1902 South Dakota Coyotes football team
{{short description|American college football season}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox college sports team season
| year = 1902
| team = South Dakota Coyotes
| sport = football
| image =
| image_size =
| conference = Independent
| record = 9–0
| head_coach = Arthur H. Whittemore
| hc_year = 1st
| captain =
| stadium =
}}
{{1902 Midwestern college football independents records}}
The 1902 South Dakota Coyotes football team was an American football team that represented the University of South Dakota as an independent during the 1902 college football season. In its first season under head coach Arthur H. Whittemore, the team compiled a 9–0 record, shut out every opponent, and outscored them by a total of 204to 0.
The 1902 football season in South Dakota witnessed the death of Harry Jordan, a young man from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and led to the cancellation of games in that city.{{cite news|title=No Football Games Here: Death of Harry Jordan Produces Strong Sentiment Against It|newspaper=The Daily Argus-Leader|date=October 2, 1902|page=5|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/argus-leader-no-football-games-here-dea/138868830/|via=Newspapers.com}} At the end of the season, an editorial was published in The Daily Argus-Leader from a correspondent in Britton, South Dakota, proposing a bill "to abolish football within the precincts of South Dakota." The appeal was based on the loss of life and "mutilation" during the prior football season, the loss of study time, and the game's tendency to promote "immorality", including betting, rioting, debauchery, and "the refinement of cruelty, needless senseless cruelty." The author denounced: "That so savage and barbarious a game can meet with the approvaal of Christian educators and ministers of the gospel in the year of our Lord 1902 is one of the amazing exhibitions of the century."{{cite news|title=Denunciation of Football: A Britton Correspondent Writes a Scathing Criticism; Is a Brutal Game|newspaper=The Daily Argus-Leader|date=December 15, 1902|page=11|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/argus-leader-denunciation-of-football-a/138868338/|via=Newspapers.com}}
Schedule
{{CFB schedule
| attend = y
| source = y
|September 25|at|{{cfb link|year=1902|team=Sioux Falls Braves|title=Sioux Falls}}|County fair|Sioux Falls, SD|W 33-0||{{cite news |author= |title=Football At Sioux Falls—Vermillion Beats Local Team by Score of 33 to 0 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/sioux-city-journal/138891927/ |newspaper=Sioux City Journal |location=Sioux City, Iowa |date=September 26, 1902 |page=7 |access-date=January 16, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }}
| ||{{cfb link|year=1902|team=Missouri Mines Miners|title=Missouri Mines}}|||W 23-0||
|October 9|at|{{cfb link|year=1902|team=Yankton Greyhounds|title=Yankton}}|Local athletic field|Yankton, SD|W 39-0||{{cite news |author= |title=Vermillion Defeats Yankton At Football |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/argus-leader/138891127/ |newspaper=The Daily Argus-Leader |location=Sioux Falls, South Dakota |date=October 11, 1902 |page=11 |access-date=January 16, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }}
|October 14|at|Omaha Medical College||Omaha, NE|W 12-0||{{cite news|title=Only One Man Hurt: Vermillion is None the Worse From Omaha Game|newspaper=The Daily Argus-Leader|date=October 16, 1902|page=9|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/argus-leader-only-one-man-hurt-vermilli/138867673/|via=Newspapers.com}}
|October 25|vs.|{{cfb link|year=1902|team=South Dakota Mines Hardrockers|title=South Dakota Mines}}|Riverside grounds|Sioux City, IA|W 23-0||{{cite news|title=University Is Victorious: Rapid City School of Mines Is Defeated, 23 to 0|newspaper=Sioux City Journal|date=October 26, 1902|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/54140839/university-is-victorious-rapid-city/|via=Newspapers.com}}
|November 12||Yankton||Vermillion, SD|W 23-0||{{cite news|title=Yankton Was Easy for The Vermillion Eleven|newspaper=The Argus-Leader|date=November 12, 1902|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34960293/yankton-football-1902-argus-leader/|via=Newspapers.com}}
|November 14||Omaha Medical College||Vermillion, SD|W 34-0||{{cite news |author= |title=Vermillion Won Again |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/argus-leader/138892830/ |newspaper=The Daily Argus-Leader |location=Sioux Falls, South Dakota |date=November 15, 1902 |page=9 |access-date=January 16, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }}
|November 20|at|South Dakota Agricultural||Brookings, SD (rivalry)|W 10-0||{{cite news |author= |title=Swift Game Of Football |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/argus-leader/138888848/ |newspaper=The Daily Argus-Leader |location=Sioux Falls, South Dakota |date=November 21, 1902 |page=9 |access-date=January 16, 2024 |via=Newspapers.com {{Open access}} }}
|November 27||{{cfb link|year=1902|team=Morningside|title=Morningside}}|Woodland Park|Sioux City, IA|W 6-0|1,000|{{cite news|title=South Dakota Wins, 5 to 0|newspaper=The Sioux City Journal|date=November 28, 1902|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/54140490/south-dakota-wins-5-to-0/|via=Newspapers.com}}
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{South Dakota Coyotes football navbox}}
Category:South Dakota Coyotes football seasons
Category:College football undefeated seasons
{{collegefootball-1902-season-stub}}