The Li’l Bronze Derby That Was!

Description

In the winter of 1947, while attending a basketball game at a neighboring college campus, members of a college fraternity returned to their school minus a member’s derby hat he had worn at the game. The result of the missing derby hat created a storied athletic rivalry between Newberry College and Presbyterian College. In fact, according to The State newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, 2 of the top 100 sports moments of the twentieth century in the Palmetto State happened on Thanksgiving Day during football games at Setzler Field in Newberry, South Carolina competing for the prized derby hat.

The Li’l Bronze Derby That Was! is a compilation and the most complete history of The Bronze Derby, a college rivalry between the Newberry College Indians located in Newberry, South Carolina and the Presbyterian College Blue Hose in adjacent Clinton, South Carolina. The Bronze Derby has been remembered as the traditional South Carolina football game played on Thanksgiving Day. Many will be surprised that the game had its origin on the basketball court, and also included baseball games until 1956. The gridiron rivalry lasted from 1947-2006. The Li’l Bronze Derby That Was! is remembered through a creative historical and nostalgic perspective. Step back and relive the origin and chronicles of a small college football rivalry.