Talk:W. M. Robinson

"First time"?

@MisterCake: "The first time the Gators ever traveled North . . . ." Florida played Indiana in Bloomington during C.J. McCoy's ill-fated 1916 season. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 13:19, 23 August 2015 (UTC)

I see. I changed the text. The claim is important and can sometimes get muddled. For instance, Vandy beat Carlisle in 1906 to the shock of the south, but Carlisle was considered a prep school, so the win over Minnesota in 1924 gets that claim of "first Northern win," which can confuse one aware of '06 easily. Further, Indiana, Kentucky, and Cincinnati are somewhat border states (same with West Virginia), hence their rivalries amongst each other. I believe this is partly why the likes of Indiana and West Virginia had to make conferences for their state (cf. Indiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association, West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference). It was certainly UF's first game against an Eastern power - Gator sources trump up Grantland Rice covering one of the two Harvard games, but I did not yet find it. Cake (talk) 16:35, 23 August 2015 (UTC)

@Dirtlawyer1: "It was the first time Florida had ever invaded the North". Cake (talk) 19:17, 23 August 2015 (UTC)

Yeah, I see the Seminole text, but we both know it's factually incorrect. It would be more accurate to characterize the Harvard game as "the first time that the Gators played a traditional northeastern college football power" (anywhere). BTW, Indiana University became a member of the old Western Conference in 1899–90 -- kind of hard to characterize a member of the Big Ten as "Southern," don't you think? (And, yes, I am aware of the "Southern" cultural character of southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.) Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 22:42, 23 August 2015 (UTC)

Sure it is. I know the Hoosiers are part of the Big Ten, but wanted to give reasons as to why the yearbook text might not be mere misapprehension; I don't dislike your revised text. It seems possible to me it's a case like with Carlisle/Vandy, or it's a case like with West Virginia. Don't think anyone challenges WV being in the South, at least today, but find me a Spalding's Guide that doesn't treat it as its own region, as you might D. C. in a listing of states. In short, though I revised the article, I wanted the talk page to note perhaps there is some reason to think Indiana was not quite a school or not quite Northern. For what it's worth, the sentiment in the newspapers of the "Golden Age" seems to say it's more the midwestern culture of Kentucky than the "southern" culture of say Indiana, though I grant tomato tomahto. This is why Transylvania in 1903 and Centre in 1919 have disputed southern titles. It seems Centre defeating Harvard stopped it to a degree. I know for example the Knights of Columbus defined for its purposes the south as south of Louisville, not south of Mason-Dixon. Given Bloomington is very much the same region as Kentucky - it leaves me wondering if though intersectional it was seen like a trip to Lexington. Have a rough time telling myself the yearbook editors were simply wrong, especially after wrestling with the same feeling with Vandy before and having myself proven wrong. Surely the editors of 1922 had memories of 1916. Cake (talk) 00:01, 24 August 2015 (UTC)

Why would they, Cake? Anyone who worked on the 1916 yearbook had graduated by 1920. Natural four-year cycle of high school kids and undergraduates. Alumni and faculty have longer memories than current students. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 22:40, 25 August 2015 (UTC)

I guess so, but I told myself the same thing for the 1924 Vandy yearbook saying Minnesota was the first win over a northern school – but nobody forgot 1906 (thank goodness). The faculty then including the captain of the '16 team would seem to strengthen my sense that one might need to look for more as to why the trip to Bloomington did not get called a trip North. Cake (talk) 23:53, 25 August 2015 (UTC)

Article title

@MisterCake: Should this article title be "W. M. Robinson" or "Robbie Robinson" per WP:COMMONNAME? What name variant was most often cited in contemporary newspaper accounts? Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 21:20, 2 October 2015 (UTC)

Robbie is most common. There are multiple Robinsons nicknamed Robbie just within old southern football alone, hence the title choice. For example, there is Henry W. Robinson. Don't really know enough about our Robbie to say what he was known as aside from college football, but probably just Winthrop M.. Cake (talk) 23:46, 2 October 2015 (UTC)