Emerson High School was a public high school located in Union City, in Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as part of the Union City Board of Education.

[1] As the city was now served by two high schools, students who lived north of the Route 495 overpass (which previously divided the two towns) would attend Union Hill, while those who lived south of it would attend Emerson, though that boundary was shifted in later years to keep the school enrollments roughly equal.

In competing for the Hudson County Interscholastic Football Championship, Union Hill beat Emerson five consecutive years from 1923 to 1927.

[8] For 88 consecutive years, the most notable aspect of their rivalry on the field was the annual Turkey Game, held on Thanksgiving, a tradition that began in 1919, when the high schools served the neighboring towns of West Hoboken in the south and Union Hill in the north, a rivalry described as "simmering hatred" that gave the schools' principals cause to fear that the first game might turn lead to violence.

A wooden chariot would be pulled around the field at halftime, carrying the football king and queen from the defending school, who were booed and pelted with paper when they got to the opposing side of Roosevelt Stadium.

Over the decades, coaches were known to zealously guard their game plans and players, who were alert for spies, were often excused from their classes to practice in secret locations.

According to David Wilcomes, a former football player and later football coach and the last principal of Union Hill High School, the Turkey Game developed a nearly religious significance as a Thanksgiving ritual for Union City citizens,[9] and a loss for one's favored team would cast a pall upon the day's subsequent holiday festivities, commenting, "If you don’t win, it's a long Thanksgiving dinner."

Wilcomes, whose father also played for Union Hill, stated that he stopped answering his home phone following losing games due to the constant reviewing and second-guessing of his strategies by various relatives.

The Turkey Game tradition ended with its final game on November 22, 2007, prior to the two schools' merger into Union City High School, which is now housed on the site of the former Roosevelt Stadium, and features an athletic field on its roof.

It sold commemorative tickets featuring photos of the 1919 Union Hill and Emerson teams, and a game program whose proceeds went the new school's scholarship fund.

During the final game, both principals sat together at halftime to present a united front, and the players on both teams were required to wear T-shirts bearing the new school's name under their shoulder pads.

[2] The final Turkey game was attended by 6,000 spectators, including Senator Robert Menendez[10] (an alumnus of Union Hill[11]), and saw Union Hill beat Emerson with a score of 20–8, tying Emerson's historical win record of 40–40.

[10] The Turkey Game trophy is today housed in Union City High School,[2] whose players are known as the Soaring Eagles.