Chattanoogans helped cheer up a downcast University of Dayton squad after a tough loss to Oglethorpe in 1929.
The Flyers squad stopped off in the Scenic City en route back to Ohio.
This account was from the University of Dayton alumni publication:
The University of Dayton Flyers are still speaking of the remarkable reception given them by the handful of U of D alumni in Chattanooga after the contest with Oglethorpe at Atlanta. Feeling pretty blue after losing a game that was apparently in the bag, the Flyers arrived in Chattanooga late Saturday night, October 26. The morale was pretty low, but it remained for the loyal old grads to bring it up again.
The Flyers were met at the train by the Chattanooga grads and taken to the Hotel Patten. Sunday afternoon the "old boys" took the team on an eye-filling sight-seeing tour, which will always be a memorable event. Such beautiful terrain and historical spots as Lookout Mountain, Signal Mountain, Fort Oglethorpe, Chickamauga Park, and Missionary Ridge were visited on the tour.
The trip lasted four hours and then the party repaired to the beautiful Chattanooga Country Club, where the day was climaxed by an enjoyable banquet and entertainment. Among the guests invited to attend the banquet was Harold Drew, the genial coach of the University of Chattanooga, who spoke a few words of cheer to the boys. Other speakers were "Joe" Mahoney, toastmaster; Frank Herron; Pat Wilcox; Harry Baujan; and Captain Gil Gowan.
The Flyers entrained for Dayton late Sunday night with the realization that the alumni are always with them, win or lose. As Joe Mahoney wrote - "Tell them not to be discouraged in regard to the Oglethorpe defeat. As one philosopher figured it out, Oglethorpe beat Georgia; Georgia beat Yale; Yale beat the Army, and the Army won the war. If Dayton had beaten Oglethorpe they would have been world's champions - something we cannot expect from a bunch of crawling sophomores!"
The University and the Alumni Association are indeed deeply grateful to the Chattanooga alumni for such a remarkable display of loyalty and devotion, and particularly to Joe Mahoney, E.C. Mahoney, 0.J. Hubbuch, J.B. Crimmins, Norbert Monning, H.J. Haile, J.E. Carroll, Thomas Hackett, V.S. Brown, P.J. Wilcox, Frank Herron, Paul Stagmaier and William C. Casey.