September 28th, 1892:
On Wednesday, September 28, 1892, two American collegiate football teams — and a giant generator — got together for a momentous moment in the sport: The first American football game at night.
That week, the town of Mansfield, Pennsylvania was hosting its 13th annual county fair. One of the draws was a brand-new electric light display that was pretty revolutionary for the time.
They dreamed up a way to highlight the feature of the fair: have a first-ever football game under the lights. While football and electric lights had been around for a couple decades, no one had ever put the two together before.
The game itself was scheduled for 7:30 at night, but actually began at 6:45 p.m. Lights were stationed on poles around the perimeter with one light pole in the middle of the playing field.
Wyoming Seminary donned white uniforms, hoping they would reflect light better and be more visible. Mansfield, however, opted for all-black for the first time in their program’s history.
Even with lights everywhere, the lighting was very lacking. The Mansfield program reports that “the teams were often unaware of which squad had the ball. Anyone in a uniform was liable to be tackled.” According to some reports that also included the referee and the umpire, and at least one player collided with the light pole in the middle of the field.
The game ended in a 0-0 tie and while both teams claimed victory, the real winner was the game of football who has gone on to host tens of thousands of games under the lights.
Featured image courtesy of NCAA.
