UM: Scoreboards

An article by James Tobin, published in the latest edition of Michigan Today, looks at the history of University of Michigan scoreboards, beginning with the first scoreboard on the football field in 1899. ”In the 1890s, many of the football fans at Michigan’s Regents Field spent at least part of every game in a state of desperate uncertainty about what, exactly, was happening down on the field. ‘It is impossible,’ the Michigan Daily noted, ‘for everyone on both sides of the field as well as in the grandstand and bleachers to keep track of the number of downs, yards to gain, etc., as their only method of information is through the referee, who can not be heard all over the field.’” [Source]