The first football game in the Midwest was played at White Stockings Park in Chicago on May 30, 1879. The University of Michigan was one of the teams taking the field that day, which should surprise no one.
Their opponent was Racine College of Wisconsin, which should surprise everyone who was not already aware of Racine's contribution to college football history. Racine played college football until 1887, when the school dropped its college division, retaining only the prep school until it closed in 1934.
Touted as being played for the championship of Western colleges, the game was easily Racine College football's high point. It is also easy to identify the program's low point, which came in 1903. Let's cover the high point first.
The advertising may have helped since a crowd of 500 or more alums showed up for the contest, which Michigan dominated. Racine struggled to move the ball but played excellent defense. Michigan earned a first-half touchdown. At the time, games were decided based on which team scored the most goals. Teams did not earn points for scoring touchdowns, only the right to attempt a free kick at goal, so when the referee ruled that Michigan missed the goal kick after the touchdown, the score remained 0-0.
Early in the second half, Michigan moved the ball within 10 yards of Racine's goal line, and the ball remained in the area for 20 minutes as the scrummage pushed back and forth. Things opened up a bit later when Michigan broke out, managing to kick a goal from field late in the game to walk away with a 1-0 win.
The news reports tell us Michigan earned a banquet that night, but the same reports do not mention what, if anything, Racine consumed that evening. News of their gastronomical proclivities had to wait for the century to turn when Racine College's football low point arrived in 1903.
Before 1910, schools often provided training tables for their athletes. Period coaches and trainers focused as much on what athletes should not eat as they should consume, so the spartan diets made little sense. Some teams banned legumes, while others promoted eating stale bread or drinking stale beer. Based on superstition rather than reason, Battersby, the 1903 Racine College coach, was particularly against eating sweets, even banning a local vendor's candy wagon from campus during football season.
One of the team's stars was a halfback named Roddick, who had run a 10-flat 100-yard dash at an interscholastic meet in Madison in 1901. Even if that run was wind-aided and hand-timed, that boy was moving, given the cinder tracks of the day. Unfortunately, Roddick had a sweet tooth and a sweetheart or two willing to smuggle illicit candies onto campus.
Near the end of October and immediately before their game with Milwaukee South Division High, Coach Battersby learned Roddick had eaten fudge while in training and immediately tossed Roddick from the squad.
Within the week, Battersby learned other team members had feasted on forbidden fudge, so he disbanded the team for its lack of discipline and canceled the remainder of the schedule.
Though bittersweet, the Racine College story served as a warning for the Hilltoppers at Marquette University, 30 miles north of Racine in Milwaukee. Their coach threatened to disband the team after learning team members had attended dances with girls during the season. Oh, the humanity!
So, the next time you hear of an athlete being disciplined for violating an inane rule established by their coach, thank your stars, it is not 1903 when fudge and dances with girls were off the table.
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Truly unhinged times they lived in…
I always love the fudge story. Very timely too as the Racine Legion NFL teams was granted their NFL franchise on June 24, 1922, way to hit the anniversary for another portion of Racine football history!