TACOMA, Wash. - Colleges and universities around the nation are celebrating the 150th anniversary of college football throughout the 2019 season. As part of the celebration, GoLutes.com will cover some of the greatest moments in the history of the storied gridiron program at Pacific Lutheran University. The first part of this series will cover the Lutes from the program's beginnings up until the outbreak of World War II.
The first-ever intercollegiate football game took place on Nov. 6, 1869 with Rutgers defeating Princeton 6-4 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It would take 21 more years for the game to head to Washington State, with the University of Washington and Washington College playing to a scoreless draw on Nov. 27, 1890 in Tacoma in the first-ever intercollegiate game played within the state.
Pacific Lutheran's foray onto the gridiron wouldn't happen until the 1926 season, playing two games against local non-college opponents. The nascent Lutes faced their first collegiate varsity opponent in 1927, battling to a 0-0 draw with Centralia Junior College while facing its first four-year varsity program on Armistice Day (Nov. 11) 1930, falling to Ellensburg Normal (now Central Washington) 26-13.
The 1931 season saw the Lutes face crosstown nemesis University of Puget Sound for the first time, a series that continues to the present day. The 1931 season, under the direction of Head Coach Clifford Olson saw the Lutes win their first game against a four-year varsity program, smashing Western Washington 27-7 before netting a 26-0 shutout at the expense of Whitworth.
Olson guided Pacific Lutheran, then known as the Gladiators, to their first conference title in 1939, winning a share of the Washington Intercollegiate Conference title. With one of the nation's best passers in Marv "Tommygun" Tommervik, the Gladiators finished the season 7-1 and were hailed by the Associated Press as the Northwest's Outstanding Small College Team.
The 1939 season was the start of a dynasty for the Lutes, winning 18 consecutive games and three conference titles from 1939-1941.
The following season, 1940, might be the best season in the storied history of Lute football and stands as the only undefeated and untied team in program annals, capping off the year 8-0. PLU opened the season with a 33-0 win over Saint Martin's before collecting comfortable wins over Pacific (26-6), Linfield (45-6) and Western Washington (26-7). The Gladiators concluded the season with a massive 16-13 upset of major power Gonzaga in front of 15,000 fans. The Lutes fell behind early before scoring the final 13 points of the game against the Zags and their star Tony Canadeo who would later be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his 11-year NFL career with the Green Bay Packers. The conclusion of the season saw Tommervik earn First Team AP Little All-American honors.
The Gladiators continued to roll in 1941, smashing the Zags 26-13 in the opener before posting shutouts over Eastern Washington (27-0), Saint Martin's (7-0), and Puget Sound (47-0). PLU's win streak came to a close in the eighth game of the season, falling 20-6 to Portland before ending the year with a 13-7 win over Pacific. The Lutes hoisted its third straight Washington Intercollegiate Conference crown, ending the year with an 8-1 record while the "Marvelous Marvs," Tommervik and Harshman, both earned postseason accolades. Harshman was named a First Team fullback by the New York Sun while Tommervik was a First Team AP Little All-American after leading the nation in passing.
The Lute dynasty would be interrupted abruptly with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor at the conclusion of the 1941 season, pulling the Lutes away from the gridiron and towards the front lines of World War II.
