Philadelphia Was Once Hallowed Ground For Howard

"This is the Thanksgiving Game. This is the greatest contest of the year."- Baltimore Afro-American, November 21, 1925

"No mythical championship hinged on the result of the game, but greater than the laurel and the bay of the monarchs of the ribbed turf was the joy of Howard in victory. The Howard-Lincoln game is the Yale-Harvard, Pitt-[Penn] State, Army-Navy, game of the Colored Race." -Stan Baumgartner, Philadelphia Enquirer, Nov 25, 1927.

When Temple hosts Howard tomorrow, it will seem like just another meaningless buy game. But it is so much more than that. It is a look at the past for the Howard program.

Philadelphia was once the epicenter of the HBCU universe, and Howard played a significant role in that. Howard's epic Thanksgiving battles with Lincoln spanned both of the city's Major League Ballparks, took roost in a 100,000-seat stadium in the city, and even decided the Black College Football Championship.

White sportswriters likened the series to Black College Football's answer to Harvard-Yale or Army-Navy. Now, the series is just a distant memory, not even documented on Howard's website due to poor recordkeeping. Still, the Bison's return to Philadelphia this weekend against Temple is a reminder of Howard's rich history in the City of Brotherly Love.

When Howard and Lincoln first met in 1894, hardly anyone had any idea of the heights the game would reach. Howard and Lincoln would meet on Thanksgiving Day in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia's three ballparks from 1919 through the 1940s. The rivalry's move to Philadelphia's Baker Bowl for the first time coincided with the series' most important game to date. In 1919, both schools met at the Baker Bowl, the quaint home of the Philadelphia Phillies, to play for the Black College Football Championship.

Over 10,000 fans saw Howard and Lincoln fight to a scoreless tie. Howard could muster only one first down, but Lincoln's inability to score on three drives that reached inside the Bison 20 preserved the tie. This game ushered in a renaissance for both schools. In 1921's game at the Baker Bowl was yet another Black College Football Championship matchup. Both teams entered their Thanksgiving Day matchup undefeated, Howard with a record of 5-0 and Lincoln with a mark of 7-1. No team scored on Howard until Lincoln, who won the game 13-7 on a late 55-yard touchdown pass from Seldon Parr to Jimmie Law in front of another 10,000 fan crowd.

Two years later, the championship trilogy continued as the crowd more than doubled to 25,000 at the Baker Bowl. Howard entered the game with a 7-0 record and only allowed 13 points all year, while Lincoln had a respectable 5-1-1 record/ Like 1919, a tie in the Howard-Lincoln game left the Black College Football Champion undecided.

After Howard captain Chas Doneghy used a 20-yard fake field goal pass to set up his own touchdown, the Bison missed the extra point. After Howard allowed legendary Lincoln back Jazz Byrd, touted as "The Black Red Grange" by HBCU Gameday, to return a punt 85-yards for a touchdown, Lincoln missed the extra point. A 6-6 tie may have dissatisfied the masses, but the Howard-Lincoln rivalry became a marquee event in the city of Brotherly Love. 

In 1925, the rivalry outgrew the Phillies' Baker Bowl and moved to Shibe Park the home of the Philadelphia Athletics. 18,000 fans saw another game with Black College Football Championship implications. Howard had not allowed a point all season on its way to a 7-0 start. Although not in the championship race, Lincoln held a respectable 4-1-1 record. Nonetheless, another tie, scoreless like in 1919, disappointed writers hoping to crown a champion. Still, Thomas Young of the Pittsburgh Courier crowned Howard as northern Black College Football Champions along with Tuskegee in the South.

In 1927, 15,000 fans flocked to Shibe Park to see Howard finally beat Lincoln in Philadelphia 20-0. Two years later, the rivalry reached its peak, once again moving across town to the 100,000-seat Municipal Stadium, future longtime home of the Army-Navy Game. After a disappointing 15,000 fans appeared for another scoreless tie in the series. The 15,000 fans that were present saw an inspired Howard team stop Lincoln at the goal line five times.

The rivalry moved back to Shibe Park in 1931. Attendance declined to between 7,000 to 8,000. Lincoln would then move their home halves of the series to Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall in 1933 and 1935, before returning to Shibe Park in 1937. The series then alternated between Drexel's home stadium and Shibe Park in odd years between 1939-1945. Despite the final Shibe Park game drawing a smaller crowd than the rivalry's heyday, it still netted $13,680 or $244,160 when adjusted for inflation. In 1947, the game permanently moved to Temple Stadium.

Howard tried to capture some of that Philadelphia magic from the Roaring Twenties, but the results were underwhelming. In 1975, the Bison played national power Florida A&M at Franklin Field. While the attendance outdrew most of the Shibe Park and Baker Bowl games, with 20,000 attendees, the sentiment was not the same.

Saturday marks Howard's second road visit against Temple and first game at Lincoln Financial Field. It is difficult to tell the story of Howard football without those epic championship clashes in Philadelphia. Hopefully, Saturday's game reinvigorates interest in a city that once was a second home for the program.