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1890
The First Army-Navy
Football Game
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Cadet Dennis Michie
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In 1890, football was widely popular among American colleges, including the Naval Academy at Annapolis. Yet only two West Point cadets had ever played: Cadet Leonard M. Prince, and Cadet Dennis Mahan Michie '92, the high-spirited son of Peter Smith Michie (Class of 1863), Professor of Natural Philosophy and head of the Academic Board.
Dennis Michie loved football, and he had an undeniable influence over his formidable father. So it was young Michie who launched Army's football career, when he persuaded his father to allow West Point to accept a challenge from the Naval Academy to a game of football.
The first game went predictably. Navy had been playing organized football for years; West Point's team, with young Michie as the coach and trainer, had been allowed to practice only on a few rainy Saturdays when the weekly parade was called off. Michie's coaching seems to have been fairly informal. When Navy's team came out on the field and began warm-up drills and exercises, the cadets looked on in shock.
At the line of scrimmage, Navy's quarterback began to bark out commands in nautical terms. "Tack ship" indicated a run to the right, "Wear ship" a run to the left. The Army quarterback, Kirby Walker, caught on fast, and began shouting out his signals in Army terms - "In battery, heave!"
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Army's First Clash with Navy |
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At this time the basic tactic in football was the flying wedge, allowing for none of the finesse of the modern game, the game was all brute force - war by another means. Army's inexperience accentuated the havoc. Kirby Walker was knocked out four times, and was finally taken off unconscious to the hospital, but the game went on. A New York Times reported noted, "There is not much football in this struggle but the fighting is immense." Navy exploited its sophistication, at one point running a fake punt, which caught Army so off guard the play went for a touchdown. The referees shrugged off Army's indignant protests that a man who professed he was about to punt was honor bound to kick away. Navy won the game 24-0.
The defeat spurred a robust effort at fielding a better team. Every regiment in the Army contributed money for uniforms and a part-time coach, as well as sending the team down to Annapolis for a rematch. In 1891 West Point played six home games, winning four, and one away game - at Annapolis, where the cadets recorded their final victory over Navy 32-16.
Even before he graduated, Dennis Mahan Michie had founded one of the great American sports rivalries; as a player he scored in Army's first victory. Before him lay a future shining with promise. But he was cut down almost before he could start. He died in the Spanish-American War, at the Battle of San Juan Hill. In the tradition of naming sports facilities for Academy graduates who died in action, Michie Stadium is named for him. |
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