‘The Granddaddy of ‘em All’. The Baltimore City College – Baltimore Polytechnic Institute rivalry is one of the nation’s greatest, and one of the nation’s three longest high school football rivalries in the country. The first game played between the two was in 1889, and the annual battle has lasted 132 years ever since. City College dominated early in the series, winning 13 straight years from 1889 through 1901, before the only seasonal break (outside of the pandemic causing cancellation of the Baltimore City 2020 season) in 131 years between the two occurring in 1902. City ran the winning streak to 17 games before the first tie in the series came in 1907. Poly turned around its fortunes in 1908, with their first win in the rivalry, and that success continued through the 1910s, where the Engineers lost just one game to the Black Knights during the decade. The rivalry was robust in 1926, when the Black Knights halfback Mickey Noonen’s eligibility was questioned. After a committee was formed to investigate Noonen’s eligibility, Noonen’s father struck a committee member and his son wasn’t only deemed ineligible, but was expelled. During the 20s, the game caused riots to erupt in the streets of Baltimore, when opposing parades would clash the day before the game. In 1928, the son of the mayor of Baltimore, and the son of the governor of Maryland, were both arrested in the riots. In ‘32, a peace pact was reached to quell the furor in the streets in the days leading up to the game, complete with a press conference at City Hall.
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In 1944, the game that was previously played on the Saturday following Thanksgiving, was moved to ‘Turkey Day’, where it remained for 49 years, until the Knights and Engineers joined the MPSSAA. Poly won nine of ten games in the 50s under legendary coach Bob Lumsden, then, in 1962, the Engineers played in the unofficial prep national championship game in the Orange Bowl in Miami, before losing to the Miami Senior High Stingarees, 14-6. The rest of the 60s belonged to George Young and Black Knights, who went on to win six straight games in the series, all while winning six MSA ‘A’ Conference titles. In 1965, both City and Poly came into the showdown with a record of 9-0, before a Kurt Schmoke-led Black Knights squad crushed the Engineers, 52-6, before 25,000 in Memorial Stadium. The Black Knights finished ranked #8 in the country by a national sports poll.
Poly took control of the series in the 70s and most of the 80s, winning 17 straight games from 1970 through 1986. Poly held the series lead until 2018, when the Knights evened it up, and the Engineers surrendered that lead the following year, when City topped its arch rival, 10-6, giving the Knights a 63-62-6 record in the legendary rivalry. The win was the Knights eighth straight in the series. More than a dozen of players between the two revered schools have played in the NFL, including the Knights’ Bryant Johnson (c/o ‘99) and Charles Tapper (c/o ‘12), and the Engineers Mike Pitts (c/o ‘78) and Antonio ‘Buttons’ Freeman (c/o ‘90).
Johnson was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals in the first round (17th overall) of the 2003 NFL Draft, and registered 314 receptions, 3,938 receiving yards, and 16 touchdown receptions, over nine years with the Cardinals, ‘Niners, Lions, and Texans. As a sophomore defensive end at the University of Oklahoma, Tapper was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team, and as a senior was named to the All-Big 12 First Team for the Sooners, after recording 50 tackles, 10 for loss, 7 sacks, four forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery. Tapper was drafted in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys, before a back condition (pars defect) prevented a lengthy NFL career. Young left City College following the 1967 season, and took an assistant coach position with the Baltimore Colts. After four years as Director of Player Personnel for the Miami Dolphins, Young was named the General Manager of the New York Giants in 1979, where he’d stay for 19 seasons, helping guide Super Bowl wins following the ‘86 and ‘90 seasons.
Pitts, who played under ‘Bear’ Bryant at Alabama, spent 12 seasons in the NFL as a defensive end, registering 814 tackles and 48.5 sacks in his career. Freeman was drafted in the third round of the 1995 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers, where he was selected as a First Team All-Pro in 1998, after leading the NFL in receiving yards. Freeman won a Super Bowl with the Packers following the 1996 season. In his nine year career, the former Virginia Tech Hokie totaled 477 receptions, 7,251 receiving yards, and 61 touchdown receptions. Lumsden, whom the Poly field is named after, spent 50 years at the school, and went 139-24-4 in 17 years as the head coach of the football team. Lumsden also went 379-21 and captured 15 MSA championships in 24 seasons as the Engineers baseball coach.
Kickoff for the 132nd edition of the rivalry will be at 6 o’clock, Saturday, at Morgan State. There’s like when the spirit of ‘City Forever’ and the spirit of ‘Poly Pride’ engage, before, during, and after the annual clash on the gridiron. Nothing.
HS Sports Analyst
Willie, a native of Chicago, and now a resident of Columbia for 40 years, is an educator at Homewood Center in Howard County, after spending 12 years as a real estate agent, following 10 years of running a small men’s retail company. Willie has contributed to Max Preps, Digital Sports, and Varsity Sports Network. Willie has produced MPSSAA top 25 rankings for both football and basketball for 15 years, across various platforms. From a large ‘sports family’, Willie’s brother Mike led Reservoir High to the 3A basketball state title game in 2018, while his nephew Anthony serves as the Indianapolis Colts College Scouting Coordinator.