Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-11-10
Played First
Grid Game
In 1890
Account of Contest
Buried on Inside
Page of The Star
Bv Francis E. Stan.

avenue and ripping up the carpets
TO install a new-fangled system of
lighting by electricity. 1t played
hob with Mrs. Harrison's social
calendar.
The world was not without some
disQuieting features. Along the
Tongue River the Cheyenne Indians
were piqued at Uncle Sam and rails
ing q rumpus. A heavyweight prize
fight was held between Mike Bren-
nan and Jack Burns and the 100
ssportsmen" who trudged through
New Jersey mud 10 see it branded it
q fake.
1t wasn't very far 10 the nearest
race track around this town. The
horses were running at Benning.
The leading paper of Washington
carried advertisements on its front
page and proudly boosted a circula-
ton OF $4,000. 1t was 1890, in the
late fall of the year, and buried
deep in an inside page of The Eve
ming Star appeared this two-day-
late gem of sportswriting:
Fiftieth Year.
1lISl-ldUC SdHlC VI 1OOIDoll was
played at the corner of New Hamp-
shire avenue and r street Saturday
afternoon between the Kalorama
Heights team and a team from the
Columbian University. The game
was won by the college boys by a
score of 10 to 0, the points being
made by Davis, who made two
touchdowns and goal The two
elevens lined up as follows :" 1t
was noted the line-ups embraced
only nine Kalorama names. That
was all the club team could place
on the field against the Columbians.
George Washington University
now is celebrating its 50th year of
football. On that November 8 day
in 1890 George Washington was the
Columbian College, dabbling for the
first time in the game which en-
quilted the Eastern seaboard.
Another November finds George
Washington one of the gridiron
powers, not a national champion,
but a team which has grown as
the knowledge foundry, itself, has
grown since 1890. 1t is interesting
to note that one of the four teams
played by Columbian during the
first season half a century ago was
Georgetown, the local rival which
George Washington will play No
vember %, 1910, in what will be one
of the biggest games in the East.
Dropped Four Times.
Fittingly, George Washington has
come up with one of its greatest
teams in its bicentennial year of
football. 1t was a dolorous start
the game got at Columbian. Under
the conditions of highly inadequate
facilities a substantial percentage OF
self-supporting students. and various
difficulties of organization, the Won
der Is that the sport survived at all
in those early years, much less pro-
duce long and imposing list OF
brilliant individual players and fine
teams
-Four times between 1890 and 1920
football was dropped as an inter-
collegiate activity, according to the
best university records available. In
fact, only II years in those 80 was
George Washington represented by
an intercollegiate eleven. And yet
football was gaining such hold
everywhere on intercollegiate ath-
letic programs and there was such
tremendous interest in the game as
an activity and as a spectator sport
among students that it was always
re-established on the Columbian
campus in spite of the conditions
in those early years which made its
maintenance a continual problem.
World War INTERVIEWED.
After that initial season in 1890
football was dropped for seven years.
Following two more years of
existence a team was not organized
until 1908. Then followed a series
OF cycles in which the Colonials
rose and fell.
For eight successive years, begin
ming with 1903 George Washington
sponsored the game and, in 1908,
- first tasted the sweets of success
when the Colonials won the South
Atlantic championship. OF the
early years this period was the
golden era.
Dun 1OI dll VI IlllS
success back in the days when the
g bushy shock of unhelmeted hair
: rison-striped jersies, handle-bar
nustaches and an almost round
ball were standard equipment, foot
ball was not an important cog in
: the university. Again in 1910, at
- the close of the season, it was
dropped and not until 1916 did it
spring to life anew. Then, just
when it appeared as If G. w. was to
have the game for keeps World
r. War I f1ared and football was
dropped until 1920.
Football at Top.
But since 1920 there has been no
lapse. Nor Is there ever likely to
be another. The flaming spirit of
postwar youth, demanding action
and thrills, gayly seized the game,
put 1t on a pedestal by itself and
fed It until a healthy corpulence
= has been noted. In the last Is
years, with increased enrolment in
the university-upward of $500 STU
dents attend the institution COM
posed of IL colleges, schools and
divisions-football has held place
Mt the top of George Washington's
intercollegiate athletic program.
When football was revived for the
first time in 1897, following its In
PRODUCTION, Columbian won four, tied
one and lost five and promptly be-
came discouraged to the point OF
dropping the sport at the end of
that season. In 1904, the year after
1t was revived for the second time,
. the university which was founded
in 1921 changed its name to the
!. George Washington University and
the first opponent of the school
with the new name was Randolph
Macon The Ratchet, university
paper, reported 17to-0 victory for
the home team, as follows:
Worst Defeat