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Raymond G. Selph
Center - Defensive Line
Camp Lewis 13th Division Soldiers
A 1917 All-Northwest center for
Oregon Agricultural College (now Oregon State University),
Selph was called to enlist when the United States built up
for World War I in Europe.
Selph would be asked to try out for
the Camp Lewis team upon his induction and together with the
rest of the 13th Division, put one of the best teams on the
field during the Spanish Influenza-affected season.
The soldiers rolled out to four straight victories including
a 7-0 win over the Multnomah Winged M's with Selph leading
the way on both sides of the ball as center and defensive
lineman. A trip to Portland for two games in two days
proved costly as not only did the soldiers lose both games
including a narrow 7-6 loss to Vancouver Barracks, but the
Winged M's got one back winning 17-7. The Mare Island
Marines came to Tacoma next and the beat up soldiers were
beaten again 16-0 for their third straight loss in just
12-days. Mare Island was the top team on the west
coast and had beaten Camp Lewis in the Rose Bowl on New
Years Day 19-7. Across from Selph was Bill Steers,
University of Oregon star defensemen and halfback.
Steers would later be the 1921 Player of the Year with the
Winged M's.
Selph and the soldiers were not
pleased, and the man known as "Tubby" led Camp Lewis on a
five game win streak, taking back the Barracks loss in the
Northwest Service Championship, then camping out on the
Marines doorstep for four days in San Francisco intent on a
rematch. The rematch was denied, but the soliders got
the Mare Island Navy Sailors instead, defeating them 7-6,
then four days later dropping the Olympic Club 27-0.
With no other challenges accepted the soldiers returned home
and when the unbeaten Great Lakes Navy defeated the
undefeated Marines in the Rose Bowl, immediately tried to
get the Bluejackets to stop in Tacoma on their way home.
With the challenge declined, Selph and the soliders took on
the Intra-Division Champions of the First Infantry and in a
fog game, closed out the 1918 season on January 4, 1919 with
a 6-0 win to finish the season at 8-3.
For his efforts, Raymond "Tubby"
Selph would be selected by "the Man" Walter Camp of
Yale, as a 2nd Team All-Service honoree behind former Notre
Dame center Charlie Bachman of the Great Lakes Bluejackets
and ahead of 3rd team center Jake Risley of the Mare Island
Marines, a former Oregon Ag College player and 1916
All-Pacific Coast center. Collier's Weekly published
the All-Star teams in January 1919.
Charlie Bachman would be inducted
into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1978
and his Great Lakes Bluejacket teammates included Paddy
Driscoll (Pro Football and College Football Halls of Fame)
and George Halas, co-founder of the NFL and Hall of Fame
Inaugural Class of 1963.
Ray Selph and the soliders of Camp
Lewis were some of the best in the country for 1918 and took
on all-comers and "Tubby" received the highest of honors
from a man who knew a thing or two about American football
at the time.
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