Two days after Christmas in 1892, a group of young men from Charlotte rode horse and buggy to Salisbury on a snowy winter’s day.

Football history was about to be made. It was to be the first-ever college game between two historically Black institutions.

The traveling Charlotte party represented Biddle University, which became Johnson C. Smith University.

The home team was Livingstone College and the makeshift playing field was the front lawn of the Blue Bears’ Old Delta Grove campus.

Women in the schools’ industrial department made uniforms for their teams.

Livingstone prevailed, 5-0, with W.J. Trent scoring the lone touchdown on a fumble recovery. Biddle protested, to no avail, that Trent had recovered the fumble out of bounds with snow covering the field markings.

On Dec. 27, 1892, there were no video cameras and no instant-replay in those days. The call on the field stood.

The schools renew the ancient rivalry each year, alternating between Charlotte and Salisbury with the game being billed the Commemorative Classic. Smith won this season, 38-17, in the 89th all-time meeting.

The first football game between white colleges was in 1869 with Rutgers playing University of New Jersey, now Princeton. Football rules weren’t even printed until 1876.

Virginia Union got into the football business in 1900, defeating Richmond A.A., 22-0, Nov. 23, on the Union campus.

There was little time to rest on their laurels.

The next day, Nov. 24, the Panthers traveled to Petersburg, losing, 11-5. A touchdown was worth five points until 1912 when it became a six-point play.