1932 VPI Gobblers football team

The 1932 VPI Gobblers football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute in the 1932 Southern Conference football season. The team was led by their head coach Henry Redd and finished with a record of eight wins and one loss (8–1).

1932 VPI Gobblers football
Conference	Southern Conference
Record	8–1 (6–1 SoCon)
Head coach	Henry Redd (1st season)
Captain	Bill Grinus
Home stadium	Miles Stadium
Seasons ← 1931 1933 →

1932 Southern Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 9 Tennessee +	7	–	0	–	1			9	–	0	–	1
Auburn +	6	–	0	–	1			9	–	0	–	1
LSU +	4	–	0	–	0			6	–	3	–	1
VPI	6	–	1	–	0			8	–	1	–	0
Vanderbilt	4	–	1	–	2			6	–	1	–	2
NC State	3	–	1	–	1			6	–	1	–	2
Alabama	5	–	2	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
Tulane	5	–	2	–	1			6	–	2	–	1
Duke	5	–	3	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Georgia Tech	4	–	4	–	1			4	–	5	–	1
Kentucky	4	–	5	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Virginia	2	–	3	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Ole Miss	2	–	3	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Georgia	2	–	4	–	2			2	–	5	–	2
Maryland	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
North Carolina	2	–	5	–	1			3	–	5	–	2
South Carolina	1	–	2	–	1			5	–	4	–	2
VMI	1	–	4	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
Washington and Lee	1	–	4	–	0			1	–	9	–	0
Florida	1	–	6	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
Clemson	0	–	4	–	0			3	–	5	–	1
Mississippi State	0	–	4	–	0			3	–	5	–	0
Sewanee	0	–	6	–	0			2	–	7	–	1
+ – Conference co-champions Rankings from Dickinson System

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 24		Roanoke*	Miles Stadium Blacksburg, VA	W 32–7		^[1]
October 1	3:00 p.m.	at Georgia	Sanford Stadium Athens, GA	W 7–6		^[2]^[3]
October 8	2:30 p.m.	at Maryland	Old Byrd Stadium College Park, MD	W 23–0	11,000+	^[4]^[5]
October 15		vs. William & Mary*	City Stadium Richmond, VA	W 7–0	17,000	^[6]^[7]
October 22		Kentucky	Miles Stadium Blacksburg, VA	W 7–0	8,000	^[8]^[9]
October 29	2:30 p.m.	at Washington and Lee	Wilson Field Lexington, VA	W 32–6	4,000-5,000	^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]
November 5		at Alabama	Denny Stadium Tuscaloosa, AL	L 6–9	11,000	^[15]^[16]^[17]
November 12		Virginia	Miles Stadium Blacksburg, VA (rivalry)	W 13–0	3,000	^[18]^[19]^[20]
November 24		vs. VMI	Maher Field Roanoke, VA (rivalry)	W 26–0	12,000-15,000	^[21]^[22]^[23]
*Non-conference game Homecoming All times are in Eastern time

Players

Roster

VPI 1932 roster
	Bill Anderson George Vanderslice Beamon William Earle Betts Benny Botnick Al Casey George Clark Dick Cofer James Henry Copenhaver Martin Cunningham Owens L. "Scrapper" Day Nick Dillon Edward "Red" English George Francis James Curtis Geddie Bill Grinus (Capt.) Charles Alexander "Heinie" Groth Earl "Bus" Hall Gene Hite		William Roy Hoblitzell Garland Woodrow Hoenstine Duncan Holsclaw Frank Howard Harry Worden Howard Richard "Tris" Huffman Tom Hutcheson Wiley Leroy Jennings Red Kasun John McIntire Sonny Miles Ray Mills Charles Morgan John Murphy Richard Whitmore Neale Warren "Red" Negri John Norman Ochs Keith Oliver		James Edward Ottaway Alex Pais Benny Palmer Bill Porterfield Carl Francis Robison Al Seaman Leon Dalmain Simmons Bill Smith George Smith Dave Smoak Howard Arnold "Hank" Spruill Daniel Reiser Thoma Dave Thomas Buck Tyler Hazell Eugene Waldrop Paul Kenneth Wolfe Jim Woodard John Lester Yorke

Varsity letter winners

Eighteen players received varsity letters for their participation on the 1932 VPI team.^[24]

Player	Hometown	Notes
Benjamin Botnick	Elmira, New York	World War II veteran (Navy).
Alfred Layden Casey	Portsmouth, Virginia
Edward Ralph "Red" English	Altavista, Virginia	World War II veteran (Army).
Bill Grinus (Capt.)
Earl Jenis "Bus" Hall
Eugene Goliday Hite
William Duncan Holsclaw
Richard "Tris" Huffman
John A. McIntire
Ray Mills
Charles Emmett Ashburn Morgan
John Marshall Murphy
Warren Anthony "Red" Negri	Danbury, Connecticut
Benny Palmer
William Breckenridge Porterfield
Alfred Elsworth Seaman
George Maxie Smith
David Thomas

Season summary

Georgia

See also: 1932 Georgia Bulldogs football team

VPI Captain Bill Grinus blocked the tying extra point in the upset over Georgia.^[25]

At Alabama

See also: 1932 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

VPI at Alabama

1 2 3 4 Total VPI 0 6 0 0 6 • Alabama 0 0 9 0 9 Date: November 5, 1932 Location: Denny Stadium Tuscaloosa, Alabama Game attendance: 11,000 Referee: Ducote (Auburn) Source:^[15]

Against the Crimson Tide of the University of Alabama, VPI lost 9–6 in front 11,000 spectators at Denny Stadium, which was the second largest crowd to ever visit the stadium at the time.^[15] VPI came into the game undefeated (6-0), while Alabama was 5–1. After a scoreless first quarter, the Gobblers took a 6–0 lead in the second after Ray Mills threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Al Casey.^[15] In the third, the score was cut to 6–2 after a bad snap to Casey from the center resulted in a safety.^[15] Later in the quarter Alabama took a 9–6 lead that it held to the end of the game when halfback Dixie Howell scored a touchdown on a nine-yard run.^[15]

Alabama's assistant coach was former VPI player Hank Crisp.

References

1. "Gobblers Backs Run Wild in 32-To-7 Win". The Sunday Star. Library of Congress. September 25, 1932. p. 51. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
2. "Bulldogs Off Form As Gobblers Win Opening Game 7-6". The Red & Black. University of Georgia. October 7, 1932. p. 7. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
3. "Georgia Bows, 6-7, To V. P. I. In Upset". The Sunday Star. Library of Congress. October 2, 1932. p. 61. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
4. "V. P. I. Takes Homecoming Tilt From Old Liners, 23-0". The Diamondback. University of Maryland, College Park. October 8, 1932. p. 1. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
5. "V. P. I. Trounces Maryland, 23-0". The Sunday Star. Library of Congress. October 9, 1932. p. 49. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
6. "Indians Defeated By Gobblers, 7–0" (PDF). The Flat Hat. College of William & Mary. October 18, 1932. p. 1. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
7. "V. P. I. Passes Way to 7-0 Win Over William and Mary Eleven". The Sunday Star. Library of Congress. October 16, 1932. p. 61. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
8. "'Cats Drop First Conference Tilt To Va. Gobblers". The Kentucky Kernel. University of Kentucky. October 25, 1932. p. 1. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
9. "Virginia Poly Halts Victorious March of the Kentucky Wildcats With a Smashing 7-to-0 Score". The Sunday Star. Library of Congress. October 23, 1932. p. 55. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
10. "Gobblers Crush Generals, 32–6". Richmond Times-Dispatch. October 30, 1930. Retrieved November 11, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
11. "Tough Gobblers Down Generals In Torrid Fray" (PDF). The Ring-tum Phi. Washington and Lee University. November 1, 1932. p. 1. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
12. "Powerful Gobblers Throttle Generals". The Sunday Star. Library of Congress. October 30, 1932. p. 51. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
13. "V. P. I. Marches on in Victorious Course". The Lexington Gazette. Library of Virginia. November 2, 1932. p. 5. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
14. "Washington and Lee Loses to V. P. I. at Homecoming". Rockbridge County News. Library of Virginia. November 3, 1932. p. 2. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
15. "Crimson Tide Regains It's Crest To Beat Gobblers, 9 to 6". The Tuscaloosa News. November 6, 1932. p. 10. Retrieved November 11, 2022 – via Google News Archives.
16. "Alabama Ruins Title Hopes of V. P. I." The Sunday Star. Library of Congress. November 6, 1932. p. 59. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
17. "V. P. I. Stopped in Victorious March to Conference Honors". The Lexington Gazette. Library of Virginia. November 9, 1932. p. 5. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
18. "Virginia Gives Gobblers Scrap". Spartanburg Herald-Journal. November 12, 1932. p. 18. Retrieved November 11, 2022 – via Google News Archives.
19. "Cavaliers' Hold Virginia Tech Team to 13-0 Score". The Cavalier Daily. November 2, 1932. p. 1. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
20. "V. P. I. Extended To Down Virginia". The Sunday Star. Library of Congress. November 13, 1932. p. 57. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
21. "Gobblers Prove Too Powerful For Keydets". The Cadet. Virginia Military Institute. November 28, 1932. p. 1. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
22. "V. M. I. Loses to V. P. I. at Football on Turkey Day". The Lexington Gazette. Library of Virginia. November 30, 1932. p. 2. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
23. "V. P. I. Crushes V. M. I. 26 to 0". Rockbridge County News. Library of Virginia. November 28, 1932. p. 2. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
24. "1932 VPI Letterwinners". Virginia Tech. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
25. Schlabach, Mark; Wood, Norm; Glier, Ray (August 2011). Always a Hokie: Players, Coaches, and Fans Share Their Passion for Virginia Tech Football. ISBN 9781617495625.