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The Birth of WHS Football and the Old Gold & Black November 6, 2007. A young man returned to Washington in 1893 after a brief stay at Louisville Male High School. His name was Adrian Hamersly. On his return trip to Washington , he brought with him the city’s first regulation football and a passion for a rough and somewhat brutal new game of the same name, football. Known on the football field as Ade, the hardnosed running back introduced this game to anyone who was willing to listen and sometimes participate in. Hamersly, along with Dick and Bert Allen, practiced the game every autumn in a farm lot near the intersection of Wykoff Lane and Edwardsport Road. Unfortunately, the game attracted little interest so a team was not organized at any level. That all changed in 1896 when Claude Malott was hired to teach at Washington High School. After Malott got involved with the new game, fellow teachers Harry Gers and Heilman Wadsworth joined in and a team was formed. With a combination of teachers, students and former students on the roster, the team “appropriated” Washington High School because football was considered a college or school sport. With a collegiate attitude created by Malott, Gers and Wadsworth, team colors had to be chosen. Legend has it that a high school drop out by the name of Willard Matthews attended Washington’s only football game of 1897 against Princeton, wearing old gold and black colors. After the game, Washington High School adopted those colors. The legend is not quite accurate. The team colors were chosen in 1896 by Malott, Gers, Wadsworth and Hamersly before their first game against Vincennes University (VU won the game, 10-0). Matthews was in fact a player on the 1897 WHS team. The colors were part of his uniform and Washington defeated Princeton that afternoon, 12-6. The Old Gold and Black became a true high school team in 1900 and was coached by Wadsworth. The principals at various area schools formed an athletic association at the beginning of the 1900 season. The objective of this new league was to promote fair competition and safety. Rosters were limited to high school players only. At that time, WHS officially adopted the school colors of Old Gold and Black. With coaching help from O.P. West and A.O. Fulkerson, Washington quickly became a Southern Indiana powerhouse. Fulkerson’s 1908 team, led by Elmer Oliphant and Bud Edmondson, won all seven of its games and was declared the mythical state champion. This success was short lived however as the sport was “abandoned” by the high school at the start of the 1911 season. Due to the rough nature of the sport, the IHSAA imposed a rule that all players must have a written permit from their parents before participating and this requirement took effect before the 1911 campaign greatly reducing Washington’s player roster. After a so-called “accident” by the Washington Democrat newspaper, a number of player’s permits were revoked by parents. The result of this accident depleted the roster to a level where a team could not be fielded. After 25 years of grid iron silence, football was revived by Washington High School in time for the 1936 season. Washington had been invited to join the prestigious Southern Indiana Athletic Conference in 1935. But there was one condition attached to the invitation, football must be included in the list of sports provided by the school. Led by A.O Fulkerson, the athletic board convinced the board of trustees to reinstate football at WHS. Washington entered the SIAC the next year. Ade Hamersly’s new regulation football was the seed planted 114 years ago, and look how big the tree has grown.
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