Athletics: The Early Years

A craze for football swept the nation in the 1880s, and Muskingum College students were quick to sign on. Intramural games were common by 1886, and competition with teams from other Universities began in 1895. A men’s basketball team soon followed. By 1900 the College had purchased land across the railroad tracks below the town grocery store for use as a football field and had also built a tiny Alumni gymnasium with $4,492 raised from Muskingum graduates. Women’s basketball (for a long time limited to intramural competitions) and track & field events soon followed.