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- The 1895 Indianapolis Light Artillery football team was an American football team that represented the in the 1895 college football season. The team had a 5–2 record and outscored its opponents 108 to 46. The Artillery team had been playing since at least 1894, with contests against Purdue, Illinois, Chicago AC, and Butler on Thanksgiving. Their team manager was Robert (Bob) Navin. An October 18, 1895, article in the Indianapolis Journal asserted that the average weight of the team was 178 pounds and that the team consisted of several former collegiate football players who had finished their college days. These included Mr. Loose from Oberlin College, Mr. Dyer from the Harvard freshman team, Hal Joss from Michigan University, Nelson Olin and Sam Patterson from Purdue University, Harry Olin from Annapolis (possibly the Naval Academy), Al Sommerville from Butler in 1893, and Don Scott from Illinois University. Other players were Mr. Railsback, Mr. Johnson, and the quarterback William Hall, whose only prior experience was on the local high school team. As the season went on, different players came in to fill the positions of the injured. Football of the day was quite dangerous, and "season-ending" injuries were very common. By the time the team played Indiana, new players included Mr. Christian, Smithy, and Owings, and by the Noblesville game, additions of Mr. Clemens, and J. Thompson were made. The final addition was Winchester Osgood for the Notre Dame game. Osgood was a star player from Penn and had helped to coach the Indiana University in the first half of 1895 before becoming a coach and player for the team. Several men on the Artillery football team combined with football players from Butler University to play the Knightstown Club on November 1, 1895, a contest they would lose 6–12 before approximately 1500 spectators. The day before the Thanksgiving day game, Nelson Olin was forbidden from playing against Butler when it was brought to light that he made numerous penalties against the Chicago AC earlier in the week. A fight broke out within the team, and some players threatened to root for Butler, detail the Artillery team's weak spots for them, or play to mess up the Artillery team. At this time, their manager, Bob Navin, was sick in bed and so could not resolve the issue. Regardless, the Light Artillery won 28–0 in the most lopsided contest of the season. The contest with Butler was also, according to a November 29 article in the Indianapolis Journal, a "best two out of three" event, as, in the 1894 season, the two teams had played twice, with Indianapolis Light Artillery winning the first and Butler winning the second 6–4 on Thanksgiving Day. (en)
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