There probably has never been a time when Mississippi College students did not play games of some sort, and this was viewed with approval by the leadership of the College.  In his inaugural address in 1846, President Simeon Colton said, "Education, taken in the largest sense of the term, includes physical and intellectual culture.  Physical education, or that which relates to the care of the body, comprises all that is necessary or useful, in giving strength and energy to the corporal system." Yet, in those early days, there was nothing in American higher education that resembled the present system of intercollegiate athletics.

In some ways, the development of military-style campus drill companies helped to pave the way for competitive athletics.  In 1880 Mississippi College organized a "military school" whose purpose was "to secure a proper development of the physical system, to promote habits of promptness, regularity and obedience, and to encourage economy in dress." In 1886-87 the military school was divided into two companies, the Mississippi Rifles (named for the Civil War unit composed mostly of Mississippi College students) and the Mississippi College Invincibles. This arrangement provided exercise and an element of competition until the companies were disbanded in 1904-05 as students became more interested in sports.

Apparently the first organized sport at Mississippi College was tennis.  A tennis club came into being in 1889, although the campus competition was not really structured until 1894-95.  The competition went intercollegiate in 1896, and MC defeated Ole Miss to win the state championship in 1896 and again in 1897.

The playing of baseball began casually in the 1890's.  By 1904 students were being urged to join the Athletic Association, at $1 per year, so the Association could pay somebody to coach the baseball team in preparation for intercollegiate competition. (They had been paying something to the pitcher but decided to stop and pay a coach instead).  The March 1905 issue of the Magazine reported a plan to pay Mr. Perry Worden, of New Orleans, to coach the team for the season.  They had a winning season, and he was employed again for the next year.

The May 1905 issue of the Magazine announced, "At a recent meeting of our faculty they voted to have football next session, and arrangements are being made to hire a coach and put out a first class football team next season... We would like to arrange several games with schools in Mississippi." That projection was a bit premature.  The first game was played December 6, 1907, with MC defeating Chamberlain Hunt Academy 6-0, the only game of the season.  In 1908 they also played only one game, losing to Ole Miss.  The next year there were three games, then four, then six, then seven.  At first they lost many games, but within a decade they were winning at least as many as they lost, against teams such as Ole Miss, Mississippi State (A&M), Tulane, LSU, and the University of Alabama. (No football in 1917, 1918, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945.)

According to the Mississippi College Magazine for November 1907, baseball and tennis were well established, football and track were beginning that year, and basketball was on the way.  L'Allegro, the annual, confirms that 1907-08 was the first year for intercollegiate basketball.  Golf began in the fall of 1909.

The preceding article was provided by Dr. Charles E. Martin, vice president emeritus for academic affairs, who is currently researching the history of Mississippi College.