Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/296

 258 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO succeeding two weeks it won five more games from high school and Y.M.C.A. teams. There were only fourteen players and Mr. Stagg himself was compelled to play to keep his squad full. On October 22 the team ventured to tackle someone its own size, and the first college game was played with Northwestern. It was a tie game. Neither team scored. Eleven days later the two teams met again. Feeling ran high. In those primitive days guying the opposing players was somewhat freely indulged in. Northwestern had a giant, who, ploughing through Chicago's line for dangerous gains, became very obnoxious to the Midway fans. On his making an especially long run, therefore, someone called out, "Oh, well, he can't read, but he's in the School of Oratory." This, however, did not stop him, and Northwestern won, 6-4. Five more college games were played. Lake Forest was tied, 18-18. Michigan won, 18-10. Purdue overwhelmed Chicago, 38-0. On Novem- ber 15 the team won its first, and, for that year, its only college victory, winning from Illinois, 10-4, but on Thanksgiving Day Illinois avenged itself by a victory, 28-12. Football was a new game to many in the West in 1892. The University had no field. Notwithstanding all the drawbacks football commanded instant favor and at once awakened the interest and enthusiasm of the students and faculty and the public. But football could not be played without a college yell with which to cheer the team. A general invitation to the University for a "yell" brought out more than one, but the one that fairly earned the title of the Chicago yell was proposed at the very outset, and most happily, by Mr. Stagg himself: Chi-ca-go, Chi-ca-go, Chi-ca-go Go! Go Chi-ca, Go Chi-ca Go Chi-ca-go. Like other college yells this was soon carried round the world. During this year Mr. Field gave the use of ground north of Fifty- seventh Street and east of Ellis Avenue for the University games, and it became famous as Marshall Field. Football preceded tennis by a few days only. The tennis players started early and the first tournament was held in October. This was followed by indoor games in the gymnasium during the winter, two tournaments