Today's Tidbit... Iowa State @ Drake on Thanksgiving Day 1908

Thanksgiving Day was the primary day for rivalry football games before WWII, and so it was in 1908 in Des Moines. Drake had a good team that year, winning their first five games by shutouts against lesser competition before playing three tough games to end the season. They suffered a close loss to Missouri and won at Iowa, leaving them to host a season-ending Thanksgiving Day game against Iowa State for the state championship.

1908 Iowa State at Drake game (Frederick J. Bandholz Collection, Library of Congress)

Luckily for us, a series of images of that game are available, the best being a panoramic shot of Haskins Field, a concrete stadium built into a natural amphitheater. The image from the Library of Congress shows a precisely-marked checkerboard field during the second to last season played on that design. A close look at the image (click to enlarge) shows the field sits several feet below the surrounding track. Since neither side has benches for the substitutes, both teams rest along the hill leading up to the track. An image from a Drake yearbook shows the same.