The Worth County football team will mark its 100th anniversary in 2025. There were two itinerations of the team. The first version was formed in the 1900's, when football was in its infancy. Back then, Grant City was known as the Bulldogs and had their peak year in 1908, when they won all seven games they played and shut everyone out according to the Worth County Chronicle. They beat Worth for the first time ever and they beat Albany twice. But a few years later, that team was disbanded.
When the football program was reformed under Leo Cox in 1925, the team was named the Tigers. The team was likely named after the two players on the 1908 team, "Dobby" Knoble and Grant Hastings, who went on to play for Mizzou. Several other players on the 1908 team went on to play college ball.
The late Wilbur Osborne recounted that Leo Cox had the tradition of having his players dress up in full pads and run from the school to the football field half a mile way at Kelso Park, where they played their home games and practiced. That tradition was continued by his successor, Glenn Marr, who coached the Tigers until he left in 1959. The goal was simple -- they may not be the biggest school or have the best athletes, especially with other seasoned programs in the mix. But nobody was going to outwork them or be in better shape. Those were two factors that coaches Cox and Marr could control.
The dividends didn't pay off immediately; it is frequently tough for an expansion team to find its footing. They were beaten 59-0 by King City and 50-0 by Albany in their first two games. But they got better every single time, and by November 20th, the Pepper Shakers Club, their student pep club, gave an elaborate pep rally for the game against New Hampton. T.H. Rowen scored for the Tigers only for New Hampton to tie it at 6 in the third quarter. But Rowen scored again late in the fourth quarter, and the Tigers had gotten their first ever win, 12-6.
Kelso Park went absolutely nuts after the win, and the correspondent to the Worth County Tribune wrote, “As this football season closes, the thought, ‘What has football meant to Grant City High School” presents itself. Looking back over the past games, Grant City has been defeated four times and won only the last game, but this was the first year and many of the opposing teams had years of experience. The boys have held their opponents score down to a lower mark each game than the one previous. This is very good – defeats, but each time, not so great as the one before, and then victory. Something greater, and of a more lasting quality, however, has been gained by football. The high school spirit it has brought has been worth more than thousands of victories. The school has backed the boys through all discouraging moments and when victory came – everyone went wild. Football has created a new feeling in the school standing back of them, all being brought closer under one great battle and a common cause. The boys have battled together, and why can’t they do it again in the basketball season with the school standing back of them?”
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