Shoeless Wonders Football Team

Lynchburg County · dedicated 2018 · Peakland Place at intersection with Linden Avenue

The nearby Presbyterian Orphans' Home (later HumanKind) fielded its first football team by 1922. The players, boys under the age of 18, received minimal coaching, wore second-hand uniforms, and soon began competing without shoes, except for a boot used during kickoffs. In 1926, news reports about the “Shoeless Wonders” propelled the team to national fame. The New York Times, Universal Pictures newsreels, and a Ripley’s Believe it or Not cartoon featured the squad, which was undefeated for at least six straight seasons before 1931 and held opponents scoreless for at least five of those years. Later teams won consistently in the city league and against opponents from other Virginia localities.

Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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