First Football Game West of the Alleghenies

It is reporting about the May 30, 1879, instance where the first game ever to be played "West of the Alleghenies" took place on May 30th in Chicago. The article starts by saying, “At the White-Stockings Grounds yesterday afternoon, an interesting game of football was played between Racine College and the Michigan University teams. The attendance was good, and enthusiastically cheered the contestants wherever opportunity occurred.”
The report goes on to say that the game lasted nearly two hours and was played under what was described as a modified rugby rule. We can see that the influence of the 1874 Harvard vs. McGill games was spreading across the country. This is only about a year away from Walter Camp suggesting major revisions to the game that would make it a much more recognizable form of American football. 

 As for the game, the University of Michigan defeated Racine College 1-0. The report in 1879 tells us that, “No bones were broken, but (C.) Tolbert was stretched on the turf once. A bucket of water, however, revived him.” 
 
A fun fact about Racine's football team was that in 1903 the program ended for what we would look at today as the oddest of circumstances! A November 6, 1903 article in the Champagne, Illinois Daily Gazette posts the headline of:

✦ Bounced for Eating Fudges: Football team of Racine Gets its Walking Papers

Yes the entire football team was discharged allegedly because the players were caught eating fudge which in the eyes of the school administration was thought to make them poor students and athletes. Thank God that same criteria isn't used for your friendly blog writer!