Cumberland began intercollegiate athletics in 1889, when Lacy Rice of Madisonville, Kentucky, a lanky young freshman, competed in the track and field meet at Vanderbilt. Rice lived to the age of 102 and as a centenarian returned to his college and gave the pitching staff some tips on throwing curve balls.
Intercollegiate football began October 26th, 1894, against Peabody. The score was 6-6. In 1903 Cumberland won the championship of Southern Football!
Football has had its ups and downs at Cumberland, however. The sport was dropped in 1906, resumed in 1912,dropped in 1915, resumed briefly in 1916 when the memorable 222-0 game with Georgia Tech was played in Atlanta, to well known to require description, and then was not resumed until 1920. A new field and grandstand called Kirk Field was added. Here Cumberland Enjoyed several successful campaigns until the Great Depression blew the whistle after the 1929 Season.
Garland "Gus" Morrow, an ex-Vanderbilt star, was hired as coach in 1932 and the sport resumed. Cumberland competed in the Smokey Mountain Athletic Conference. Marrow, Ned Vaughan, Gene McIlwain, and Charley Kerr served as head football coaches during the period 1932-1941. Among teams defeated by the Bulldogs during that 1932-1941 span were Tennessee Tech, Middle Tennessee, Carson-Newman, Tampa, and Appalachian State.
Cumberland resumes the sport again after the War and played three seasons under Coach Joe Black Hayes. In retrospect the high spot was a 6-0 win over Florida State University but during the 1947 season there were other pleasing victories: over Georgetown(Ky), Delta State, and a post season game for the championship of the Tennessee Valley, previously unbeaten Athens.
The Volunteer State Athletic Conference was organized in a meeting in Lebanon in 1947. Cumberland was a charter member.
Now a four year school and a former member of the Tennessee College Athletic Conference of the NAIA, Cumberland, at the urging of President Tom Mills, returned to football field in September 1990. The result was eight losses, no wins, but coach Nick Coutras and his young players looked on it as a sort of initiation. The last game with Maryville was particularly encouraging because in losing 34-28 the Bulldogs led 21-20 at halftime and had the ball as time ran out. The football program was housed in a new field house, and new stands were built. During the 1991 season the record improved to four victories.
