1937 Maryland Terrapins football team

The 1937 Maryland Terrapins football team represented the University of Maryland during the 1937 college football season as a member of the Southern Conference. The highlight of the season was a 13–0 shutout of 17th-ranked Syracuse. In the homecoming game, Charlie Weidinger completed a pass to William Bryant for a 13–7 go-ahead over Florida. The Terrapins' two losses came against Penn and Penn State, the latter being the second game in a rivalry that would bedevil Maryland throughout its entire duration. At the end of the season, Maryland was declared the Southern Conference champions, the team's first major conference title.^[1]

1937 Maryland Terrapins football
SoCon champion
Conference	Southern Conference
Record	8–2 (2–0 SoCon)
Head coach	Frank Dobson (2nd season)
Home stadium	Byrd Stadium (original)
Seasons ← 1936 1938 →

1937 Southern Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Maryland $	2	–	0	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
No. 19 North Carolina	4	–	0	–	1			7	–	1	–	1
Clemson	2	–	0	–	1			4	–	4	–	1
No. 20 Duke	5	–	1	–	0			7	–	2	–	1
VMI	4	–	2	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
NC State	4	–	2	–	1			5	–	3	–	1
South Carolina	2	–	2	–	1			5	–	6	–	1
Washington and Lee	2	–	3	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
The Citadel	2	–	3	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Richmond	2	–	3	–	0			5	–	4	–	1
Furman	1	–	2	–	2			4	–	3	–	2
VPI	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
William & Mary	1	–	3	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Wake Forest	1	–	4	–	0			3	–	6	–	0
Davidson	1	–	6	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 25	St. John's (MD)*	Byrd Stadium College Park, MD	W 25–0		[2]
October 2	at Penn*	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA	L 21–28	30,000	[3]
October 9	Western Maryland*	Byrd Stadium College Park, MD	W 6–0	7,000	[4]
October 16	at Virginia*	Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA (rivalry)	W 3–0	6,000	[5]
October 23	vs. No. 17 Syracuse*	Municipal Stadium Baltimore, MD	W 13–0	10,000	[6]
October 30	Florida*	Byrd Stadium College Park, MD	W 13–7	10,000	[7]
November 6	at VMI	Alumni Field Lexington, VA	W 9–7	5,000	[8]
November 13	at Penn State*	New Beaver Field State College, PA (rivalry)	L 14–21	7,535	[9]
November 20	at Georgetown*	Griffith Stadium Washington, DC	W 12–2	22,000	[10]
November 25	vs. Washington and Lee	Municipal Stadium Baltimore, MD	W 8–0	9,600	[11]
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[12]

Syracuse game and Wilmeth Sidat-Singh

Syracuse and nearby Cornell were among the first collegiate football teams to include African-American players as starting backfield players.^[13] Wilmeth Sidat-Singh, starred for Syracuse, playing a position equivalent to modern-day quarterback.^[14]

In that era, when games were played in Southern segregation states, African-American players from Northern schools were banned from the field. Because of his light complexion and name, Sidat-Singh was sometimes assumed to be a "Hindu" (as people from India were often called by Americans during this time). However. shortly before a game against Maryland, a black sportswriter, Sam Lacy, wrote an article in the Baltimore Afro-American, revealing Sidat-Singh's was African-American. Maryland refused to let him play and he was held out of the game and Syracuse lost the game 0–13.^[14] In a rematch the following year at Syracuse, Sidat-Singh led the Orange to a lopsided victory (53-0) over Maryland.^[15]

On Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013, the University of Maryland publicly apologized to surviving relatives at a ceremony during a football game at Syracuse.^[16][17]

References

1. Year-By-Year Results Archived 2018-10-26 at the Wayback Machine, 2007 Terrapin Football Record Book, University of Maryland, 2007.
2. "Terps trounce Johnnies, 25–0". The Baltimore Sun. September 26, 1937. Retrieved December 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Quaker passes defeat Maryland before 30,000". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 3, 1937. Retrieved December 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Maryland overcomes Terrors, 6–0". The Baltimore Sun. October 10, 1937. Retrieved December 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Photo-finish win to Terps over Virginia". The Portsmouth Star. October 17, 1937. Retrieved December 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Maryland victor over Syracuse, 13–0". The Baltimore Sun. October 24, 1937. Retrieved December 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Maryland's aerial attack defeats Florida by 13 to 7". Pensacola News Journal. October 31, 1937. Retrieved December 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Place kick gives Maryland 9–7 win over V.M.I. team". The Huntsville Times. November 7, 1937. Retrieved December 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Maryland bows to Penn State, 21–14". The Sunday Star. November 14, 1937. Retrieved December 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "22,000 seeMaryland beat G.U., 12–2". The Sunday Star. November 21, 1937. Retrieved December 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
11. "Maryland wins undisputed rank as Washington's top grid team". The Evening Star. November 26, 1935. Retrieved December 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "1937 Maryland Terrapins Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
13. Rice, Grantland (October 16, 1938). "Syracuse tops Cornell team in last period". The Baltimore Sun. p. 24. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
14. Vasudevan, Anish (October 23, 2022). "'AS EVER, SINGH': Wilmeth Sidat-Singh was Syracuse's 1st Black star athlete". The Daily Orange. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
15. Mike Morrison, ed. (July 7, 2017). "2017 Football Media Guide" (PDF) (Press release). Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Athletics. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
16. Rhiannon Walker. "Amending a Wrong". SBS Stories Beneath the Shell News. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
17. Barker, Jeff (November 8, 2013). "Maryland football trying to do right by Sidat-Singh, 76 years later". Baltimore Sun. College Park, MD. Retrieved May 26, 2020.