Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, the Turkey Day Game is an annual

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

contest between

Kirkwood High School Kirkwood High School is a public education, public secondary school in Kirkwood, Missouri, United States. The school is part of the Kirkwood R-7 School District. Dr. Mike Havener started as principal in July 2011. History Kirkwood High School ...

's Pioneers and

Webster Groves High School Webster Groves High School is a public secondary school in Webster Groves, Missouri, United States. It is located at 100 Selma Ave, Webster Groves, MO. The school is part of the Webster Groves School District and its current principal is Matt Irvin ...

's Statesmen, two teams based in

St. Louis County, Missouri St. Louis County is located in the eastern-central portion of Missouri. It is bounded by the City of St. Louis and the Mississippi River to the east, the Missouri River to the north, and the Meramec River to the south. At the 2020 census, th ...

. The contest has traditionally been played on Thanksgiving.

History

1898 to 1923

The Kirkwood-Webster Groves rivalry celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2007. Newly found evidence shows that 2007 also celebrated the 100th known football game since 1898 between the two schools (whether or not there were games played during the 1899, 1900, and 1905 seasons still remains unknown) and the 77th game played on Thanksgiving Day between the varsity teams of the two schools. It was not regularly played on Thanksgiving until 1928. In addition to the unknown seasons of 1899, 1900, and 1905, there was no game in 1904 because Kirkwood did not have a team; there were two games held in 1906; three games held in 1907; and two games held in 1908. Annual games in 1909–10, 1912, 1915–17, 1919–21, and 1923 are recorded, but none were held on Thanksgiving; no games were held 1911, 1914, 1918 (due to World War I and the flu pandemic), nor between 1924 and 1927. The four-year hiatus in the 1920s came after a melee occurred on the field in 1923 that involved spectators from the stands. A referee called back all three of Kirkwood's touchdowns due to penalties, allowing Webster Groves to win the game 7–0. The win gave Webster Groves its eighth consecutive win and a 14–7–2 lead in the varsity series since 1898.

1928 to 1974

The game resumed in 1928 and was played continuously on Thanksgiving Day through 1974. While not the only Thanksgiving football game in Missouri during its early existence, the state's high school athletic commission shut down most others (one prominent example being the

Mineral Water Bowl The Mineral Water Bowl is an annual American NCAA Division II college football bowl game between teams from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and an at large opponent hosted in Excelsior Springs, Missouri at Tiger Stadium. History ...

Excelsior Springs Excelsior Springs is a city in Clay and Ray counties in the U.S. state of Missouri and part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The population was 10,553 at the 2020 census. It is located approximately northeast of central Kansas City, Missour ...

) after 1950, while leaving the Kirkwood–Webster Groves game intact. In 1975, when the then-

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

hosted NFL games on Thanksgiving, the city resisted the move, in part because the Kirkwood-Webster Groves rivalry had already established itself (the Cardinals were never particularly popular in St. Louis, and the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

, whose place the Cardinals had taken, were already a major national draw); the Turkey Day Game was not held that year. The Cardinals gave up on playing Thanksgiving games in 1977 after three games, and the hosting reverted to the Cowboys. For similar reasons, the

Rams In engineering, RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and safety)21-year tenure in St. Louis, never played on Thanksgiving.

1976 to 2019, 2021–

The game was also not held on Thanksgiving in 1980 or 1985. Two games between the two teams are recorded in 1983. The institution of the Show-Me Bowl, a statewide championship tournament for high school football in Missouri, has complicated the playing of the Turkey Day Game, much as state championships elsewhere in the United States have done; both Kirkwood and Webster Groves have typically been contenders for the state title since approximately 2002. The first time this would be an issue was the 1979 contest, in which Webster Groves played the JV squad for most of the Turkey Day Game, still managing to win, en route to the state title. In 1988, Webster Groves decided not to play the Turkey Day Game and chose to contest for the Show-Me Bowl instead. To allow the game to not be canceled because of such conflicts in future years, the two schools agreed to the "Turkey Day Agreement." The agreement, which was based on the precedent set in the 1979 game, stipulates that in the event that either Kirkwood or Webster Groves advances to the Show-Me Bowl state championship game, the non-varsity members of the

junior varsity Junior varsity (often called "JV") players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition (such as any football, basketball, or baseball game), usually at the high school level–– and formerly at the collegiate level� ...

and freshman squads play instead. The agreement was first invoked in 2002, and again in 2003 and 2006.Askeland, Kevin (2009-11-24)
High school football a tradition on Thanksgiving Day
''CBS Sports''. Retrieved November 6, 2010. The Kirkwood and Webster Groves varsity teams did not meet in the Turkey Day Game for a four-year stretch between 2009 and 2012. This is because every year in that time span, at least one of the two teams advanced to the Show-Me Bowl, thus invoking the Agreement and relegating the contest to a junior varsity match. In 2010, there was an unusual situation: the Kirkwood and Webster Groves varsity teams met in the Class 5 state semifinals the weekend before Thanksgiving, assuring one of them would advance to the Show-Me Bowl; Webster Groves won the game, 28–0. In addition to the pre-Thanksgiving matchup, the junior varsity teams played on Thanksgiving itself.Sells, George (2010-11-20)
Kirkwood And Webster Groves Meet In High School Playoffs

KTVI KTVI (channel 2) is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside CW owned-and-operated station KPLR-TV (channel 11). Both stations share studios on B ...

. Retrieved November 25, 2010. In 2012 and 2013, the two teams faced each other in the playoffs earlier in November, which was more common given the two schools' proximity. Even though the two had already met in the playoffs earlier in 2013, the varsity teams met in the Turkey Day Game on Thanksgiving itself, breaking a five-year JV streak; Kirkwood avenged its earlier loss in a 44–0 rout. Kirkwood would also win the 2014 and 2015 contests, 33–6 and 42–13 respectively. When the Rams left St. Louis in 2016, closing the Show-Me Bowl's permanent home venue, the Show-Me Bowl was split up so that the lowest class, the

eight-man football Eight-man football is a form of gridiron football, generally played by high schools with smaller enrollments. Eight-man football differs from the traditional 11-man game with the reduction of three players on each side of the ball and a field wi ...

class, and the largest, Class 6, are held the weekend before Thanksgiving. By this point, Kirkwood, which had been a Class 5 school as recently as 2013, had grown into Class 6, which resulted in Kirkwood being able to advance all the way to the 2016 Show-Me Bowl (which it won) and play the Turkey Day Game in the same year without invoking the Agreement; using their backup quarterback, Kirkwood won their fourth consecutive Turkey Day Game 17–6.Kvidahl, David (November 24, 2016)
Backup quarterback helps Kirkwood get fourth consecutive Turkey Day win
''stltoday.com''. Retrieved September 21, 2017. It was the second time either team won both the state title and the Turkey Day Game in the same year, following Webster Groves's achievement of the feat in 1979 (coincidentally, the next year would begin the only other Kirkwood four-game winning streak in the game's record). (Webster Groves remains in Class 5 and thus must still invoke the Agreement should it ever return to the Show-Me Bowl; Kirkwood's promotion also ensures that neither team will face each other in the playoffs for the foreseeable future.) 2020 had no game played because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The rivalry resumed in 2021 with Kirkwood registering yet another blowout win, their eighth consecutive victory. The 2021 contest, which the Pioneers won 65–0, was also notable for both head coaches being

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

, the first time that had ever happened in the series. The Turkey Day Game site alternates between Moss Field (Webster Groves) on even years and Lyons Field (Kirkwood) on odd years. As of the end of 2021, Webster Groves leads the all-time series between the two teams (counting Thanksgiving and non-Thanksgiving games) 58–54–7. Among only Thanksgiving games, Kirkwood leads the series 44–37–5. Kirkwood has won all seven matchups since the varsity series resumed in 2013. With the 2021 discontinuation of the Big Bone Game in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

, the Turkey Day Game is the last ongoing Thanksgiving high school football game west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

Festivities

The term Turkey Day in both Kirkwood and Webster has grown to encompass not only the football game itself, but the festivities in the week prior to Thanksgiving Day. Both schools participate in extensive activities surrounding Turkey Day during Thanksgiving week. The Friendship Dance is held every year at the high school not hosting that year's game, as a gesture of friendship between the schools. Each school names a Friendship Court and selects a Friendship Queen and King from the court. In addition, each grade level at both schools decorate a hallway in a unique theme, and are then judged. At both schools, the activities culminate in respective pep rallies both on the last day of school of that week (Tuesday) and the Wednesday night before the game. At both Kirkwood and Webster, there is a bonfire after the Wednesday night pep rally. However the game is considered to be a rivalry, it is difficult to say whether it exemplifies the characteristics of a rivalry due to the fact of Webster's consecutive losses against Kirkwood. Drawing thousands of people every year, the game itself has grown in popularity to the likes of the local news and cable broadcasts of the game. As well as being recognized by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, the game has garnered a multi-page exclusive article in ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

''. Since 1952, a bell from a retired locomotive, donated by the Frisco Railroad Company, has been used as the trophy for the Turkey Day Game. The winner of the game takes possession of the Frisco Bell until the next game. The Bell was first awarded to Kirkwood, despite the game ending in a tie, because Webster Groves had lost the previous year's game. Since 1940, the loser has received the Little Brown Jug, which originally had painted the years and scores of the game on its back, but now has been replaced with the Centennial Jug, with the history of the coaches painted on it.

Broadcasting

KTRS (AM 550) owns the radio broadcast rights to the game.Turkey Day Game
at ktrs.com. Retrieved November 19, 2014. The 2017 and 2018 games were streamed via

Internet television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air a ...

on the online media of

KSDK KSDK (channel 5) is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Market Street in Downtown St. Louis, and its transmitter is located in Shrewsbury, Mi ...

(channel 5).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkwood-Webster Groves Turkey Day Game Sports in Greater St. Louis High school sports rivalries in the United States Thanksgiving (United States) High school football games in the United States High school football in Missouri American football rivalries 1907 establishments in Missouri Recurring sporting events established in 1907