December 27, 1892: The Birth of Black College Football

A modern game between Livingstone (left) and Smith

December 27, 1892: A college football game is played in Salisbury, North Carolina. Livingston College hosts Biddle University, of Charlotte, North Carolina, 41 miles to the southwest.

Based on information currently available, this is believed to have been the 1st football game between two schools that would now be called "historically black colleges and universities," or HBCUs. It is known as "The Birth of Black College Football."

The game was set up between two friends, Charles Shute of Biddle and William J. Trent of Livingstone. The former school had been playing on what would now be called an intramural level for 2 years. When Shute learned that Livingston was starting a football team, he contacted Trent, and the game was set up.

A rare snowstorm had hit the Carolinas over the Christmas holiday, and the site chosen for the field, a converted cow pasture in what is now Livingstone's front campus, had to be cleared of 5 inches of snow.

Apparently, the experience mattered: Biddle won, 4-0. Under the scoring system in use at the time, that's one touchdown to none. Under today's scoring, presuming they made their extra point, it would be 7-0. The name of the scoring player was not recorded. Nor was an estimate of the attendance.

Biddle University was named for the Biddle family of Philadelphia, an "old-money" family involved in banking, which had donated money to start the school in 1867. In 1921 to 1922, Jane Berry Smith donated funds to the school, to build a theological dormitory, a science hall, a teachers' cottage, a memorial gate, and an endowment in memory of her late husband, Johnson C. Smith, a Pittsburgh businessman and a member of the Presbyterian Church, with which Biddle was affiliated. In 1923, in recognition of this, the school's board of trustees renamed the school Johnson C. Smith University.

Trent went on to become not just the president of Livingstone, but its longest-serving president, and the last surviving player from the game, on either side.

Livingstone College was founded in 1879, affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church. It was founded in 1879 as Zion Wesley Institute, named for Zion, another name for Israel; and John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. In 1887, it was renamed for Dr. David Livingstone, the famous Victorian-era Scottish physician and missionary in Africa.

Both the Smith Golden Bulls and the Livingstone Blue Bears now compete in NCAA Division II. Their rivalry continues as fellow members of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), and their annual game is named the Commemorative Classic.

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December 27, 1892 was a Tuesday -- then as now, an unusual day for a football game, at any level. There appear to have been no other scores on this historic day: For most college football teams, the season ended on Thanksgiving or earlier; baseball was out of season; hockey was all-amateur; and basketball had only been invented 1 year earlier.