Princeton v. Yale, 1903: The Oldest College Football Game on Film

You can thank Thomas Edison and his motion picture camera for many things: Bike Tricks Caught on Film in 1899; Footage of Mark Twain from 1909; The World’s First (and Slightly Scandalous) Hand-Tinted Motion Picture (1895); The First Kiss in Cinema, 1896; and now this — footage of the 1903 Princeton v. Yale football game. The two teams were undefeated, and 50,000 spectators were on hand. The video starts with the players taking the field (Princeton first, Yale second) and some panoramic views of Yale’s stadium. Then (around the 2:00 mark) we get to the highlights of the game.

The clip above is apparently the oldest collegiate football footage surviving today. And, in case you’re keeping score, Princeton won the game 11-6.

But if you’re counting the number of Free Courses provided by the two universities, we have the score at 38-1, with Yale coming out way on top.

via Retronaut and the Reel Mudd