Sol Metzger

One of the least known members being inducted into the Bedford County Sports Hall of Fame this year is one of the most successful as a player, coach, and writer.
Sol S. Metzger was born in Bedford on December 29, 1880. His parents were Sol Metzger, a captain from the Civil War, and his wife Margaret (Andrews) Metzger, who had six children. He attended Bedford Public Schools and the Bedford Academy before going to Phillips-Andover Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He graduated from Phillips-Andover Academy in 1899 where he was a member of the track team.
Metzger attended Penn where he ran track, played football, and was the manager of the varsity rowing team.
He lettered for three years for the Quakers, playing for George Washington Woodruff, a College Football Hall of Fame Coach, in 1901, when they went 10-5. Metzger’s last two years were under Carl Sheldon Williams, and the Quakers went 9-4 and 9-3. Metzger was captain his senior year.
Upon graduating, Metzger took the coaching job at Baylor and the Bears were 2-5-1 in 1904.
In 1908, he replaced Carl Williams as coach at Penn for one year. The Quakers went 11-0-1, outscoring their opponents 215-18. The lone blemish on the season was a 6-6 tie with the Carlisle Indians.
Penn and the Harvard Crimson both finished the season unbeaten, though each had been tied once during the season. The LSU Tigers went unbeaten and untied against a weaker opposition. All three teams were named national champions retroactively by various organizations. Only Pennsylvania officially claims a national championship for the 1908 season.
The Quakers were named National Champions by Billingsley, Helms, Houlgate, and Parke Davis, but split with LSU by the National Championship Foundation.
The other places that Metzger coached football were: Oregon State University (1909); West Virginia University (1914-1915); Washington & Jefferson College (1916-1917); Union College (1919); and the University of South Carolina (1920-1924), compiling a college football career of 69-41-8.
One of the memorable games was the 1915 win by WVU over Marshall. Metzger said that he would “eat his hat if Marshall scores”. Marshall did get on the scoreboard in a 92-6 WVU win, but it was a controversial play. Marshall had the ball at the 15-yard line when they ran a special play. A back was put on a tackle’s shoulders and the Marshall quarterback threw it to him in the end zone for the touchdown.
Metzger argued, but there was no rule in the books to disqualify the score. He protested to Yale coach Walter Camp, who was in charge of rules of college football. The score was allowed, but the rule was changed for the following year.
In 1917 at Washington and Jefferson, Metzger and the Presidents went 7–3 losing to West Virginia, Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame by a total of 13 points. The team had two future College Football Hall of Fame members - Wilbur Henry and Edgar Garbisch.
When he went to South Carolina, he coached there for five years and also coached the 1920-21 basketball team to a 7-11 record.
While his exploits on the field and the sidelines were strong, his main occupation was writing and drawing for his writings.
Metzger wrote articles for magazines like The Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s Weekly, and Outing, and he wrote a syndicated column for newspapers called “Touchdown Secrets”.
The Bedford native also started a syndicate to provide newspapers articles written by himself as well as other journalists.
Metzger wrote three books: “Putting Analyzed” in 1929; “How To Play Golf” in 1931; and “How To Watch Football” in 1931.
After retiring from coaching, Metzger moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he lived the rest of his life. He died in Ventnor City on January 18, 1932, of erysipelas developed after surgery.