In 1892 the first football night game took place in Mansfield PA between Mansfield Normal (later university) and Wyoming seminary. And, on Sept. 14, 2013 121 years after the first-ever night football game ever Mansfield hosted its second-ever football game under the lights, facing off against Princeton
For perspective Texas A&M didn't have their first night game at Kyle field until 1949 and didn't start a football team until 1894.
https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2019-09-18/story-first-ever-night-football-game-1892
From the article above
While the first incandescent light was invented in 1802, electric lights weren't truly commercially widespread until the 1870s.
In 1892, the town of Mansfield, Pennsylvania was hosting its 13th annual county fair, officially known as the Tioga County Agricultural, Mechanical and Industrial Fair. According to the local newspaper at the time, the Mansfield Advertiser, approximately 18,000 to 20,000 people attended that edition.
In fact, a "foot ball game by electric light" was a novelty not seen anywhere before that night. While football and electric lights had been around for a couple decades, no one had ever put the two together before.
According to a program published by Mansfield University of Pennsylvania in 1992, the idea for the game originated from the players on Mansfield's football team, which had its inaugural season in 1891.
The team joined forces with the General Electric Company, which was showcasing a new electric light setup at that year's fair. They would promote the new sport and the newer lights at the biggest event of the year.
Here's an excerpt detailing that exhibition, from the Mansfield Advertiser:
'The electric light dynamo which is to be used to illuminate the fair grounds is a Thomson-Houston Machine of thirty light capacity. It weighs 4300 pounds, and the generator, containing miles of insulated copper wire, makes nearly a thousand revolutions a minute. The lights to be used are twenty lamps of 2000 candle power and five 64-candle incandescent lights. The power to operate the dynamo is to be furnished by Messrs. Day & Warters from their 20-horse engine. The plant is in charge of H. E. Varney, of Philadelphia, and J. L. Cummings, of this boro.'
The game itself was scheduled for 7:30 at night, but actually began at 6:45 p.m. Lights were stationed on poles around the perimeter of the field, and one light pole stood in the middle of the playing field.
Wyoming Seminary donned white uniforms, hoping they would reflect light better and be more visible. Mansfield opted for all-black for the first time in their program's history. To be fair, their program had played just four games before this matchup (but was 3-1 in 1891).
Even with lights everywhere, the lighting was very lacking. The Mansfield program reports that "the teams were often unaware of which squad had the ball. Anyone in a uniform was liable to be tackled." According to some reports that also included the referee and the umpire, and at least one player collided with the light pole in the middle of the field.
Since the playing surface was also in the middle of the fairgrounds, it was "full of holes, butternuts, pebbles and 'animal residue'."
After 20 minutes of game time, only 10 plays had been run, and neither team had managed to score.
The next week's edition of the Mansfield Advertiser details the results:
"Wednesday evening of the fair the first game of foot ball on record by electric light occurred between the Kingston and M. S. N. S. teams. The game was called at 7:30 with the ball in the possession of the Normals. The game was hotly contested from beginning to end of the first half, at the expiration of which the game was decided a draw, as both captains considered it inconvenient to continue. Prof. Race, of the Wyoming seminary, acted as umpire and Dwight Smith, of the Normal, as referee."
Still, even with a 0-0 score, it appears as though Mansfield claimed victory on the game. In that same edition of the paper, the Wyoming Seminary team issued a public challenge for a rematch to Mansfield, where they rebuked Mansfield's claim to victory:
For perspective Texas A&M didn't have their first night game at Kyle field until 1949 and didn't start a football team until 1894.
https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2019-09-18/story-first-ever-night-football-game-1892
From the article above
While the first incandescent light was invented in 1802, electric lights weren't truly commercially widespread until the 1870s.
In 1892, the town of Mansfield, Pennsylvania was hosting its 13th annual county fair, officially known as the Tioga County Agricultural, Mechanical and Industrial Fair. According to the local newspaper at the time, the Mansfield Advertiser, approximately 18,000 to 20,000 people attended that edition.
In fact, a "foot ball game by electric light" was a novelty not seen anywhere before that night. While football and electric lights had been around for a couple decades, no one had ever put the two together before.
According to a program published by Mansfield University of Pennsylvania in 1992, the idea for the game originated from the players on Mansfield's football team, which had its inaugural season in 1891.
The team joined forces with the General Electric Company, which was showcasing a new electric light setup at that year's fair. They would promote the new sport and the newer lights at the biggest event of the year.
Here's an excerpt detailing that exhibition, from the Mansfield Advertiser:
'The electric light dynamo which is to be used to illuminate the fair grounds is a Thomson-Houston Machine of thirty light capacity. It weighs 4300 pounds, and the generator, containing miles of insulated copper wire, makes nearly a thousand revolutions a minute. The lights to be used are twenty lamps of 2000 candle power and five 64-candle incandescent lights. The power to operate the dynamo is to be furnished by Messrs. Day & Warters from their 20-horse engine. The plant is in charge of H. E. Varney, of Philadelphia, and J. L. Cummings, of this boro.'
The game itself was scheduled for 7:30 at night, but actually began at 6:45 p.m. Lights were stationed on poles around the perimeter of the field, and one light pole stood in the middle of the playing field.
Wyoming Seminary donned white uniforms, hoping they would reflect light better and be more visible. Mansfield opted for all-black for the first time in their program's history. To be fair, their program had played just four games before this matchup (but was 3-1 in 1891).
Even with lights everywhere, the lighting was very lacking. The Mansfield program reports that "the teams were often unaware of which squad had the ball. Anyone in a uniform was liable to be tackled." According to some reports that also included the referee and the umpire, and at least one player collided with the light pole in the middle of the field.
Since the playing surface was also in the middle of the fairgrounds, it was "full of holes, butternuts, pebbles and 'animal residue'."
After 20 minutes of game time, only 10 plays had been run, and neither team had managed to score.
The next week's edition of the Mansfield Advertiser details the results:
"Wednesday evening of the fair the first game of foot ball on record by electric light occurred between the Kingston and M. S. N. S. teams. The game was called at 7:30 with the ball in the possession of the Normals. The game was hotly contested from beginning to end of the first half, at the expiration of which the game was decided a draw, as both captains considered it inconvenient to continue. Prof. Race, of the Wyoming seminary, acted as umpire and Dwight Smith, of the Normal, as referee."
Still, even with a 0-0 score, it appears as though Mansfield claimed victory on the game. In that same edition of the paper, the Wyoming Seminary team issued a public challenge for a rematch to Mansfield, where they rebuked Mansfield's claim to victory:
I collect ticket stubs! looking for a 1944 orange bowl and 1981 independence bowl ticket stub as well as Aggie vs tu stubs - 1926 and below, 1935-1937, 1939-1944, 1946-1948, 1950-1951, 1953, 1956-1957, 1959, 1960, 1963-1966, 1969-1970, 1972-1974, 1980, 1984, 1990, 2004, 2008, 2010
