One of the greatest innovations in our nation's athletic history will celebrate it's 130th anniversary this Wednesday evening when the Mansfield community and Mansfield University celebrate their roles in history as the Birthplace of Night Football.
The Save the Gate House Project, a volunteer community group dedicated to preserving the Gate House at the entrance of Smythe Park as - in part - a memorial to that first night football game, will hold a live-stream Facebook event (facebook.com/savegatehouse) featuring a presentation on the World's First Night Football game by Steve McCloskey. The GE commercial from 1992 will also be part of the presentation.
The Save the Gate House committee is asking all Mansfield residents and supporters join them in Remember the Night – Remember the Light by turning on their porch lights from 7-7:30 pm on Wednesday night in honor of the 130th anniversary.
On September 28, 1892 the Mansfield University (then named Mansfield State Normal School) football team hosted Wyoming Seminary of Kingston in what is universally recognized at the World's First Night Football game.
Held as part of the Great Mansfield Fair in Smythe Park that Wednesday night in 1892, the game was a big step forward for the Mansfield football program, as well as football itself.
Mansfield formed its first football team a year earlier under the direction of Professor John Edwards. MSNS had played just three games in his history, two of them against a team from nearby Wellsboro. Wyoming Seminary had a well-established program that had competed against elite prep schools and collegiate teams. They were a prohibitive favorite to win the game.
Lighting was provided by the newly formed General Electric Company powered by a Thomson-Houston dynamo that was shipped by rail from Philadelphia to a siding at Smythe Park. The lights themselves were strung on the front of the baseball grandstand with another set placed on a pole in the center of the playing field itself. That placement would prove to be problematic.
Originally scheduled for a 7:45 pm kickoff, the contest was moved to around 7:15 because of concerns of the amount of light the setup could produce. The lighting did indeed prove to be a bit dim. Wyoming Seminary complained that it was difficult to see the ball and players ran into the light pole in the center of the field. The field itself was part of the display area for livestock at the fair and was also littered with animal residue and spiked butternuts.
The game ended in a 0-0 tie when the Wyoming Seminary management pulled its players from the field at halftime citing unsafe conditions. When they returned to Kingston, Wyoming Seminary challenged Mansfield to a rematch – this time not at night – for October. That game never materialized, but the two schools did meet on the gridiron in 1893 at Wyoming Seminary. The 1893 game also ended early under controversial circumstances.
Mansfield would not host another night football game for another 121 years, when the Mountaineers hosted Princeton University after Karl Van Norman Field was turfed and lighted in 2013. Mansfield won that game played before a record crowd of more than 6,000 fans and a nationwide ESPN3 audience as the highlight of the first LUMA celebration.
In 1992, the Mansfield community and Mansfield University hosted the 100th anniversary of that historic event with a three-day celebration dubbed the Fabulous 1890s Weekend. The highlight was a football game at Smythe Park between Wyoming Seminary and a team comprised of Mansfield University students that were not members of the Mountaineer football program. The game was played at the exact time and location as the first one in 1892. This time Mansfield was victorious.
GE would use the Centennial to highlight their part in creating night football. GE produced an award-winning commercial of the event, debuting it at halftime of the Monday Night held on September 28, 1892. They donated the uniforms, ball and one of the lights used in the commercial to Mansfield University. The uniforms were used in the annual recreation game held in Mansfield until the outbreak of Covid-19. GE also paid for the lighting of Smythe Park for the 1992 event. It was provided by the same company that created the temporary lighting for the first night game in Penn State's Beaver Stadium.
Original source can be found here.
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