Need Help with Cabinet Photo ID - Photos In Comments

[noelbrian55]

I picked up this large cabinet photo a year or so ago and haven’t been able to identify the team. I live in Virginia, and the V on the jersey may very well be a Virginia team as it came from an elderly lady who’s husband had it.

Things I know:

Photo is 1889
Team is “Semi-Pro”
Record was 11-1
Several names “Burthe, Gibson, Potts, Reed...”

[noelbrian55]

Email me at noelbrian55@gmail.com and I’ll email you photos in the meantime while I work on this attachment issue.

[Jobu]

Here are the pics.

[ValKehl]

Brian, I can tell you that it's not UVA - I just checked, and UVA's record for 1889 was 7 wins & 0 losses.

[bgar3]

M. Miley, is probably Michael Miley, a Virginia photographer from that time period. Try researching from the photographer angle. I think it is a Virginia based team, maybe not UVA based upon earlier comment.

[smokelessjoe]

It is most certainly the University of Virginia...

Burthe
Peed
Potts

etc...

[ValKehl]

FWIW, I obtained UVA baseball team's 1889 record from the UVA sports website, which led me to conclude this cabinet this wasn't UVA's baseball team because the W - L records didn't match.

Shawn, after having now googled Allan/Allen Potts, the only complete name I can read, it does appear there is a UVA connection of some sort. I found this piece which describes how UVA's colors came to be orange and blue:

"The UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA started playing football around 1886. One of the first organized teams of Mr. Jefferson’s University, they got their familiar colors from an unlikely source. After starting out in an Ohio State-like silver and red, the students had a meeting to try and come up with something more appealing. A star of the 1888 team was Allen Potts, who had just returned from a trip to Oxford. He had come home with an orange and blue scarf (“Oxford” Blue, anyone?) and it was tossed into the crowd."

And, the following excerpt comes from this source: http://uvamagazine.org/articles/1888...range_and_blue

"For decades, the scarf that inspired the University’s orange-and-blue colors appeared to have been lost in the fog of history. But during research for the documentary film Wahoowa: The History of Virginia Cavalier Football, writer and director Kevin Edds (Col ’95) picked up the trail of the almost mythical “handkerchief” described in the College Topics article (below).

Allen Potts, the owner of the scarf and a UVA track, football and baseball star, proved to be the central clue in Edds’ treasure hunt. By tracing the Potts family tree, Edds located Potts’ great-granddaughter Jane Potts, who told him the framed scarf had been destroyed in a fire that burned his home, “Happy Creek,” to the ground. Along with the bad news, he also received some good news: The scarf had been cut in half, and a piece might still exist."

The OP says the cabinet photo depicts a semi-pro team. Perhaps Potts and some of the other UVA players played on a semi-pro team during the summer recess from college.

Shawn, are you able to provide any further specific info?

[smokelessjoe]

Hi Val,

Yes I do believe that is the Famous Allen Potts that the written name on the OPs photo is referring to.

I believe Burthe is Andre Burthe
Clarence T Peed
Edwin L Gibson
Allen Potts

See attached photo for the 1890 team - "E Gibson" is listed, perhaps the photo match people can identify Gibson in both photos?

Here is a link to the The Virginia Spectator: You will see starting on page 559 it is dated May-June 1889. All of the names that I can read on the OPs pictures are listed on the Roster for the 1889 Virginia baseball team. But, perhaps I should recant my initial comment as I guess the OPs picture could represent some team put together during summer recess.

https://books.google.com/books?id=Oo...page&q&f=false

[smokelessjoe]

Take a look at the Games played for the team: Highest is 12 games played. Perhaps won 11 and lost 1?

[Piratedogcardshows]

Great piece Brian I’m glad Net54 was able to help identify it as indeed a UVA cabinet as you thought. Their has been a nice run of finds both small and large coming out of RVA as of late. Congrats on the nice pickup.

[noelbrian55]

Guys, thank you for the info! Thank you also for the suggestion to post here, Jason. This is awesome information, guys.

[noelbrian55]

Hey smokelessjoe - where did you get that information from? Looks useful and something I’d like to read more about.

Originally Posted by smokelessjoe

Take a look at the Games played for the team: Highest is 12 games played. Perhaps won 11 and lost 1?

[smokelessjoe]

Hi Brian,

Here is the link:
https://books.google.com/books?id=Oo...page&q&f=false

I think your photo might be the only "known" image of that team 88-89... I found it interesting that on page 537 it talks about the possibility of the football & baseball team photos being omitted from the Annual...?

[noelbrian55]

That is fascinating stuff to read. I loved this photo before but this is truly a fascinating discovery and just really makes me grateful for this thing. For some reason I can't locate the table that you first posted of the season stats for the players.

This was clearly a pretty special team and this Allen Potts seems to have been quite an athlete. They were blowing people out.

[ValKehl]

Here's the link to where I found UVA's 1889 record to be 7 - 0: https://virginiasports.com/documents...TimeResult.pdf
Perhaps the UVA team played additional games that were not considered to be official.

[Leon]

I am biased but I doubt there is more expertise with vintage sports cards, photos or memorabilia than almost any place else. Good luck in the quest!!

Originally Posted by noelbrian55

Guys, thank you for the info! Thank you also for the suggestion to post here, Jason. This is awesome information, guys.