Rivals Northeast and Central believe their Thanksgiving football game, like the game’s trophy, is worth saving

It was Nick Lincoln’s first season at Northeast High School, so the football coach asked his athletic director last November if the Wooden Horse — the mahogany trophy carved nearly 80 years ago by a student — could be brought to the field on Thanksgiving morning for the annual game against Central.

The trophy, heavy and old, usually stays inside. But what good is the Wooden Horse if the players can’t hoist it after a win?

“Well, we had a little too much excitement,” Lincoln said.

The celebration ended, and the horse no longer had a tail.

“I said, ‘Dude, you’re going to get me fired,’” athletic director Phil Gormley said. “‘You’re going to be back coaching in Delaware, and I’m going to be bagging groceries at the Acme.’”

Northeast vs. Central is one of the longest-running rivalries in the country, but the Thanksgiving game is no longer the spectacle it once was. The halls of the schools don’t buzz in the weeks leading up to it, the parade down Cottman Avenue was canceled years ago, the bleachers aren’t filled, and the trophy is falling apart.

High school football in Philadelphia once meant as much to Thanksgiving as Santa Claus climbing into Gimbels. But traditions fade. Just 10 games are planned Thursday in Southeastern Pennsylvania, down from 28 in 2005. Thanksgiving games have faded for a variety of reasons: state playoffs, lack of competition, tepid attendance, and school closures.

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But Northeast vs. Central — the schools say it’s the nation’s oldest rivalry among public schools — refuses to go away, even if the trophy is showing its age. The teams will meet again at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Northeast.

“I don’t think the game will fade,” Gormley said. “It’s not attended like it used to be, but I know it’s still important to our alumni. When I talk to anyone who comes back for any reason, it’s always a question that eventually comes up. I think the game, for the foreseeable future, is OK. It’s certainly something that could happen, but thankfully it’s not something that will happen anytime too soon.”

The schools first played in 1892 and started playing annually in 1896. The rivalry has paused only twice: in 1918 during World War I and 2020 during the pandemic. They’ve played through snow, rain, and muddy fields.

The rivalry was real, as the schools were just three miles apart: Central was at Broad and Green, and Northeast was at 8th and Lehigh. The trophy came along in 1947, when Northeast’s Spurgeon Smith, using only a kitchen paring knife, carved into a block of mahogany donated by Smythe Mahogany Company.

The games often were epic and packed. More than 15,000 fans saw Central beat Northeast in 1929 at the Baker Bowl, they played a muddy scoreless tie in 1971, and they’ve braved a few snowstorms.

Philadelphia had a full slate of high school football on Thanksgiving morning, and Northeast-Central was the game for years.

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“Everyone is brought on board at Central knowing that Thanksgiving is against Northeast,” said Jeff Thomas, Central’s associate archivist. “No matter how good or bad the team is that year, that is the most important game. Very similar to Army-Navy. Both teams could be 1-6, but when they play each other, it’s the most important game.”

In 1986, current Central coach Rich Drayton scored five touchdowns as the Lancers ran up the score in a 60-3 win in front of 7,000 fans. Afterward, Northeast coach Harvey Schumer refused to shake hands with Central coach Bob Cullman, and the two had to be separated at midfield. Three years earlier, Northeast didn’t let up in a 42-point Thanksgiving win. So Central was returning the favor.

The rivalry was deep.

“Wherever you go wearing your Lancers stuff, people ask for your class number,” Drayton said. “The next thing they say is, ‘Are we going to win on Thanksgiving?’ It’s a really big deal. Hopefully, the student body can notice before it’s too late how important it is.”

The parade of antique cars and convertibles started near the Roosevelt Mall, traveled west on Cottman Avenue, turned right on Glendale Avenue, then finished with a lap around the track that circled Northeast’s football field.

The stands were filled as more than 6,000 fans came each Thanksgiving to see which school’s trophy case would hold the Wooden Horse.

But the parade ended about 15 years ago when the school district replaced the cinder track with rubber. Students no longer decorate the stadium like they once did, and the game now attracts between 600 and 800 fans instead of thousands.

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Both schools have strong alumni groups, and former students still come out. It’s a chance to wear a letterman’s jacket, see old classmates, and tell the same stories.

“We have breakfast in the gym for alumni who come back,” Gormley said. “These old guys would be in there razzing each other. ‘Well, you lost to Central. I never lost to them.’ You know how guys talk. It’s funny to hear.”

But interest among current students is tepid. Both schools draw students from across the city, and getting to Northeast Philly on a holiday morning can be a challenge.

The game has become one-sided — Northeast last lost in 2013 — and a football game doesn’t mean what it once did. The high school experience at Northeast and Central is not defined by the football teams the way it was in the 1960s or 1970s.

“We have career day, and me and the other old guys come in,” Thomas said. “At the end of each class, we’ll ask them who’s going to the game. One hand raised. I’m like, ‘OK. Well, let’s beat Northeast.’ They’re like, ‘Huh?’ It’s gone full cycle to almost no care at all.”

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St. Joseph’s Prep and La Salle High School stopped their Thanksgiving game in 2006. North Catholic and Frankford played their final game in 2009 before North closed seven months later. Father Judge and Lincoln canceled their annual game last year, and Neumann Goretti and Southern won’t play this year.

Thanksgiving games drop off the schedule every year. As interest drops, could Northeast-Central be next?

“No,” Thomas said. “Well, maybe. After, say, everyone who graduated before 1985 is gone.”

High school football’s regular season in Pennsylvania started a week before Labor Day and ended a week before Halloween. Central did not make the playoffs, and Northeast lost in the first round, so neither team has played a game in nearly four weeks.

The PIAA playoff schedule has ended other rivalries as schools are either playing this weekend in the state tournament — like La Salle — or have been dormant for too long to play on Thanksgiving.

Northeast and Central found a way to keep their teams together as they wait for Thanksgiving. The coaches could have walked away weeks ago when the season ended — they instead practice a few times a week and schedule time in the weight room. They want to give their kids another game.

“I would love to be playing a PIAA playoff game and have to forfeit,” Lincoln said. “But it’s another chance for our guys to play football.”

Lincoln held his breath last Thanksgiving before he found the Wooden Horse’s tail on the field. His first win against Central wasn’t spoiled by a horse’s rear.

Gormley took the Wooden Horse to a nearby trophy shop, which repaired the tail and added last year’s final score — Northeast 37, Central 21 — to the base before it was tucked safely into the trophy case. The Wooden Horse, just like the game it represented, refused to go away.

“I’m going to try to bring it out again,” Lincoln said. “Let’s see if the AD allows me to.”