Football began being played at the academy in 1889, but only one inter-class match game was played that year.[2] During the 1890 season, the Cadets played only one game, on the West Point grounds, losing to the Navy Midshipmen by a 24 to 0 score in the inaugural Army–Navy Game.[3] A week before the game, The New York Times reported that the planned match "is beginning to assume almost national proportions."[4] During the game, Army's quarterback Kirby Walker was knocked out of the game four times, the last time being carried off the field and to the hospital in an unconscious state.[5][6]
After the victory, Navy cadets in Annapolis "fired twenty-four great guns, and then paraded the streets with horns."[7]
A 20-year-old Army player, Dennis Michie, was the captain of the 1890 Army football team,[2] though he is sometimes listed as the team's head coach.[1] Michie was the lightest player on the team at 142 pounds.[2] Michie was killed in 1898 during the Spanish–American War. Army's home football stadium, Michie Stadium, was dedicated in his honor when it opened in 1924.
