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Created by it's namesake Hugh C. Blair as a school for "practical enducation", or in today's terminology, "technical college", Blair was aggressive in using the football team to market the Business College as the place to send young men to prepare themselves for gainful employment. Though loosely considered a college, the football team that formed fell more in line with the "club" teams of the late 1800's, however, due to Spokane's relative isolation in eastern Washington, other collegiate and high school teams were the available opponents for the first few years. That first team in 1898 featured Frank Clark scoring the first ever TD for BBC against Spokane High with Charles Smith kicking the goal after. A scheduled game in 1900 with Idaho Univesity was canceled when many of the expected men failed to arrive on time. Blair would not put a poor team on the field and opted out for the year, reorganizing the team for 1901. P.S. McAllister was elected captain of the 1901 team, a former halfback at the University of Montana, while Joe Winston, quarterback of Washington State College became the coach. Blair would lose both outings to Spokane High and the Spokane YMCA club team. The 1905 game against Coeur d'Alene High ended in dispute as the high schoolers scored, but game officials declared time had expired before the runner crossed the goal line and Blair was awarded a 10-6 win, it's only victory of the season. Had play been allowed to continue under today's timing rules, Blair would have lost the game 12-10. A return game was canceled by Coeur d'Alene in protest. The 1906 team featured a much improved defense, but offense struggled to punch in scores as evidenced by the four games ending in 0-0 ties. The offense only scored once in the lone win against Cheney on October 6th. Defensively, Blair gave up 17 points in two losses to Washington State and Seattle High. Johnny Bender, a 5-time letterwinner with the Nebraska University team was hired to assist Coach Hawkins in 1907. Bender was also coaching the Washington State Cougars and literally threw the BBC to HIS wolves on October 12th, 1907. The Cougars destroyed Blair in one of the most lopsided affairs 86-0. A month later, Benders' Cougars would crush the Spokane Athletic Club 70-0. Following the drubbing by WSC, the team got better and played well winning it's final three games. Blair men George Twedt, Will Hillman and Frank Lippert would be picked up by the Spokane Athletic Club in December. Getting out to a good start in 1908, the Thanksgiving Day rivalry game with the Spokane YMCA turned into an "as-was" score after it was ruled Spokane used a professional player not associated with the YMCA. This meant the 4-0 lead Blair had to end the 1st half is how the game would be recorded before the player in question entered the game.
1908 Blair Business College Team
1909 was a turning point for football as a nationwide banning effort was gaining steam due to a public health concern over debilitating injuries and some deaths from head injuries and internal bleeding. Spokane, already a difficult area to drum up football support, dwindled as high schools banded together to only play "true" high school teams. Star quarterback Jay Kennedy even returned to high school for the 1909 season after leading Blair to wins in 1908 as a teenager. In a fiasco of epic proportions, Blair went ahead and canceled the Lewiston game in favor of cross-town rival Gonzaga College. Gonzaga protested Cheeley and Powell playing, which Blair agreed to hold out of the game. Still, Gonzaga wavered and said no to the game much to the frustration of H.C. Blair and Jimmy Irsfield who were already denied schedules with any local high schools to fill dates. A lawsuit filed by Coach Irsfield for $400, the amount he felt remained owed on the $500 agreement before the season was canceled, soured Blair on football and he ended support for sponsoring the team in 1910. In May, Blair won the court case which denied Irsfield payment for games not played. The new rule changes governing football and the lack of similar teams to play can be attributed to the shut down of the Blair program after 10 seasons over 12 years, just as the success of the team was on the rise. H.C. Blair announced the team was disbanding the Old Gold and Royal Purple franchise on November 2, 1909. DO YOU HAVE INFORMATION TO CONTRIBUTE? CONTACT US! (email)
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