Russell Guin Alpha Chi 1917 staged the world’s first night football game in 1928 while principal at Westville, Ill., High School-and wrote a booklet about it which led to his life-time publishing career with Interstate Printers and Publishers in Danville, Ill., where he became vice president in 1931, later president and now board chairman.
Night football was born at Westville because Saturday afternoons were dominated by college ball, and fans had to work on Friday afternoons. Guin got his idea by seeing lights blazing at a filling station one night and decided they were bright enough to play football.
Twenty-five foot poles were cut nearby, with two 1000-watt bulbs backed by reflectors on each. “By today’s standards, we were out in the dark,” Guin recalls. When the visiting team objected to the night game, Guin raised the guarantee from $35 to $200. In addition the lights, reflectors, poles and installation cost 700 all done without the knowledge, much less permission, of the school board.
Fans arrived all day, and some 4000 eventually turned out. The ball was painted white and became slippery in the damp evening, but the home team won and the game ran off “without a hitch,” making $1000 net profit.
When he was besieged by inquiries, he wrote a booklet, “Staging a Night Football Game,” which was printed by Interstate. 10,000 copies were sold, so Guin wrote a second book on staging a high school play, then a third on designing an “Extracurricular Accounting System” which is still in use. Success as a writer led to a job offer by Interstate.
Originally printed in The Chakett Online at https://www.chiphi.org/chakettonline/alumni-updates/2014/01/russell-guin-inventor-of-football-at-night/