Before Ohio State vs. Michigan before a Thanksgiving week tradition, Ohio State had a Thanksgiving Day rivalry game with Kenyon College. We take a look back at the history of Ohio State’s first rivalry.
Ohio State football games were intimate affairs with only a few thousand fans in attendance for the first 20 years or so. The games offered their own charm, yet were often quite exhilarating. Photographs of games at Ohio Field show crowds of mostly men in hats craning their necks, and it’s not uncommon to see boys hovering above, perched on the power poles and in the trees that circled the field.