November 2, 1873: The 1st College Football Game In the South

The earliest photo I could find of either school's football team:

Washington & Lee, 1914, 41 years later

November 2, 1873: For the 1st time, a college football game is played in the Southern United States. At least, the 1st time that can be definitively established.

Students at the Virginia Military Institute and at Washington & Lee College -- literally next-door to each other, separated by Woods Creek in Lexington, Virginia -- allegedly organized a game for October 23, 1869, but it was rained out. Had it been played, this would have been the 1st college football game, and the 1st any kind of game that Americans now call "football," played anywhere in the United States, preceding the contest that did receive that distinction, between Rutgers and what's now known as Princeton University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, by 13 days.

It is said in the traditions of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, that they organized a game with Washington & Lee in 1871. But no record of this game has ever been found.

So the 1873 W&L vs. VMI contest is the 1st. There is something fitting about this, beyond being neighbors. Founded in 1749 as Augusta Academy, and known since 1813 as Washington College, the school named Robert E. Lee, the recently defeated leading General of the Confederate Army, as its President in 1865. He served as such for 5 years, until his death in 1870. He was buried in the school's chapel, and the school was then renamed Washington & Lee. Lee was even related to Washington, by marriage: Lee's wife Mary was the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington, George's wife, and her 1st husband, Daniel Custis.

And VMI, founded in 1839, had Thomas J. Jackson, the future General nicknamed "Stonewall," as a professor from 1851 until the breakout of the American Civil War. At the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863, Jackson died of pneumonia after being wounded and losing his left arm. Before Jackson's death, Lee, who so deeply trusted Jackson's tactical advice, told his aides, "He has lost his left arm, but I my right arm." He added, "Who can fill his place, I do not know." This game was played just 8 1/2 years after the end of the war, and Reconstruction was still in effect.

With some irony, blue being the Union's color and gray that of the Confederacy, Washington & Lee's teams, naturally called the Generals, wear blue. The VMI Keydets (a Southern-drawl version of "Cadets") wear maroon and old gold.

Using the scoring system of the time, with 1 point for a goal, Washington & Lee won, 4-2. With the Harvard-McGill game of 1874 leading to a rewrite of the rules, including the introduction of the "try" from rugby as the "touchdown," this score would have been 28-14 in W&L's favor.

On December 1, 1889, for the 1st time, a college football team from the Union States played one from the former Confederate States, the 1st North-South football game. Lehigh University, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, went to Charlottesville, and beat Virginia, 24-12 at Madison Hall Field. On November 21, 1890, Lehigh's arch-rivals, Lafayette College of Easton, Pennsylvania, went to Charlottesville, and Virginia became the 1st Southern team to beat a Northern team, 20-6.

On January 30, 1892, the University of Georgia hosted Mercer University in Athens, Georgia, on what will eventually be named Herty Field, after UGa's 1st head coach, Charles Herty. Georgia won, 50-0.

Three weeks later, on February 20, what's now known as "The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry" began. Georgia played the Agricultural and Mechanical University of Alabama at Piedmont Park in Atlanta. This one didn't go so well for the Bulldogs: The school renamed Alabama Tech in 1899, and Auburn University in 1960, won, 10-0.

Eight months after that, on October 22, what's incorrectly called "The South's Oldest Rivalry" began. The University of North Carolina traveled to Charlottesville to play Virginia, who won, 30-18.

On November 25, 1893, North Carolina became the 1st Southern team to play a game in the North. They went to Manhattan Field, next-door to the Polo Grounds in New York, where Lehigh beat them, 34-0. On November 4, 1922, Alabama beat Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, becoming the 1st Southern team to win away to a Northern team.

In the years to come, Southern schools would measure themselves against Northern opponents. Their coaches would tell them they had the chance to get revenge for their granddaddies. And when Alabama would win the Rose Bowl, or some other Southern team would beat Army or Michigan or an Ivy League school, it was a huge moment.

Sometimes, it still is, regardless of race. Marino Casem, who coached at the historically black schools Alabama State, Alcorn State of Mississippi, and Southern University of Louisiana, put it this way: "On the East Coast, football is a cultural experience. In the Midwest, it's a form of cannibalism. On the West Coast, it's a tourist attraction. And in the South, football is a religion, and Saturday is the holy day."

And what of those 1873 Southern pioneers? Today, the VMI Keydets compete in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS, formerly "Division I-AA".) And Washington & Lee compete in NCAA Division III. As a result, they no longer play each other. VMI's longstanding rival is The Citadel, a military college in Charleston, South Carolina, and their game is called "The Military Classic of the South."

Historically, VMI have struggled, with one of the lowest winning percentages of any Division I school: .407. But they have won 8 titles in the Southern Conference, including in 2020, although the last before that was in 1977. Washington & Lee have won 9 titles in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, including in 2021, and 6 of the last 16.

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November 2, 1873 was a Sunday. Frankly, given the South's alleged commitment to Christianity, especially the fundamentalist Protestant kind, I'm surprised they played on a Sunday. Nevertheless, no other college games were played that day, and only a few were played the day before. It was still the infancy of American football. Indeed, no sporting events were played on the day. Therefore, there were no other scores on this historic day.