The rain fell in sheets, threatening to ruin the celebration in honor of Ohio State's first-ever football game more than 100 years ago. Then the current coach stepped to the podium.
"When Jim Tressel walked out, the sun started to shine," OSU President E. Gordon Gee said. "He does part the clouds, there's no doubt about that."
On Saturday, a plaque was dedicated that celebrated the Buckeyes' game in Delaware against host Ohio Wesleyan on May 3, 1890. OSU started a winning tradition that lives on with a 20-14 win against the Battling Bishops.
The site of the game was discovered in a letter written by C. Rollins Jones, an Ohio Wesleyan alumnus of 1892, who played in the game. The letter described the site near the legendary sulfur spring and a small creek called Delaware Run.
Gee said he found out that he could have played football for OSU during their first game.
"Jones a star player for Ohio Wesleyan in that first game, stood five foot eight inches and tipped the scales of 151 pounds," Gee said. "I could have been a linebacker in 1890. Heck, I could have been the whole entire defensive line."
Gee said he realized that in the same year of OSU's first game, the Sherman Anti-trust Act was passed on July 2, 1890.
"The Sherman Act, written by Ohio senator John Sherman, coincidentally limits monopolies and that applies to industries such as oil, steel, and banking," Gee said. "But Coach Tressel, I might say this in my expert opinion, the Sherman Anti-trust Act does not apply to monopolies in football and we are looking forward to that."
The match-up between Ohio State and Ohio Wesleyan has been played 29 times. However, the last time OSU played OWU was in 1932 and OSU led the series 26-2-1. With the Battling Bishops in Division III, the match-up could not happen today.
"Dating up to about 1935 or so, it was fairly common practice for Ohio State to schedule football games with some of the in-state schools such as Ohio Wesleyan," said Steve Snapp, associate athletics director. "But in the years since, as football has evolved and the different divisions have come into being, both the smaller and the larger universities have chosen to schedule within their respective divisions for competitive purposes."
Historian Jack Park explained the first game.
"Quarterback Joseph Large is credited with scoring the first Ohio State touchdown right here," Park said. "Thirty-two years later, Ohio State moved to a newly constructed stadium, and who did they invite to be their opponent for the very first game of the Ohio Stadium? Ohio Wesleyan, and they gladly accepted and the first game ever in the Horseshoe in October 7, 1922."
Tressel reminded the audience the reason why people have the freedom to watch football.
"For us to have a chance to have over these 118 years to have football to be part of our academic institutions is because we have those freedoms," Tressel said. "This day reminds me just how blessed we are and how fortunate we are that we live in this country and we get to be around this game of football and we get to be around higher education."
Two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin wanted OSU fans to think about what happened in the past.
"I doubt on May 3, 1890, the participants on the Ohio State-Ohio Wesleyan football game could have realized that they were setting in motion something that would produce what we see today," Griffin said. "The efforts of those people who played in that game should always be remembered."
Will Toman can be reached at toman.7@osu.edu.
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