as V-12. These sailors mostly came from the ranks of other colleges, including Bowdoin, Colby, and the University of Maine.

So in fall 1943, �ֲ���ý (or the Navy, more correctly) was able to fill a football roster and the team, dubbed the Marriners by the local press, played a limited schedule of games, including one vs. a much heavier and favored U.S. Army team from Camp Edwards, a bygone Army base on Cape Cod. �ֲ���ý won that game, 13–7. 

3. �ֲ���ý in Sports Illustrated

Taken four years before Garcelon was fitted with artificial turf, this iconic image from the �ֲ���ý-Colby football game on Oct. 28, 2006, appeared across two pages in Sports Illustrated‘s special issue, “Football America” (Dec. 4, 2006).

The photograph shows Jamie Walker ’07 of Needham, Mass., moving a pile of Mule defenders, one of his 43 carries on the day. Some 4.62 inches of rain fell on Garcelon Field that day. Daryn Slover, a staff photographer for the Sun Journal newspaper on freelance assignment for �ֲ���ý, took the photo, persevering in his work despite the wind and rain, only calling it quits after several lenses became too wet to work.

4. Garcelon’s First Touchdown

On Oct. 14, 1899, the first touchdown was scored on new Garcelon Field by Frederick Harold Stinchfield, Class of 1900.

He graduated and attended Harvard Law School, became president of the 30,000-member American Bar Association, and from there helped defeat President Franklin Roosevelt’s controversial “court packing” scheme.

5. �ֲ���ý’ First and Only Bowl Game

Following an undefeated 7–0 regular season in 1946, �ֲ���ý accepted a bid to face the University of Toledo in the first Glass Bowl, believed to be the only bowl game for a NESCAC team.

As part of half-time festivities, an 18-pound Maine lobster was presented to Ohio Gov. Frank J. Lausche, and a �ֲ���ý Manufacturing bedspread was presented to his wife.

Held on Dec. 7, 1946, the game was won by Toledo, 21–12, in a game attended by “12,000 fans, five bands, a host of flags —  traditional trimmings of a post-season football extravaganza,” the Associated Press reported.

6. The Famous 0-0 Tie with Yale

Then as now, larger schools schedule smaller schools early in the season, looking for an easy win. Such was the case in the early 1900s, when Ivy League teams often hosted �ֲ���ý and other Maine schools, and the result was often lopsided loss for �ֲ���ý.

But not in 1932, the year , in New Haven on Oct. 1, making national news. 

“Scarlet-clad gridiron warriors from �ֲ���ý College, Lewiston, Maine, furnished one of the early football surprises of the season here Saturday in holding Yale to a nothing to nothing tie in the opening game of the season for the Elis,” reported a wire story that appeared in newspapers as far away as Miami, Fla.

7. When Training Camp Was at a Camp

In the late 1930s, �ֲ���ý football held its training camp at real camp: Camp Wonalancet, a now-bygone boys camp in Eaton Center, N.H. Classes didn’t begin until late September, so the month was open for teams to get away for practice.

When the Hurricane of 1938 swept through New England that September, the �ֲ���ý team was at Camp Wonalancet.  The cabins had tin roofs, and as the wind blew and branches rained down on the cabins, “it sounded like mortar rounds,” the late Al Topham ’41 recalled a few years ago. He would have known, having served as a Marine in the Pacific during the war.

After the hurricane, practice the next morning was postponed because “there were big timbers on the fields,” he says. “We had to move all that trash off the fields before we could practice.”

8. When the ‘Popular Halfback’ Fooled Maine

In 1961, head football coach Bob Hatch surprised the heavily favored University of Maine with an innovative spread formation that made national news.

Dubbed the “Popular Halfback” formation, it had speedy running back Paul Planchon ‘64 line up as if a wide receiver, but not alone. With him went an armada of four other players. Quarterback “Swift” Hathaway took the hike, pitched to Planchon, who headed downfield with his escort.

The play worked well, helping �ֲ���ý to a surprise 15–15 tie. The name “Popular Halfback” was a reference to Army’s “Lonesome End,” Bill Carpenter, who always lined up near a far sideline and never even came into the huddle.

“We didn’t think we could beat Maine with an orthodox offense,” Hatch told the newspapers. It was an era when Maine, getting bigger every year, still competed against Bowdoin, Colby, and �ֲ���ý in the State Series. 

“We hoped this way to provoke some defensive miscues and also to ‘psych’ our own kids into believing they had something extra going for them.” 

9. When a Circus Grounds Was Home Field

Before Garcelon opened in 1899, �ֲ���ý played its football games at Lee Park, a combination athletic and circus grounds close to campus, near what is now the Armory. (Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show appeared there in June 1900.)

10. Charles Ray, Class of 1927, First Black Captain

In 1926, the election of a Black player, Charles B. Ray, Class of 1927, of West Chester, Pa., as captain of the �ֲ���ý team was reported in newspapers around the country, as far away as California.

“Without a powerful build or great weight — he stands 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs only 150 pounds — Ray has qualified as a triple threat through his kicking, forward passing, and carrying of the ball,” The Boston Globe reported. “Likewise he has distinguished himself on the defensive, particularly through his ability to break up forward passes.”

At �ֲ���ý, he was the first Black sports captain, of the football team, in 1926. Later an educator, he integrated the all-white faculty at Freehold (N.J.) High School in the 1950s, becoming a beloved mentor and coach. 

11. Tom Carr ‘66, Patriot Draft Pick

Bruising fullback Tom Carr ‘66 is , by the then-Boston Patriots in the 13th round of the 1966 draft.

That summer he competed for a spot on Boston’s roster, playing in exhibition games, including one in Quincy, Mass., against the New York Jets. The team put Carr on what was then known as the “taxi squad,” the equivalent of today’s practice squad. He didn’t get a call to the Patriots that season. He suffered an injury during the 1967 training camp and pivoted away from pro football.

This edition of CatFacts, our second, tilts toward the trivial. But where else are you going to learn what “yagging” is? 

Need a Hug?

This is a followup to a CatFact in the last edition reporting that until 1922, campus dances were prohibited.

Just after �ֲ���ý approved campus dances for the first time, Dean of Men and Professor of Biology Fred Pomeroy told the male students that �ֲ���ý would not allow the “type of dancing at downtown dance halls” and that dancing was “not an excuse to hug a girl.” 

The proprietors of Lewiston dance halls, offended by the insinusation of “indecent dancing” in their establishments, said that the dean was clueless about modern dancing, saying that it was impossible for a couple to both hug and keep time with the day’s fast-paced dances.

Ultimate Decision

In October 1977, the �ֲ���ý Department of Athletics refused to approve a new club sport: ultimate, the disc sport. One reason: There was “confusion as to just when the ultimate season is,” according to The �ֲ���ý Student. (�ֲ���ý now has men’s and women’s club ultimate teams.)

Cheer Up

“Yagging” was a 1890s phenomenon, where student spectators at �ֲ���ý games created a “perfect bedlam of noise,” according to The �ֲ���ý Student in May 1894, featuring “frantic shouting and singing,” near-constant chanting, plus the “blowing of horns, waving of canes, hats, and flags.” 

The paper said that the tumult was more than annoying: It created a “poorer exhibit of athletic ability because for everyone it requires more nerve power to withstand such a continual strain.”

How About Dem Apples?

In November 1907, newspapers around the country reported a good deed by seven female �ֲ���ý students: They helped a local farmer pick his apples — 67 barrels in six hours — before a killing frost. The farmer’s daughter, Grace Harlow, Class of 1910, was one of the �ֲ���ý students. 

The Marysville (Ohio) Journal-Tribune noted that the women “donned short skirts [and] put on leather leggings” then climbed all the trees to get the job done. “Mr. Harlow declares he will employ the girls next fall,” the paper reported.

I’m Here for an Argument 

In 1948–49, �ֲ���ý defeated 10 other colleges, including the University of Alabama, Wake Forest, and Texas Christian in the National Recorded Debate, where colleges recorded their arguments, , that were sent to opponents, who then recorded counter-arguments. All the records were then sent to judges around the country for ranking.

​​Think It Over

In the late 1960s, consumption of coffee had sunk to historic lows, prompting a national ad campaign, including ads in The �ֲ���ý Student, aimed at the college crowd. 

Developed by McCann-Erickson (the ad firm that came across poorly in Mad Men), the print campaign was called “The Think Drink.” It tried to crack wise by posing a college-life situation, then offered this tagline: “Think it over, over coffee.” Examples:

“You keep flunking your best subject?”
Think it over, over coffee.

“Your adviser asks you for advice?”
Think it over, over coffee.

“Your last check from home just bounced?”
Think it over, over coffee.

“Your psychology professor lives with his mother?”
Think it over, over coffee.”

Spare Change

In the early 1990s, �ֲ���ý offered access to online content through Gopher, which predated the World Wide Web. A campus-wide email in September 1994 announced that that content found on the campus Gopher server might “change without notice.”

Bowled Them Over 

Two different �ֲ���ý teams went undefeated in the GE College Bowl television quiz show in the spring and fall 1961. They defeated Muhlenberg, George Washington, Brandeis, Trinity (Texas), Macalester, North Dakota–Grand Forks, and Wheaton (Massachusetts).

Getting to Work

When �ֲ���ý purchased land near Russell Street to expand Garcelon Field in the 1930s, the project moved rapidly forward “with requisite speed” in part because it was the Great Depression, and the project was intended “to aid the unemployed,” said the �ֲ���ý Alumnus of February 1932.

Advanced Degree

The oldest person to receive a �ֲ���ý degree is 83-year-old Francena Stanton White Morrell, who received hers in 1931, by vote of the �ֲ���ý trustees. Initially a member of the Class of 1867 — �ֲ���ý’ first college class — she left before graduation, as did all seven women in that first class, in part due to the chilly reception from male students. 

During our annual stint on the Great Day to Be a Bobcat livestream, we shared a few fun and interesting CatFacts with viewers, which we now share with you.

Great Day 2023 was another great success: 2,315 alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students, and friends made gifts this year, far surpassing the donor goal of 1,855 (a number that represents �ֲ���ý’ founding year). All told, donors contributed $839,026 to �ֲ���ý. 

Mays and Carter

Benjamin Mays, the revered civil rights leader who graduated from �ֲ���ý in 1920, and former President Jimmy Carter were close friends.

Attending the 1985 dedication of the Muskie Archives and receiving an honorary degree, Carter spoke about Mays, saying, “I want to thank this college for making it possible for Dr. Benjamin Mays to overcome the handicaps of white supremacy and racism and to take his place among the prominent leaders of our nation and the world.”

In this circa 1980 photograph, Carter and Mays warmly greet one another.

Play Ball!

This vintage �ֲ���ý baseball glove belonged to Donald C. Webster ’41, a 6-foot-5 Bobcat pitcher who was dubbed a “lanky portsider” by The �ֲ���ý Student and an “elongated lefty” by the Bangor Daily News.

Remembering Rand

The first �ֲ���ý baseball field was on the old Rand Field.

‘Fruitful Diversion’

In 1983, when Julia Child (right) received a �ֲ���ý honorary degree, she was praised for creating “recipes for fruitful diversion and happiness among friends.” At center is President Hedley Reynolds; trustee at left is unidentified.

Fantastic Five

The �ֲ���ý field hockey team was undefeated in its first five years of intercollegiate competition, 1967–1971. Its first loss came in November 1972.

The Mirror image below is from 1967, the team’s inaugural season, in which �ֲ���ý defeated the University of Maine–Farmington; Gorham State College, now part of the University of Southern Maine; Westbrook College (twice), now part of the University of New England; Colby; and the University of Maine.

�ֲ���ý Illustrated

This �ֲ���ý–Colby football photo, taken by Daryn Slover for �ֲ���ý College when Garcelon Field was a natural grass (or mud) field, was splashed over two pages in Sports Illustrated on Dec. 6, 2006, for the magazine’s “Football America” issue.

Bette Davis Eyes

Legendary actor Bette Davis’ father, Harlow Morrell Davis, was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of �ֲ���ý in 1907. She didn’t think much of him: “He was too bright to enjoy being alive,” she wrote. “His contempt for all of humanity including himself was so great that he abused and neglected himself physically…. He worked himself to death.” The elder Davis died of a heart attack in 1938 at age 52.

We Dig It

In January 1980, 12 �ֲ���ý students, led by Nick Kofos ’80, set a Guinness world record by playing volleyball for 71 straight hours in the old Rand Hall gym. From the 1980 Mirror, the photo below shows the games-played total with 16 hours to go.

Nursing School

In 1942, to meet the need for healthcare workers in World War II, �ֲ���ý launched a five-year nursing program. It graduated nearly 100 students before ending in 1958. This nursing cap has the official �ֲ���ý Department of Nursing pin.

Let’s Dance

In 1922, the �ֲ���ý trustees voted to allow students to have campus dances. Campus dancing had been prohibited since the college’s 1855 founding. With the ban lifted, Chase Hall Lounge became the place where �ֲ���ý men and women went cheek to cheek for the first time in public.

In League with Jimi

On March 16, 1968, the �ֲ���ý rock band The Hanseatic League opened for legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix at the nearby Armory. The photograph of Hendrix below , Also performing that night was the legendary Lewiston garage band Terry and the Telstars. In 1975, Queen performed at the Armory.