A Brief History of Tailgating
Tailgating is a beloved activity for many sports fans across the country, but how did the ritual of cooking out, drinking, and hanging out with family and friends before the big game start? Although the true origin of tailgating is a bit fuzzy, experts have cobbled together interesting explanations of this tradition.
“While investigating, we discovered that there are actually several theories. At its shortest, this activity goes back at least 100 years while some suggest that the history is much deeper,” according to Family Tree Magazine writer Ashlee Peck.
Peck points to three main theories. One resembles the modern-day equivalent of tailgating eating together before an American football game. This one though, was in 1904, at Yale. After a long train ride, the passengers satisfied their hunger with a meal before kickoff. The second one goes way back to the U.S. Civil War era.