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Very
little is known about the first official year of Chillicothe High
School football. The only information regarding this season comes
from the 1907-08 Chillicothe Cresset School Yearbook:
The year 1904 marks "Old
Rugby's" first appearance in C.H.S. Before this football was
unknown to us, but when, in 1904, our first team was
organized, everything was done to make it a success. Only
three games were played but we were victorious in two of
these.
The following year the boys became more enthusiastic
and did their best. On account of strict rules some of our
best players were forced to give up their places to less
capable ones but nevertheless they played three games.
The 1906 team was a decided improvement over the former
teams but still was handicapped in a few ways. First, lack of
material, second changing of rules, third, lack of scrub team
and fourth, lack of foot ball spirit in the school. They
played four games and sad to say they lost three. |
There is the complete factual knowledge of the first year of
Chillicothe High School Football. However, we can speculate
regarding those three opponents. Chillicothe had two colleges in the
town at that time: Maupin College and Chillicothe Normal School
which later would become Chillicothe Business College. Both schools
had football teams at this time, and a possible opponent might be
Normal School's Second Team, the equivalent of today's Junior
Varsity. Brookfield High School was also playing football at this
time, and played the Normal School's varsity team at times. A home
and home game with Brookfield is a possibility. It is possible other
small towns such as Trenton, Carrollton, Meadville and Breckenridge
were also fielding teams and were opponents.
Football was not necessarily new to the town of
Chillicothe. The Chillicothe Constitution Newspaper of September 29,
1902 mentions:
"The Normal foot ball squad is hard at work for its coming
game at Carrollton next Saturday. There have been some changes
in the lineup and the home school's team expects to be able to
return victors.
"The local team is also doing hard practice. Manager
Walter Jackson is having some difficulty in securing
candidates for the difference positions but hopes to be able
to present a full team this week. He has received
challenges from Macon and Stanberry and may accept. " |
It is unknown if the "local team" was a group of Chillicothe
citizens or Chillicothe High School boys, or never materialized at
all. If there was a team, most likely it was a mixture of both
students and adults. Town teams were commonplace as was loading high
school teams with men in their 20s. There wasn't exactly a lot of
rules, officials or governing body for the sport.
Interest in football grew with the birth of the Boarder
Wars in college: Missouri vs. Kansas. Local newspapers played up the
contest and ran other scores, primarily from Ivy League schools. A
one line mention in the Chillicothe Constitution in 1891 declared
that "a foot ball game will be played at the fair grounds and all
should attend." There was no mention of the teams or of the result. |
