The 1921 Pittsburgh Panthers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Pittsburgh as an independent during the 1921 college football season. In its seventh season under head coach Pop Warner, the team compiled a 5–3–1 record and outscored all opponents by a total of 133 to 50. The team played its home games at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.
The 1921 West Virginia vs. Pittsburgh football game was the first college football game to be broadcast live on radio.
Schedule
Preseason
After compiling a record of 42–3–3 in his previous six seasons, Glenn Warner returned for his seventh season as Pitt coach with some reservations about "Pittsburgh's long term commitment to remaining competitive, which to his thinking included building a much-needed stadium and continuing to recruit top-level talent for the football squad." The Stanford University coaching offer piqued his interest but he remained committed to his contract. The Athletic Department added two former Pitt players to the organization - Pat Herron was named assistant coach and Dr. J. Huber Wagner was appointed team physician.
Tom Davies was elected captain for the 1921 season and Lawrence I. Klinestiver was appointed student manager.
On September 6 the 1921 Pitt football prospects gathered at Camp Hamilton for their -week preseason training period. Since only four lettermen were lost from the 1920 squad – John McCrory, James Bond, William Edgar, and Herbert McCracken - and with the strong contingent from the 1920 freshmen team moving up, Coach Warner was expected to place another strong team on the field. Walter Ritchie, 1904 Pitt quarterback, and Lone Star Dietz, the famous Carlisle Indian (1909-1912), assisted Coach Warner the opening week of camp. Ritchie was assistant coach at Illinois Wesleyan and Dietz was the Purdue head coach. Ollie DeVictor was the newly appointed trainer and H. L. Westerman, senior med-student, was in charge of first aid. New facilities installed at the camp included a nine-hole golf course and tennis courts for the players enjoyment. The Panther squad broke camp on September 23 and returned to Pittsburgh. The next day they opened the 1921 season at Beaver Falls against the Covenantors of Geneva College.
The graduate manager arranged a nine-game schedule that was as hard as the 1920 schedule. Because Pitt used Forbes Field for its home games, the first two games were on the road – Geneva and Lafayette. The location of the third game depended on whether or not the Pirates won the pennant. If yes, the Panthers played at Cincinnati, if no, the Panthers played West Virginia at home. Nebraska replaced Georgia Tech in a home game. "The Westerners played good football against Penn State last fall and with new coach Fred Dawson are expected to put up a stern battle here. The team is one of the biggest in the country, virtually all the players being well over six feet tall in height. All in all, local fans should see some tip-top football in the home games, and there is no reason why the season should not be one of the biggest ever, so far as crowds go, as well as one of the most successful playing campaigns in the Panthers history."
"As the Panthers defend the colors of the University of Pittsburgh on the football field this fall, their performances will be announced by radiophone. Through the co-operation of Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co., one of the Westinghouse wireless sets will be installed in the press box and it will announce to the public every play executed by the blue and gold team and their opponents. This will afford the alumni and friends of the team who on account of living at a distance will not be able to attend the games at Forbes Field, an opportunity of having the game brought to their homes. The Westinghouse Co. has made wonderful strides in the wireless field ion broadcasting information, entertainments and athletics the past year. Last winter, when the Pitt basketball team played at Motor Square Garden, the results were received as far north as Toronto, Can., as far west as Nebraska, as far south as the Gulf of Mexico, and east to the Atlantic coast. In many instances the universities and colleges of the United States have installed wireless phones, making it possible for the students who cannot attend the games to assemble at the college and receive the results."