The First Game of Football at Bucknell
i
With the opening of the stadium, Rucknell enters
what may accurately be termed a new era in athletics. Most appropriate is it that Lafayette should
unite with Bucknell i n this initial game in the stadium, for it was with Lafayette that Bucknell played a t Lewisburg the first game of football ever
played by Bucknell students.
That game was played forty-one years ago-on
Thanksgiving Day, 1883. T h e contest was really
more than the first game the Bucknell team had ever
Carl Law, '85
played; it w a s the first game the team had ever
seen. There was no coach and the team had had only two weeks of
training. T h e ‘college was so small that the best that could be done
toward securing players was t o enlist twelve men. This gave the
necessary eleven men for the team, with one lone substitute. Lafayette, on the other hand, had an experienced team.
Needless to say, Lafayette won that game. I n the first half she
ran up forty-four points on Bucknell. But that first period proved
helpful t o Bucknell. Her players quickly got the idea of the game.
In the second half Lafayette was able t o score but fifteen points, and
several of these came by a drop kick from the field.
T h e Lafayette fullback was Peyton C. March, who was chief of
staff of the U. S. Army, during the latter part of the World War. T h e
captain of the Bucknell team was Carl C. Law, ’85, of Pittsburgh, who
was president of the General Alumni Association in 1921-22. He
played a t left half. At right was the late John Owens, ‘87, a brother
of Professor William G. Owens. Myron J. Sherwood, ex-’86, was a t
quarter. Rolfe Gerhart, ex-’85, a brother of Dr. W. L. Gerhart, ex-'86,
of Lewisburg, , was fullback. Shipman, Bear, Herman, Edwards,
Davidson, C. Gerhart, and Davies were in the line. "Tommie" Currin,
’85, who was pastor of the late President Warren G. Harding a t M a r ion, Ohio, was the lone substitute.
When we realize that a t that time we had no college colors, no
college girls, n o college band, no college yells o r cheerleaders, no
grand-stand, no automobiles, and that the expenses of the game were
largely met by contributions, we see how far Bucknell has come in
forty years. And, as Lafayette helped Rucknell t o learn the rudiments
of football in that very first game, so now, as she enters upon this new
stage of athletic development, Bucknell is glad t o welcome our friend
and early opponent.