Erskine Flying Fleet football

Erskine Flying Fleet football
First season	1896; 128 years ago (1896)[a]
Athletic director	Mark Peeler
Head coach	Shap Boyd 5th season, 7–37 (.159)
Stadium	J. W. Babb Stadium
Location	Greenwood, South Carolina
NCAA division	Division II
Conference	South Atlantic Conference (Division II)
All-time record	87–225–11 (.286)
Colors	Garnet and gold[1]
Website	erskinesports.com

The Erskine Flying Fleet football team represents Erskine College in the sport of American football. The Flying Fleet compete in the NCAA Division II as an independent, but will join the South Atlantic Conference as an associate member in 2022.^[2] The team is currently led by head coach Shap Boyd, who has held the position since November 15, 2018, making him the first head football coach at Erskine since 1951.^[3]

The Erskine College football program was terminated after the 1951 season. The team went on hiatus before announcing the return for the 2020. The program will practice in 2019, and its players will use a redshirt season. Due to the global coronavirus pandemic, the fall 2020 season was postponed until spring 2021. The program played its first game in 70 years on 27 February 2021, defeating Barton College 30-28.^[4]

History

Erskine football started in 1896.^[5] It was discontinued in 1951. The period from 1917 to 1921 brought most of the program's success, including athlete Dode Phillips.^[6] During those seasons they have wins against Wofford, Presbyterian, South Carolina, Clemson, and the Citadel. It was during a game in 1929^[7] that Erskine took on the name "The Flying Fleet". They were given that name by a Greenville reporter who was blown away by their passing performance in the game. They had previously been known as the "Seceders".^[8] On October 18, 1948 when they defeated Florida State 14–6. It was only a couple more years until the Flying Fleet ended their football program in 1951.

In 2018, Erskine College announced return of the football program for the 2020 season competing in NCAA Division II.^{[9][10][11][12]}

Conference affiliations

In 1915, Erskine began intercollegiate football and competed for the state title with other members of the South Carolina Intercollegiate Athletic Association.^[13][14] In 1925, Erskine joined the ranks of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association.^[15] In 1939, Erskine was a founding member of the South Atlantic Conference, which was for "small liberal arts schools that do not place undue emphasis upon athletics."^[16] The conference's founding members were Erskine, Newberry, Oglethorpe, Presbyterian, and Wofford. They added Rollins and Stetson in 1940, and then Mercer in 1941 before it disbanded due to several programs discontinuing football.^[17][18] The schools maintained membership in the S.I.A.A. while also competing for the South Atlantic title. Erskine was also a member of the South Carolina Little Four alongside Newberry, Presbyterian, and Wofford. The "Little Four" informally was naming champions in the period before the war as well.

Years	Conference
1896	Independent
1897–1914	No intercollegiate team
1915–1924	South Carolina Intercollegiate Athletic Association
1925–1941	Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
1939–1941	South Atlantic Conference
1942–1945	No team (WWII)
1946–1951	South Carolina Little Four
1952–2018	No team
2019–2020	No intercollegiate competition (practice only)
2021	Independent
2022–2023	South Atlantic Conference
2024	Gulf South Conference
2025-	Conference Carolinas

Seasons

Year	Head coach	Conference	Overall record	Conference record
1896	John Walker	—	0–1	—
1897–1914	No football
1915	Norman G. LaMotte	SCIAA	0–7–1	0–4
1916	Claude Moore		2–4	1–3
1917	Lucius H. Ranson		4–3	2–3
1918	Lieutenant F. C. Fishback		1–0–1	1–0–1
1919	Joe Lindsay (player-coach)		2–5	2–5
1920	David W. Parrish		5–3	1–3
1921			6–2	6–2♯
1922			0–8	0–7
1923			1–5	1–5
1924	Robert S. Galloway		1–7	0–5
1925		SIAA	1–6	0–4
1926	Dode Phillips		1–7	0–4
1927			2–4–1	1–2–1
1928	Jakie Todd		3–7	1–5
1929			7–3	3–2♮
1930			2–5–1	1–2–1
1931			2–6–3	1–5–1
1932			1–8	0–5
1933			2–7	1–5
1934			1–8	0–4
1935			2–6–1	0–4–1
1936			4–6	3–1
1937			6–4	5–0‡♯
1938			1–7–2	0–3–1
1939		SIAA / SAC	1–9	1–5 / 1–3
1940			1–8	0–5 / 0–5
1941	Jakie Todd / Dode Phillips•		2–5	0–4 / 0–2
1942–1945	No football
1946	Harry Bolick	Little Four	0–9	0–3
1947	John D. McMillan		7–3	1–2
1948			6–4	0–2
1949			2–7	1–1
1950			4–6	1–2
1951			0–8–1	0–2–1
1952–2020	No football
Spring 2021	Shap Boyd	Independent	1–5	—
2021			3–8	—
2022		SAC	2–9	0-9
2023			0–11	0-9
2024		GSC	1-4	0-2

• = Interim head coach, † = Conference champions, ‡ = Conference co-champions, ♯ = Little Four champions, ♮ = Little Four co-champions ^[19]

Notes and references

1. The program was discontinued after their first season, but was reinstated in 1915, then the team was discontinued in 1951 once again. It was relaunched in 2020; 4 years ago (2020).

1. "Erskine Flying Fleet Brand Guidelines" (PDF). July 1, 2022. Retrieved October 25, 2022.
2. South Atlantic Conference Announces Additions of Barton and Erskine as Associate Members for Football, June 10, 2021, retrieved June 11, 2021
3. Shap Boyd Officially Named Head Football Coach, November 15, 2018, retrieved June 15, 2019
4. Michael Lananna (February 27, 2021), "Erskine makes history, plays first football game in 70 years — and gets the win", The State, retrieved February 28, 2021
5. "A Proud History of Athletics". Erskinecollegesports.com. December 9, 2011. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
6. Scott Adamson (May 27, 2008). "Erskine College tries to gauge interest in restarting football program". Independent Mail. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
7. "Parkinson Counts Thrice As Erskine Runs 40 to 6 Victory Through Indians", Greenville News, Greenville, SC, p. 10, November 2, 1929
8. What are the Flying Fleet?, retrieved June 15, 2019
9. "Coolest college helmets in SC? Erskine football relaunches program dormant since 1951".
10. Sapakoff, Gene (October 27, 2016). "Sapakoff: The night tiny Erskine College beat Florida State in football". The Post and Courier. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
11. "1921 Erskine The Flying Fleet Schedule and Results - College Football at Sports-Reference.com". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
12. Alishan (December 9, 2011). "A Proud History of Athletics". www.erskinecollegesports.com. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
13. "Erskine to Open September 15th", Abbeville Press and Banner, Abbeville, SC, p. 2, August 18, 1915
14. "Newberry Plans for Athletics", Newberry Weekly Herald, Newberry, SC, p. 3, August 29, 1913
15. "Palmetto Members", Greenville News, Greenville, SC, p. 6, December 13, 1924
16. "Hose Take South Atlantic Title", Index-Journal, Greenwood, SC, p. 3, November 21, 1939
17. "Mercer Added to South Atlantic Athletic Group", Tampa Tribune, Tampa, FL, p. 22, December 22, 1940
18. "Fewer Warmup Games For Football Big Fellows Seen For Next Fall", Pensacola News Journal, Pensacola, FL, p. 2, January 26, 1942
19. [1]

External links

• Official website