According to cyclones.com: “The sports editor of The Des Moines Register convinces the head coaches at Iowa State and Drake to wear numbers on their team’s uniforms for the upcoming Cyclone-Bulldog showdown in Des Moines. The game, played on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26), makes the two schools among the first nationally to don numerals for fan and media identification. Results are flown back to Ames by carrier pigeon.”
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The following recap is via The Register and Leader from November 27, 1903.