For my last Throwback Thursday post, Deimosa and I browsed through various bound volumes containing our old classroom magazines. As I was looking for an article about trick-or-treating in an October 1969 issue, another word immediately caught my eye: Rutgers.
I graduated from Rutgers College at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey back in Spring 2007. Fall 2006 was a major season for our the Scarlett Knights: we won all but two games, beat a highly-ranked team (Louisville) with a last second field goal, and went to a televised Bowl game and won. (This is all the more impressive when you consider how...and I say this kindly with alumna love... not-great we typically were leading up to this season.) I went from never having gone to a college football game ever, to having gone to four, outfitted with the jersey of my favorite player (Brian Leonard).
2006 was probably the biggest year in Rutgers football history since 1869. What happened in 1869? Not only a legendary year for Rutgers, but for college football in general: the very first game ever.
Back on November 6, 1869, Rutgers and Princeton Universities faced off in the first official college football game in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Rutgers won, 6-4. This article from Scholastic Newstime's (now Scholastic News) October 27, 1969 issue celebrates the 100th anniversary of that game! (Next Monday marks the 148th anniversary!) Apparently, we faced off against Princeton again, and won... again. R-U-rah, rah!
Gina Asprocolas
