Long before the NFL took over prime time and a cellphone company put its name on the college title trophy, football in America rooted itself in Colorado. Boulder to Fort Collins, Denver to Greeley, the gridiron game with its pigskin ball and leather helmets reaches far back in the West.
When the 2008 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference football schedule kicked off Thursday with a four-game slate, it ushered in the league’s 100th season.
The RMAC, started in 1909, is the third-oldest collegiate football league in the country. Only the Big Ten Conference and the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association are older among still-active leagues.
“In the history of athletics in this country, the RMAC is right there at the beginning,” said Marv Kay, former player, coach and athletic director at Colorado Mines and former mayor of Golden. “It’s how football got started.
“The early college sports history in America centered around the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.”
It’s hard to imagine football-crazed Colorado — with staunch interest in everything from high school to the Broncos — as intent on the game without a deep college bedrock. A century on, the RMAC remains a hotly contested league among Division II teams in Colorado, Nebraska and New Mexico.
But the decades-old rivalries that date to the early part of the 20th century include Colorado, Colorado A&M (now Colorado State), Colorado College and Colorado Mines — original members of the Colorado Faculty Athletic Conference. The league changed its name to the RMAC in 1910.
It was Colorado that won the first league title, going 6-0 in 1909, including a 57-0 victory over Colorado A&M and a 9-0 squeaker over Colorado College.
After Denver and Utah were added to the mix in 1910, the league grew more competitive and Colorado Mines wrecked CU’s dominance with its first title in 1912.
“The Thanksgiving Day games and some of the other traditional games, are fascinating,” Kay said. “People getting on streetcars to get to games. It was a neat era.”
Kay, who coached at Mines from 1969-94, was an offensive lineman on the team from 1958-60. His father, Marv Kay Sr., was a football player at the school in the 1930s.
“I can remember a lot of the early shenanigans between student bodies,” Kay said. “The M on the mountain was always a target. And anything a little dynamite could loosen up was a good target for the Mines students. Dynamite was a lot easier to get in those days.”
The RMAC is old enough to have several dynasties. CU dominated the early years, winning at least a share of four of the first five titles. Utah won six straight from 1928-33. Adams State and Western State combined to win nine of 10 titles in the 1960s. And Western State was king from 1973-79. Nebraska has held sway this decade, with Chadron and Kearney taking five of the eight trophies.
“The neat thing about the RMAC, it’s brought together all the histories of the schools in this state,” Kay said. “There aren’t very many schools and leagues in the West with as many rivalries and stories.”
Chadron favored in milestone season
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference started its 100th football season Thursday. A look at this year’s scene:
Preseason rankings
1. Chadron State
2. Mesa State
3. Nebraska-Kearney
4. Colorado Mines
5. Western New Mexico
6. Adams State
7. New Mexico Highlands
7. Western State
9. Fort Lewis
10. CSU-Pueblo
Saturday’s schedule
Wayne State (Neb.) at Neb.-Kearney, noon
Western State at Emporia State, 1 p.m.
Adams State at Montana State, 1 p.m.
Fort Lewis at Oklahoma Panhandle, 6 p.m.
Gridiron leagues in golden years
The oldest collegiate football conferences in America:
1. Michigan Intercollegiate (D-III) 1888
2. Big Ten 1896
3. Missouri Valley* 1907
4. RMAC (D-II) 1909
5. Pacific-10 1912
Note: The Missouri Valley no longer hosts football. It splintered into, among others, the Big 8 (now Big 12).
STAY ON THE COUCH
Key game for Rapids.
Of all the Rapids games to televise this season, today’s 7 p.m. tilt against rival Real Salt Lake — airing on Altitude — is at the top of the list.
Colorado currently is outside of the MLS playoffs by a slim two points. The Rapids (7-11-3) trail Salt Lake by three points in the Western Conference.
With nine games remaining, Saturday’s game is likely the Rapids’ most crucial matchup this season. They have lost six of their past nine games. But Salt Lake is coming off a 3-0 loss to Columbus.
Tonight’s game could end up making or breaking the Rapids’ hopes this season.
GET OFF THE COUCH
Shuffle off to Beaver Creek.
Never mind that August is about to turn to September. They are all just Latin names anyway.
Beaver Creek this weekend is hosting its Oktoberfest celebration and with it, the Oktoberfest Shuffle. The 10-kilometer or 5K courses can be negotiated by walking, nordic walking, hiking or running. It’s the sister race to Beaver Creek’s wintertime Snowshoe Shuffle.
The course will be the resort’s mountain trails. And proceeds help the Vail Breast Cancer Awareness Group.
Check for more information.
SHOWDOWN HOEDOWN
Rams fans on 16th Street Mall.
For city-dwelling Colorado State fans, the place to be today will be the 16th Street Mall.
After convention-goers get out of town, ESPNZone at 16th and Lawrence streets will host a “Rams on the Mall” pep-rally shindig.
Cam the Ram will be in attendance and tickets will be given away to Sunday’s game at Invesco Field against Colorado.
Festivities run from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
WEAK IN REVIEW
Goodell’s sideshow.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Thursday reduced Brandon Marshall’s suspension, keeping the Broncos’ wide receiver out one game instead of three.
So why didn’t the commish just make it one game to begin with? Some might guess Goodell was putting on a PR show, trying to look like the league actually cares about what it preaches.
Others might say the whole thing is a carnival ride, all flash and no substance.
Either way, the Broncos were saved, by the skin on their teeth, in getting Marshall back in Week 2. They face AFC favorite San Diego at Invesco Field.
