1918 Mare Island Marines football team
{{short description|American college football season}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox college sports team season
| year = 1918
| team = Mare Island Marines
| sport = football
| image =
| image_size =
| conference = Independent
| record = 10–1
| head_coach = William Henry Dietz
| hc_year = 1st
| captain =
| stadium =
| bowl = Rose Bowl
| bowl_result = L 0–18 vs. Great Lakes Navy
| next_year = none
}}
{{1918 military service football records}}
The 1918 Mare Island Marines football team represented the United States Marine Corps stationed at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California, during the 1918 college football season. The team lost to the Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets in the 1919 Rose Bowl. Prior to the Rose Bowl, the team had compiled a 10–0 record, shut out seven opponents, and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 454 to 28.{{cite web|title=1918 Mare Island Marines Schedule and Results|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|work=SR/College Football|accessdate=July 27, 2018|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/mare-island-marines/1918-schedule.html}}
The team was built around Marines from the Pacific Northwest. Dick Hanley, who had played at Washington State, was the team's quarterback. Benton Bangs, another former Washington State backfield star, joined the team in November.Brown, Fields of Friendly Strife, pp. 176-177. The team's athletic director, Lynn Coovert, was an attorney from Portland.
Before the season began, Hanley and Coovert lobbied Washington State's football coach, William "Lone Star" Dietz, to coach the Mare Island team as part of his patriotic duty. Dietz, who had led the 1915 Washington State team to an undefeated season and a victory in the 1916 Rose Bowl, agreed to take the position.{{cite news|title=Lone Star Dietz, Coach of the Marines' Football Team|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=October 6, 1918|page=8|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13042276/san_francisco_chronicle/|via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite book|title=Keep A-Goin': The Life of Lone Star Dietz|author=Tom Benjey|publisher=Tuxedo Press|year=2006|page=192|isbn=0977448614}}
After two early victories in September, the season was interrupted in October when the Spanish flu pandemic caused a quarantine of Mare Island.{{cite book|author=Timothy P. Brown|title=Fields of Friendly Strife: The Doughboys and Sailors of the World War I Rose Bowls|publisher=Brown House Publishing|year=2017|pages=118–120|isbn=9780999572320|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NqFFDwAAQBAJ}} The Oakland Tribune on October 2 reported that, despite the quarantine, the football team continued its daily practice.{{cite news|title=Influenza Is Death to Mare Island Sports|newspaper=Oakland Tribune|date=October 2, 1918|page=8|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22276148/influenza_is_death_to_mare_island_sports/|via=Newspapers.com}} After the quarantine was lifted, the team won eight consecutive games, including four victories during a two-week trip to the Pacific Northwest.
Schedule
{{CFB schedule
| attend = yes
| source = yes
|September 21|at|Goat Island Naval Training Station|Grove Street Ball Park|Oakland, CA|W 31-0|5,000|{{cite news|title=Marines Wade Through Sailors and Win 31 to 0 in First Football Classic: Superior Team Work Is Best Answer to Shutout Which Sailors Suffered|newspaper=Oakland Tribune|author=Herbert Hauser|date=September 22, 1918|pages=24–25|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22269043/marines_wade_through_sailors_and_win_31/|via=Newspapers.com}}
|September 27|at|Camp Fremont||Camp Fremont, CA|W 66-0||{{cite news|title=Marines Have Easy Time at Camp Fremont: Mare Islanders Have Subs and Still Win by a Score of 66 to 0|newspaper=Oakland Tribune|date=September 28, 1918|page=8|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8956516/oakland_tribune/|via=Newspapers.com}}
|November 2|at|Fort Baker||San Francisco|W 67-0||{{cite news|title=Marines Pile Up Big Score at Fort Baker: Devil Dogs Just Out of Quarantine Cut Up Something Scandalous|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=November 3, 1918|page=10|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8870258/san_francisco_chronicle/|via=Newspapers.com}}
|November 16|vs|Saint Mary's|California Field|Berkeley, CA|W 34-7||{{cite news|title=St. Mary's Football Team Snowed Under By Marines From Mare Island|newspaper=Oakland Tribune|date=November 17, 1918|page=46|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8712014/oakland_tribune/|via=Newspapers.com}}
|November 23|at|Vancouver Barracks|Portland baseball field|Portland, OR|W 39-0|2,200|{{cite news|title=Marines Defeat Vancouver Team by 39 to 0 Score|newspaper=The Oregon Sunday Journal|date=November 24, 1918|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11289818/the_oregon_daily_journal/|via=Newspapers.com}}
|November 28|at|Camp Lewis|Tacoma Stadium|Tacoma, WA|W 16-0|10,000|{{cite news|title=Doughboys of Sea Win 16-0 Fight: Marines Prove Easy Winners Against 13th Division Team at Camp Lewis Field|newspaper=The Oregon Daily Journal|date=November 29, 1918|page=14|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11290515/the_oregon_daily_journal/|via=Newspapers.com}}Brown, Fields of Friendly Strife, pp. 180-181.
|November 30|vs|Idaho|Interstate Fairgrounds|Spokane, WA|W 68-0|4,000|{{cite news|title=Marines Smother Idaho Eleven|newspaper=The Morning Register|date=December 1, 1918|page=6|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22274630/marines_smother_idaho_eleven/|via=Newspapers.com}}Brown, Fields of Friendly Strife, pp. 181-182.
|December 6|at|Camp Perry|Shipbuilders' Park|Bremerton, WA|W 89-0||{{cite news|title=Such a Headache for Camp Perry|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=December 7, 1918|page=4|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22274797/such_a_headache_for_camp_perry/|via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news|title=Marines Have Walkover with Camp Perry Eleven|newspaper=The Morning Register|date=December 7, 1918|page=6|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22274878/marines_have_walkover_with_camp_perry/|via=Newspapers.com}}Brown, Fields of Friendly Strife, p. 182.
|December 14|vs|Mather Field Aviation Training Station|California Field|Berkeley, CA|W 30-13|5,000|{{cite news|title=Marines Win Championship of Service Teams by Defeating Aviators: Fliers Make Game Finish, But Lose Out|newspaper=Oakland Tribune|date=December 15, 1918|page=54|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11349851/oakland_tribune/|via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news|title=Marines Wallop Mather|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=December 15, 1918|page=10|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22267420/marines_wallop_mather/|via=Newspapers.com}}
|December 25||Balboa Park Naval Training Camp||Vallejo, CA|W 12-7||{{cite news|title=Marines Smash Balboans|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=December 26, 1918|page=4|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22267802/marines_smash_balboans/|via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news|title=Marines Defeat Balboa and Win Western Football Title|newspaper=Oakland Tribune|date=December 26, 1918|page=10|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22267898/marines_defeat_balboa_and_win_western/|via=Newspapers.com}}
|January 1, 1919|vs|Great Lakes Navy|Tournament Park|Pasadena, CA (Rose Bowl)|L 0-17|26,000|{{cite news|title=Mighty Tars Crush the Marines: Service Championship of U. S. Goes to Great Lakes by 17-0 Score at Pasadena Classic--Scene a Marvel of Color and Animation|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=January 2, 1919|page=II-1, II-7|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22240725/mighty_tars_crush_the_marines/|via=Newspapers.com}}
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{World War I military service football teams navbox}}