1908 Florida football team
American college football team season
The 1908 Florida football team represented the University of Florida during the 1908 college football season. The season was Jack Forsythe's third and last as the head coach of the University of Florida football team. Forsythe's 1908 Florida football team posted a record of 5–2–1 in their third varsity season.
Before the season
The team was captained by veteran transfer William Gibbs. It was the first season for a talented Gainesville product, Dummy Taylor. The backfield also included Charlie Bartleson Jim Vidal, and William A. Shands, future state senator and namesake of Shands Hospital.
One story of Florida becoming the "Florida Gators" originates in 1908. Gainesville shop owner ordered orange and blue pennants with a gator emblem from the Michie Company, drawing inspiration from the University of Virginia.
Schedule
Game summaries
Mercer
The Florida football team opened the season with a loss to the Mercer Baptists for the third consecutive season, 24–0. Mercer outweighed Florida by 20 pounds.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q28444602. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1908.
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