Check Out This Video of the 1940 Pottsville-Reading Thanksgiving Day Football Game

You’re not going to believe the quality of the footage from this 1940 Thanksgiving Day football clash between Pottsville High School and Reading High School.

Unreal color! The magic of film, for sure. (There’s no sound, so don’t bother adjusting the volume.) Thanks to YouTube user RedKnightAthletics for posting this and all the other videos.

Take a look at some of the following things of note from this video:

• The size of some of those Reading “kids”: One of them looks like that 40oz Budweiser brought in to win the first Bud Bowl.
• Readings unis: Pottsville has a classic look in this video. No complaints. But look at those things Reading’s wearing. Wow!
• The forward pass: Wanna bet there were still people there saying it’d never catch on? They’re the flat-earthers of the football world.
• Neck and face tackles: Refs were letting them play.

Unfortunately, the Knights took this game 13-6 to secure the Lump of Coal. That’s the trophy given to the winner of this annual rivalry game.

Pottsville vs. Reading: Old Football Rivalry

The annual clash between the Crimson Tide and the Red Knights is one of the oldest known high school football rivalries.

The game dates back to 1893. Between 1932 and 1977, it was traditionally played on Thanksgiving Day.