Thanksgiving Day Football in Dallas — 1893

by Paula Bosse

by Paula Bosse

Back in 2016, I wrote “Thanksgiving, 1891: The First Turkey-Day Football Game in Dallas.” (I highly recommend checking out that post — I loved writing it, and there are a lot of unexpectedly interesting things in it — if you’re not a football fan, don’t worry! The “loaded muff” thing is the best weird historical tidbit you may read all day.)

By 1893, I guess the holiday football game (or “foot ball” game) had already become a tradition in Dallas. That year, the Nov. 30th Thanksgiving match-up was between the University of Texas team and the Dallas Foot Ball Club. You can read all the details of the game in a Dallas Morning News article from Dec. 1, 1893 (thankfully, sports writing evolved!). (Spoiler: The headline is “And Dallas Lost It.” UT emerged victorious, with an 18-16 win.)

UT had a chant:

Hoo-ray!

Below, the somewhat rudimentary DMN illustrations that accompanied the very wordy coverage of the Nov. 30, 1893 gridiron battle.

A rush through the center:

Blocked:

A good catch:

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your day is filled with good food, family and friends, and a non-demoralizing football game.

***

Sources & Notes

First two images from the cover of a scrapbook from the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas.

Line drawings from The Dallas Morning News, Dec. 1, 1893.

Read other Flashback Dallas posts on Thanksgiving in Dallas here.

Flashback : Dallas