Turkey Day is upon us again! What a day! 🦃 When I think about what I’m thankful for, I think Family. I think Friends. I think Football. But most of all, I think about Stump Readers. This thing started in a little college apartment, and now to be approaching Stump 600 pretty soon, and hearing that this has become a part of so many morning routines is maybe the coolest thing I have ever heard!

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! Got some great conversation starters at the end of the story today in case you need them!

Thanksgiving is a tradition that involves the four F’s. Family, friends, food, and football. Thursday Night Football games can sometimes be a drag, but the Thanksgiving Day triple-header is always a nice backdrop to some Turkey and stuffing! How did this all begin?

Believe it or not, we actually have to go all the way back to the times of Julius Caesar and Ancient Rome. The year was 80 BC!

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Just kidding. That would be funny, though, if we could somehow tie this in to Ancient Rome! No, where we are actually going to go is November 30th, 1876, and we’re talking about Yale and Princeton! It was these two schools that decided that they would hold a game on Thanksgiving Day.

It got some sideways looks. Less than 1,000 people attended the game.

But they were stubborn, saying that this would become an annual tradition. In Year 5, they played their game in New York City, with 10,000 fans in attendance. Year after year, Thanksgiving after Thanksgiving, the tradition grew, and the sport of football as a whole started to take notice. 1893 marked the biggest Yale-Princeton game at the time, with an attendance of 40,000 people.

The University of Michigan is also credited with being an early pioneer of the tradition. In 1885, they started playing the Chicago Maroons (The University of Chicago’s team).

It was in the late 1890s when colleges and then High Schools across the country started to play games on Thanksgiving Day.

In 1920, the first year of the American Professional Football Association (which went on to become the NFL), there were 6 games played on Thanksgiving Day. Teams featured in these matchups included the Canton Bulldogs and the Decatur Staleys.

In 1934, the Portsmouth Spartans from Ohio moved to Detroit and became the Lions, and the owner, George A. Richards, claimed a Thanksgiving Day game. Fun fact for you, Richards bought the team for $8,000 at the time.

He used his connections in the radio and broadcasting world to create a contract where NBC would air the game on its radio networks.

The game was a massive success, and since 1934, with the exception of the years of World War II, the Lions have played on Thanksgiving Day every single year.

It wasn’t until 1966 that Tex Schramm, then president of the Dallas Cowboys, advocated for them to also be an annual team for Thanksgiving Day games.

And now here we are, one of the best traditions in all of sports, Football on Thanksgiving. And it all started when Princeton and Yale decided to play a game in front of fewer than 1,000 people. Wow!

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! Hope this gives you some ammo for any dead space during family time today.

Possible conversation starters include:

“Did you guys know that Princeton and Yale were the first to play Thanksgiving Day games back in 1876?”

“How about that son of a gun George Richards, am I right. Guy bought the Lions for $8,000 back in ‘34!”

“I don’t know why we ever went away from the APFA. Ya know… the American Professional Football Association. Yeah, that’s what it was in 1920. Simpler times, am I right?”

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