Throwing Shade on the First Use of Eye Black

An incorrect, but widely cited claim, tells us Andy Farkas was the first sportsperson to wear eye black when he did so in 1942. The claim appears in many locations, including Wikipedia and the History page on the Farkas Eye Black site. The latter tells us:

"The first officially recognized use of eye black in sports dates back to Andy Farkas, who donned burnt cork in 1942 as he helped lead the Washington Redskins to an NFL Championship. While eye black has long been popular in football, the product has been an anchor to success in many other sports, most notably baseball."

The site supports the claim using an undated image of Farkas wearing eye black.

Andy Farkas (#44) wearing eye black while being tackled (farkaseyeblack.com/pages/history)

However, a few minutes of research shows the claim is incorrect, as documented below.

Admittedly, identifying the first person to do one thing or another in sports can be challenging, and I will not claim to have identified the first to wear eye black, but I will provide documentary and photographic evidence showing Farkas was not the first sportsperson to use eye black, and he was not the first football player or the first NFL player to do so.

The earliest documentation of a football team wearing eye black is the 1911 Phillips Andover team. A top prep school, Andover had the resources of a cutting-edge team and access to top Eastern college teams such as Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, so it is possible the idea to use eye black originated with an Ivy. Still, the same article that discusses Andover's use indicates that wearing eye black was an "old device" among baseball players. It also notes that Sumner Paine, a Bostonian who won gold and silver in pistol shooting at the 1896 Olympics, wore eye black while competing. Both references suggest eye black was not the newest thing under the sun, even in 1911.