Baltimore City College Football - History

History

In the mid-1870s, the popularity of football spread to high school competition. City College became one of the first high schools in the Baltimore-area to play football, which meant that there were no organized teams at the same level. In 1895, therefore, City scheduled games against college teams such as the Maryland, the Naval Academy, Mount St. Mary's, Western Maryland and even the Fort Monroe soldiers. The record in 1895: 3 wins, 13 losses, including a 42-0 rout by Navy. In the first game of the 1896 season, Gettysburg College trounced City 50-0, but enthusiasm for the team continued to grow as evidence by the send off given them before they sailed to Hampton, Virginia to play Hampton high school. By the early 1900s, area high schools had developed football teams and City was able to compete on a more level playing field, beating, for instance, the newly formed Polytechnic team 13-0 in 1903.

Little is known about the first City–Poly game, except that it was played at northeast Baltimore's Clifton Park in 1889 between the City "reserves" team and Poly with City emerging as the victor. City won all 12 games from 1889 to 1900 when the annual clash was considered a scrub engagement. The annual meeting of the two teams has led to one of the longest continuous public high school football rivalries in the nation. By 1918, Poly and other area schools had surpassed City in their preparation for the games. According to William Tippett, Jr, class of 1919, City's team did not even have a practice field because of its location in Downtown Baltimore.