Kansas State athletics, 1900-01: a step back, and a step forward

The new century dawned, and the Kansas State Agricultural College football team again sported a new coach in the person of a two-time letterwinner at Kansas. Like his predecessor, Albert Hansen, Fay Moulton was hired immediately after graduating from college, and set about the task of trying to make football work in Manhattan.

It didn’t.

The season started well enough, with an 11-5 win at Fairmount College, which you now know as Wichita State. But then a disastrous three-game stretch saw the Aggies once again fail to score a single point. It started on the road four days later at Kansas State Teacher’s College in Emporia, a 28-0 loss. They came back home, playing their third game in a week and again lost 28-0 to Ottawa. A couple of weeks later, KTSC paid a return visit and won 11-0.

A week later, things looked grim. About a third of the team had been suspended due to failing mid-terms, and Kansas Wesleyan was coming to town. And yet, somehow, the Aggies pulled together and trounced the visitors by a score of 30-0.

The season ended two weeks later with a 28-6 loss at Saint Mary’s. Moulton departed at season’s end. He headed to Yale Law, from which he graduated in 1903, and then returned to Kansas City to start his legal career. A year later, he traveled across Missouri for the 1904 Olympics, where he won the bronze medal in the 60m dash, and finished fourth in the 100m and 200m events. At the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens, Moulton added a silver medal in the 100m.

Running total: 6-11-4, 4-10 against colleges

Things were brighter in the spring. Once again, we have no details, and the squad again went winless on the road. But the KSAC baseball team won more than they lost at home, and finished the season with a 6-8 mark.

Running total: 18-29