African Americans in college football, Part 1: The early years

In honor of both Black History Month and college football’s 150th Anniversary, we take a look back at the contribution of African Americans to the game.

November 6, 1869, Rutgers and New Jersey — now known as Princeton University — played the first college football game. The game then looks very little like the game now. You weren’t allowed to throw or hold the ball but kick and punch the ball to get the round ball into your opponent’s goal.

It was a low-scoring game with Rutgers winning 6-4. The early game existed primarily in the Ivy League with members from Columbia, Yale, Harvard and Princeton establishing the first rules of the game in 1876 in Springfield, Mass.

Universities and football teams also reflected the culture in the United States at the time. Slavery had ended only four years before the first football game, and most universities excluded African-Americans from enrolling as students let alone play college football.

However, even in college football’s infancy, players of African descent found acceptance in some football programs and made important contributions. Others were involved in incidents that will forever live in infamy for their blatant and grotesque bigotry and racism.

Here are some important events from the early days of college football.