133 Years ago today, Team 1 played Game 1.
Today is the 133rd anniversary of the first football game the University of Michigan ever played, in front of 500 people. From wikipedia:
On May 30, 1879, Michigan played its first intercollegiate football game against Racine College at White Stocking Park in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune called it "the first rugby-football game to be played west of the Alleghenies."[6] Midway through "the first 'inning',"[7] Irving Kane Pond scored the first touchdown for Michigan.[8][9] According to Will Perry's history of Michigan football, the crowd responded to Pond's plays with cheers of "Pond Forever."
What a 133 years it's been guys.
The first thing I thought was damn I'd love for college football to kick off may 30th 2012!
BLUE!!!
I was at that game, and I'm pretty sure thats where slot ninja's blossomed.
In all seriousness, though. Was Herm there?
Moses had that one.
damn it, Methuselah.
That would be Methuselah, at 969 years.
i knew that.. moses just came out. i guess that is what i get for being in a hurry.
Ahh Racine College, our first rival. It's a shame they closed in 1887, they could have been Wisconsin's big brother.
...Irving Pond and his place in Michigan history here. If you're on campus, you will walk by his handiwork pretty much every day.
and a must read for every Michigan fan.
Bonus: Who knew we could recruit Texas even 133+ years ago?
...sounded familiar as an architect of the M Union. Guess my instincts were correct. Didn't realize that he was a legendary football player too.
Also, "Pond Forever" is a great chant/slogan. How about a shirt in the mgostore with that one? I'd buy it.
Pictures/Videos or it didn't happen! WH...you might have to dig deep for this one!
MS Paint is an acceptable substitute.
The problem with ABC / ESPN coverage back then is that they needed about 1/2 of one sideline for the kinetoscope alone. Further, the wax cylinder needed to record the audio was definitely space prohibitive. There was also only one camera angle and it require four stout men to do a pan shot of the field.
Incidentally, the link to the information on Irving Pond was great - the quote from his autobiography describing his run through the bleachers and jump over the heads of opposing players for a touchdown was pretty amusing. Thanks for sharing that, MGoShoe.
grandmother revealed a bit of her ankle on the sidelines while interviewing Pond.
Ha! If only footage were available.
When we beat Wisconsin in 2000 to get school win #800, the ABC crew flashed a picture of the 1879 team and the score of the Racine game. Gary Danielson, before he became an SEC homer, teased Brent Musberger saying he was probably the only one old enough to remember what the spread was in that Michigan/Racine game.
Hail!!
for not naming at least one of my three children "Pond". :-(
/missedopportunityforposteritilogicalawesomeness
I still say Fuck Racine College!!
Happy Birthday Go Blue Football
Led by captain David N. DeTar, Michigan beat racine 1-0 and later tied toronto 0-0 to finish undefeated at 1-0-1. Irving Kane Pond with the first touchdown. I will be giving Irving as a middle name to my son when he is born.
Here is the official game recap from Michigan student newspaper Michigan Chronicle: http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/images/1879/racine1879.pdf
FULL ROSTER per Bentley Historical Library
Frank G. Allen Forward Aurora, IL
Edmund H. Barmore Halfback Jefferson, IN
William B. Calvert Substitute Ann Arbor, MI
Charles Campbell Halfback Detroit, MI
John Chase Rusher Ann Arbor, MI
Richard G. DePuy Rusher Jamestown, ND
David N. DeTar (c) Rusher Boone, IN
Thomas R. Edwards Rusher Ann Arbor, MI
Jack A. Green Rusher Austin, TX
William W. Hannan Rusher Dowagiac, MI
Collins H. Johnston Halfback Grand Rapids, MI
Charles S. Mitchell Goalkeeper Alexandria, MN
Albert S. Pettit Ann Arbor, MI
Irving K. Pond Rusher Ann Arbor, MI
Frank Reed Rusher Ann Arbor, MI
Thank you gents for your hard work in creating what is a huge part of my life and is the #1 love outside of family & religion.
GO BLUE!
I bet they didn't think folks would see that picture 133 years in the future. What's with the guy in the front row hugging the two guys legs?
I think that supports the use of bands on our throwback Unis, like in the night game against ND.
Pond forever.
The game is listed as taking place at "White Stocking grounds." The Chicago White Stockings were, confusingly, the team that is now called the Chicago Cubs. From 1878 to 1884, they played in a park that was known most commonly as Lake Shore Park, but was also called the Union Baseball Grounds or White Stocking Park. This is almost certainly the same venue. The ballpark was located in what is now the Millennium Park portion of Grant Park, south of Randolph and east of Michigan Avenue. This current picture of the area shows the Chicago Opera Theater just about where the game took place:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2005-10-13_2880x1920_chicago_above_mi…
The shore of Lake Michigan at the time would have come all of the way up to where the tennis courts are on the left side of the picture.
Memorial Day was always on May 30, and it would have been a major occasion in the home state of Lincoln and Grant just 14 years after the end of the Civil War. There were typically baseball doubleheaders played on Memorial Day, but the White Stockings were on the East Coast playing the Boston Braves at the time. Perhaps the owners of the grounds were looking for a different sporting event to take the place of the usual baseball game.
I'm not sure about the rules for college football in 1879 but I have a book (by Jim Cnockaert) that states the rules for the game in 1901. Maybe some of them are the same...
* The field was 110 yards long.
* Games lasted seventy minutes, with two thirty-five-minute halves, but games could and often were shortened.
* Players played both offense and defense, and if a player left for a substitute, he could not return to the game.
* No forward passing was permitted.
* Tackles and guards were allowed to run the ball.
* Three downs were allowed to gain 5 yards for a first down.
* Touchdowns and field goals each counted 5 points. Extra points were worth one point. No two-point conversions were allowed.
* After a touchdown, the scoring team received the kickoff, which helps to explain why the scores of games were so lopsided.
The sport that Michigan and Racine played would be much more familiar to the fans of Rugby than it would be to football fans. By 1901, the sport was recognizably football (but without the forward pass). What happened between 1879 and 1901 is Walter Camp. Camp, the Yale football coach, initiated several rule changes during that time to make it more appealing to the player and the spectator, resulting in the rules you listed above.
Michigan and Racine would never have heard of a "first down," and the field would not have been marked with parallel yard lines--probably only a center line and the goal lines. Play would have been more or less continuous, as it is in rugby today.
...that there is a "goalkeeper" listed on the roster posted above. Clearly the game has evolved considerably.
I'm no historian or rugby expert so does anybody know if the goalkeeper would have been something similar to a modern soccer goalkeeper or something different altogether?
Interesting if you click the Bentley link to the Michigan Chronicle description of the game:
http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/images/1879/racine1879.pdf
Racine has 6 "Rushers", 3 "Halfbacks" and 2 "Backs". Michigan has 8 "Rushers", 2 "Halfbacks" and 1 "Goalkeeper".
Given the description of the game, it seems that the "Goalkeeper" was actually more like the fullback in rugby--the last line of defense if an opposing runner gets a breakaway, and also the person who is most likely to punt and to receive a punt. I imagine the terminology for the positions may still be left over from association football (i.e., soccer) because the sport is still rapidly evolving in 1879, but clearly from the description of the game they are not trying to kick that round ball into a net--they are trying to run it over the goal line for a touchdown or to kick the ball "for a goal," which involves the referee making a judgement of whether the goal is good or not. Since there is referee judgement involved, I assume it is a matter of kicking it over a crossbar and between the goalposts just like a field goal in football today or a conversion in rugby.
...I think it was 1-0, is that right? ...been awhile, my memory is a bit foggy.
Merry 133rd and Go Blue!
I'll point out that since it was 133 years ago, this is the 132nd anniversary, not 133rd. Awesome post, though--I knew of the game as the beginning of Michigan football, but didn't realize that it was noteworthy as the first, or at least a very early, football game in the midwest.
If you were married on May 30, 2011, today is your first anniversary. Anniversary# = (this year) - (year of the original event) = 2012 - 2011 = 1. There is no 0th anniversary. The first anniversary is 1 year after the event.
The first Michigan football game was May 30, 1879. Anniversary# = (this year) - (year of the original event) = 2012 - 1879 = 133.
it is indeed the 133rd anniversary but we should be at team 134 for this year since at your 1 year anniversary you would be on team 2 so you are always ahead by 1. I think its because michigan didn't play any games in one of those early years. Anyone know which year that was?
They skipped 1882, so Team 3 was the 1881 team, and Team 4 was the 1883 team.
I refuse to buy the long-running concerns about going too conservative with the offense until we add a 3-star goal keeper.
Yeah, but did their QB have a dreamy smile?