Though Centre’s win over Harvard on Oct. 29, 1921 stunned the University and sent ripples through the college football world, it may not have been the great upset that everyone assumes it is.

Though it was a small school with hardly any history of football prowess, the team developed into a national power almost overnight.

“It was a very unique situation in that they burst upon the scene out of nowhere to become a major school, and then just that quickly disappeared,” said Kent Stephens, museum curator and historian at the College Football Hall of Fame. “If you look at the best teams in the nation in, say, 1919, Centre would probably be in the top five. So the upset against Harvard in 1921 … is not nearly as extreme as you think it would be.”

Centre College stumbled onto gridiron success as much as it created it. It’s a story that begins with Robert Myers, known better as “Chief.”

Myers, a Centre graduate, was a high school football coach in Texas, a job he landed without much prior experience in the game. After a few years at the helm at the Dallas school, the coaching job at his alma mater opened up, and, despite a lack of any experience at the college level, he was offered the job.

When he left Texas, he brought some of his graduating seniors along with him. One of those seniors was McMillin—the hero of the Harvard-Centre game.

But Myers quickly realized that he was not qualified for the job, so he hired Charley Moran, a Major League Baseball umpire, and promoted himself to a position something like an athletic director today.

Even after the switch, Myers remained the visionary behind Centre’s program.

“[Myers] comes to Moran, and he says, ‘I’ve got this great plan: first we’re going to be the best team in Kentucky, then we’re going to become the best team in the South, and then we’re going to be a national power,’” Stephens explained. “And they pull it off.”

The Praying Colonels quickly rose to power late in the 1910s, and by 1920, the team had a game with Harvard on its schedule.

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Coming off a 7-6 win over Oregon at the Rose Bowl, Harvard was slated to face Virginia, Princeton, Yale, and other tough opponents during its 1920 campaign.

Its first game against Centre was not expected to be much of a contest. On Oct. 23, 1920, Harvard beat Centre—spelled “Center” in programs—handily, 31-14. The game was tied going into the half, but the Crimson had little difficulty coming away with the win.

After the loss, Centre completely shifted the focus of the program.

“Coming into the ’21 game, Centre for an entire year had keyed its whole program to going back and beating Harvard,” Robertson said. “It just became one of those missions for the school and for the boys.”