At one time in Vigo County, serving turkey with all the trimmings was not necessarily the most important Thanksgiving Day event.

Equally as important was the annual Wiley-Garfield football game. For nearly four decades, the high school gridiron rivalry was a Thanksgiving tradition.

Dinner was served at night after the winner had been crowned and feted.

The first Wiley-Garfield game was in 1912, 90 years ago. It could not have been any sooner. Garfield did not open its doors until Sept. 3, 1912.

The first game was not played on Thanksgiving, but the Saturday before the holiday. Wiley already had a Thanksgiving Day football game against Brazil scheduled.

Before 1912, only one public high school existed in the city. From 1863 to 1906, it was called Terre Haute High School. When long-time superintendent of Terre Haute Public Schools William H. Wiley retired in 1906, the school was named in his honor.

Twelve Points residents began lobbying for a new high school in 1908. Meanwhile, Terre Haute High School established a football tradition, laying claim to the mythical Indiana state high school championship in 1896, 1897, 1898, 1901, 1902 and 1903.

When Garfield opened, four members of Wiley's 1911 football team transferred. However, most athletes - even those who lived on the north side - remained at Wiley since there was no athletic program in place at the new school.

In early September, chemistry teacher Ralph Powers, who played college football at Illinois State Normal, convinced Garfield principal Albert E. Highley to allow him to field a team.

The first year was a disaster. Garfield lost its first game to Waveland, 100-0, and there was little improvement during the season. The Wiley-Garfield game was scheduled for Nov. 23 at the Rose Polytechnic football field at 13th and Locusts streets.

Charles T. Nehf of Swope-Nehf Jewelry, father of former all-around Wiley athlete Art Nehf, designed a silver cup to present to the winner.

Wiley's 1912 football season was not spectacular but, on Nov. 16, it fought Linton, one of the better Wabash Valley teams, to a 7-7 tie. On Nov. 16, Garfield lost to Brazil, 93-0, and was destined to finish the season without crossing an opponent's goal line.

However, Garfield administrators had a surprise in store. Two days before the city championship game, Highley filed a protest with superintendent Charles J. Watts and the state athletic association to declare four Wiley players - captain Fred Hild, Billy Hoff, Wayne Self and Leo "Sandy" Clark - ineligible as "five-year players."

Students at the south side school and head coach Norman G. "Happy" Wann understandably were upset.

Wiley overwhelmed Garfield, 59-0. Coach Wann, later head coach at Millikin University, Ball State, Earlham and Wayne State, used only 15 players while the Indiana High School Athletic Association pondered its decision. Freshman quarterback Raymond Werneke scored three touchdowns while Art Hewitt and Ray "Jap" Davis got two each.

Following the game, Hild and Hoff were found to be eligible for the Thanksgiving Day skirmish, but Brazil won, 7-0.

The IHSAA discovered during its investigation that Wiley had not submitted proper player forms with the state commissioner. As a result, the school was directed to forfeit its victory over its intercity rival. The "official" final score, 2-0, credits Garfield with the only points it scored during its initial season.

Intense acrimony between the two schools abounded. Wiley refused to play Garfield in either 1913 or 1914.

The competition was renewed on Thanksgiving Day 1915 before at least 5,000 fans at Athletic Park at 27th Street and Wabash Avenue, home of Terre Haute's professional baseball team of the Central League. Wiley was the favorite, having edged powerful Robinson, Ill., 14-13, in a controversial game. Though it soundly defeated Jasonville, Brazil and Bloomfield, Garfield lost to Robinson, 27-0.

The stunning outcome of the 1915 game affected the future of the series and embedded an enduring esprit de corps at 12th Street and Maple Avenue. Garfield scored in the second quarter on a 25-yard pass play from Robert "Yabe" Hicklin to Kenneth "Red" Nash, who kicked the extra point. Late in the game, Wiley countered on a pass from Tommy Glynn to Rex Self, but Glynn's conversion attempt into a strong wind fell short.

Garfield's ennobling "Spirit of 7-6," which lasted for 57 years, was conceived on that day under the guidance of Coach Bernard Clogston.

In 1916, Garfield was installed as a "10-8 favorite." The teams had one mutual foe: Linton. Garfield beat the Miners, 7-6; Wiley lost to Linton, 7-6. Garfield won the traditional game, 3-0, on 30-yard field goal by quarterback Paul "Duke" Lovell.

The game was played on Saturday, Nov. 24, 1917, instead of Thanksgiving, since Rose Poly already had booked Athletic Park for a game against Rolla College of Missouri. The north side school won again, 7-6.

Early in the game, Rolland Dix recovered a Wiley fumble on the 5-yard line. Eugene Van Horn scored four plays later and Fred Woody converted. Wiley fullback John Clark plunged for a touchdown in the third quarter, but quarterback Harry McCombs missed the extra point.

The teams did not face each other in 1918 due to a flu epidemic and Garfield won again the next year, 14-0. Wiley did not win its first game of the series until 1920.

Garfield - ultimately nicknamed the Purple Eagles - led the series at one time, 15-5-2, including 7-6 victories in 1922 and 1934. When the series ended in 1970, Wiley's Red Streaks had been victorious 27 times to Garfield's 23. Six games ended in a tie.

Garfield won the 1950 and 1959 games by the magic score of 7-6. Wiley never won by that margin.

The game was played on Thanksgiving Day each year through 1953. Thereafter, it was played earlier in the season, but the winner still received the coveted traveling trophy - a bronze turkey funded by the Indiana University Alumni Club of Terre Haute and first presented to the winner in 1934.

The bronze turkey is on display at the Vigo County Historical Museum.

Mike McCormick is the Vigo County Historian. His column appears each Sunday.