On this day in New York · November 29, 1890
The Cadet Who Dared Navy to a Football Game
A West Point cadet built a team from scratch, talked his class into a game nobody had asked for, and watched Navy hand him a 24 to 0 lesson in front of a thousand screaming spectators.
The facts
- Date
- November 29, 1890
- Location
- The Plain, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York
- Final score
- Navy 24, Army 0
- Army's organizer, coach and captain
- Cadet Dennis Michie
On November 29, 1890, Army and Navy played football against each other for the first time, on the Plain at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. Cadet Dennis Michie organized, coached and captained the brand new Army squad after midshipmen challenged West Point to a game, even though Navy had been fielding organized teams since 1879 and Army had none. The mismatch showed: Navy ran plays behind coded nautical calls and won 24 to 0, and Army's quarterback, Kirby Walker, took such a pounding that he spent 13 days in the hospital afterward. Michie's gamble outlasted the score. The two academies have met almost every year since, and Army's stadium now carries his name.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
-
internecine struggle
The New York Times, describing the game, November 30, 1890
Source: Task & Purpose -
splice the mainbrace
Navy's coded signal for opening a hole in Army's line, per a New York Times account from November 30, 1890
Source: Task & Purpose
Why it still matters
One cadet's dare turned into the oldest rivalry game between the country's two service academies, and every December it still pulls New Yorkers into bars and stadiums to watch it play out again.
Sources
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