Published: September 23, 2006 09:44 pm      

Old letter describes UCO’s 1906 football season

EDMOND — It’s amazing where a stamp will lead. For Joe Crosby, postmarks lead him on pathways delving into history. His unyielding passion for philately has him researching the printing, issuance and usage of stamps.

In August, Crosby was attending a Tulsa Stamp Club show when a dealer showed him an envelope with a Nov. 28, 1906, Edmond postmark.

“I could tell by reading the letter that it was about UCO football,” said Joe Crosby, a retired regional vice president for Occidental Petroleum.

The handwritten letter, addressed to “Mrs. Jones” in East Orange, N.J., was written on Nov. 27, 1906, by then-Central Normal College athletic director and football coach Finis Bentley about the college’s defeat that year to Kingfisher, 6-0.

“They got the ball on a fumble near our goal and scored early in the game,” wrote Bentley, who was 26 years old in 1906. “After that we outplayed them — gaining 5 yards to their 1 — but couldn’t score. Luck seemed against us and so we are not feeling especially bad. We had beaten the same team 11-0 before this season, so the college championship of the territory belongs to us.”

Central’s first regular football team was organized in October 1904, with Boyd Hill as coach. The first game was played against Logan County High School with Central losing 23-0, according to the UCO Archives & Special Collections. Hill’s record for 1904 was two wins and three losses.

In 1905, the first recognized football season grew from five to eight games with Bentley as coach. Bentley’s Bronze and the Blue team won four games, lost three and tied one game. Central lost to the University of Oklahoma, 28-0, but defeated Oklahoma State University, 6-0, and then tied OSU, 5-5, in a second game.

“... You will find that everyone is wildly confident of a successful season,” was recorded in an October 1907, edition of the college’s newspaper The Vista. “The reason for this change is that under the direction of Coach Bentley, the old warriors have so improved and the new ones have been so developed that prospects are bright indeed for our putting on a team that will be feared all over the new state.”

Before Bentley’s coaching at Central ended in 1911, he had earned a record of 16-27-5.

“We have been able to secure a game with Tonkawa, a small college northeast of here and so our season is not yet closed,” Bentley wrote to Mrs. Jones. “We will work hard to close with victory.”

The letter does not identify whether Mrs. Jones is a family friend or relative, but it politely complains that “Dorothy and Margaret” owed him a letter. He wrote lovingly about his wife, Rosemary. The couple later had two sons, according to UCO’s archives.

“It is rainy today. Rosemary and I went to the concert last night. She wore her white dress and wore red roses in her hair. I tell you she looked mighty sweet. I think she is the sweetest, prettiest girl that ever lived,” wrote Bentley, who was born in Michigan.

A headache threatened his Tuesday afternoon as Bentley complained of feeling ill for five days.

“Rosemary doctored me up so that I was able to go to Kingfisher on Saturday. But she was good to me, first hot cloths on my head and hot water bag on my feet, rubbed my head and neck, made me some toast, in fact, did everything possible to make me feel better. It was another opportunity for me to see what a dear girl she is, and I think we love each other more, if such a thing is possible. It seems as though every day brings to light some new virtue, shows forth another common point on which to build a life of happiness together.”

That day, Bentley wrote he had teased Rosemary about being “an old maid” and said they would privately share a chafing dish the following night.

On Friday, UCO Archives & Special Collections library technician Annette Ryan discovered more insights about Bentley. After Bentley’s coaching days in Edmond ended, he moved to Idaho and became an attorney. Rosemary was a school teacher. Ancestry.com lists his name among the World War I draft registration cards.

“There is an interesting connection between Finis and the Idaho State University,” Ryan said. “He was important or scholarly enough to have a collection in the Library Manuscript Collection.”

He died in Pocatello, Idaho, in 1947.

Bentley’s letter allows historians and history buffs to read otherwise forgotten words penned more than a century ago.

“It’s amazing to find what has survived,” Crosby said. Most surviving letters in stamped envelopes are business correspondence. Surviving letters prior to that are more personal in nature, he added.

His findings are many, but among the more interesting is Crosby’s possession of the earliest known letter mailed from what is now Oklahoma.

The earliest cover mailed from what is now McCurtain County was mailed from Miller Court House, on June 24, 1824, before government stamps were issued. The envelope’s contents did not survive, but the envelope is addressed to Mrs. C. Carter, to the care of Mr. H. Brown Jr., Lynchburg, Va.

Crosby always asks antique dealers if they have old letters or post cards whether he’s in Guthrie or traveling out of state. His collection of pre-statehood postmarks of Oklahoma Territory includes researching subject matter. He even traces the names of post masters and clerks along the traveling route an item was sent. He contacts local historical societies to gather photos of everyone associated with the letters.

“Low and behold, they bring up a picture and it brings the whole thing to life,” Crosby said.

(Features Editor James Coburn may be reached via e-mail at jcoburn@edmondsun.com.)