When area families sit down for their Thanksgiving dinner this November, some of the over-60 folks may recall Peoria’s annual Turkey Day football games—which began in 1915 and came to an end in 1973.
The Beginning
Two years after Manual High School opened in 1909, Manual and Peoria High School (or “Central”) played their first football game. The competition was always very intense, and a major riot erupted in 1914 over a touchdown by Central’s Louie Neumiller, who was the student body president and a future president of Caterpillar.
The brawl involved both players and spectators, and it took police 30 minutes to restore order. As a result, all athletic competition was declared “over” between the only two public high schools in Peoria. The following year, a “Peace Conference” was called at Peoria City Hall, where it was decided the two schools would resume athletic competition. The first competitive event would be a Thanksgiving football game. And with that, the Turkey Day Era was born.
That first Turkey Day game was played in 1915 on the Bradley University campus before a capacity crowd of 5,000 fans. It was reported that the noisy crowd could be heard all over the hilltop. Each year there were a variety of student activities associated with the games, including pep assemblies, bonfires and a Main Street “hobo” parade. The popularity of the event grew even larger when the games moved to the new Peoria Stadium.
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