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THE BIRTHPLACE OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL The following is excerpted from an article that was written by John Bruns, former long-time sports writer for the Home News, and current sports writer for the Easton Times-Express. When Rutgers defeated Princeton in the first intercollegiate football game ever played in 1869, the setting was quite different than it is today. The game was contested on a field along College Avenue in New Brunswick. There weren’t tens of thousands of cheering fans in a multi-million dollar stadium. There was no manicured grass field or electronic scoreboard. There was no elaborate athletic equipment or television cameras. But on that fall day in 1869, those students established a tradition of quality football programs, competitiveness and school spirit that continues at Rutgers, the birthplace of intercollegiate football. Rutgers won six of 10 games in 1882, but played only one game in 1885. Similarly, the Scarlet Knights went 8-6 in 1891, but two years later played only four games. By the early 1900’s, scheduling had become more consistent and football became more popular across the country. The eight wins of 1891 weren’t matched until Rutgers went 8-1 in 1947 with one of the most successful teams of coach Harvey Harman in the Golden Era immediately following World War II. That team, quarterbacked by Frank Burns, who would later become Rutgers’ most successful coach, lost its opener to Columbia and then swept through eight straight opponents. In 1913, coach George Foster Sanford began a tradition of success among Rutgers coaches in their inaugural year by leading his team to a 6-3 mark. He then flirted with two perfect seasons, improving the team to 7-1 in 1915 and 7-1-1 in 1917. Those two seasons, which featured All-American Paul Robeson, were among Rutgers’ best. Sanford, a member of Rutgers’ Hall of Fame, also helped to introduce Rutgers to the New York metropolitan area, playing games at the Polo Grounds against teams like Notre Dame, Nebraska, Louisiana State and West Virginia. A few years later, in 1924, twotime All-American end and fullback Homer Hazel helped coach John Wallace continue the tradition of first-year coaching success, as Rutgers posted a 7-1-1 mark. Harvey Harman also had a successful first season, going 7-1 in 1938, the year Rutgers dedicated the original Rutgers Stadium. Rutgers won the dedication game, 20-18, over Princeton. Harman, however, was replaced by former coach Harry Rockafeller during World War II. His tenure included an 8-1 season in 1947 when Rutgers, dominated by WWII veterans, registered a combined record of 27-7 from 1945-48. When John Stiegman coached Rutgers from 1956-59, he brought back the single-wing formation to the Scarlet Knight offense, and led Rutgers to an 8-1 mark in 1958. The only loss of that season, 13-12 to the Quantico Marines, came when All-American tailback Billy Austin had to miss a game due to a broken hand. Another first-year coach got off to an impressive start when John Bateman went 8-1 in 1960. That campaign was followed by Rutgers’ first undefeated season in 1961, when the team went 9-0, capping the season with a fourthquarter, 25-point comeback win over Columbia. That team included All-American center Alex Kroll, and was ranked 15th nationally. In his 11 seasons, Bateman led Rutgers to 73 wins in 124 games. In 1973, Frank Burns took the reins of Rutgers football and became the most successful Rutgers coach ever by building teams recognized for fundamentals and defense. Burns himself was also known as a fierce linebacker and won the Most Valuable Player Award in the 1949 College All-Star game, when he made
17 tackles against the New York Giants. The Burns defenses were led by linebackers Ed Steward, Jim Hughes, Jim Dumont and defensive end Nate Toran. Burns’ first team went 6-5, while running back “JJ” Jennings set single-season records for rushing yardage (1,353) and touchdowns (21) that still stand. Over the next five seasons, Burns’ teams won at least seven games each season, including a five-season stretch from 1975-79 when Rutgers’ winning percentage was .803 with a record of 45-11. The jewel in the crown of Burns’ tenure as Rutgers’ coach was the 1976 season, when the team was perfect at 11-0, establishing the best season ever at Rutgers. During Burns’ 11 seasons at Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights won nearly two-thirds of their games (78-44). He also took Rutgers to its first bowl appearance, the Garden State Bowl, at Giants Stadium against Arizona State in 1978. Doubtless, the biggest win of the Burns era was the 13-7 upset of Tennessee on November 3, 1979 at Knoxville. Burns called it “the greatest of my coaching career.” The following year, 1980, Rutgers had one of its great “near-misses” of its long history when the Scarlet bowed, 17-13, to a highly-favored and No. 1-ranked Alabama team coached by Bear Bryant at Giants Stadium. In a post game comment, Bear Bryant said, “We didn’t beat Rutgers. All I can say is we won.” In 1984 when Dick Anderson was named head coach, a renewed commitment to football at Rutgers was backed by a $3 million state-funded package. Those funds helped finance the artificial surface practice fields, the practice “Bubble” and the Hale Center, which includes lockerrooms, offices, a weight-training area and medical facilities for the football team. Anderson won seven of 10 games in his inaugural season and his teams produced some of the most exciting players in Rutgers history, including record-breaking passer Scott Erney, career tackles leader Tyronne Stowe and career kickoff return leader Eric Young. Doug Graber became the Scarlet Knights’ 23rd coach in 1990 and placed an emphasis on recruiting the best talent in the state of New Jersey. His first recruiting class included three first-team All-State selections and two second-team All-State selections among the 12 recruits from New Jersey. Another major boost for Rutgers came in 1991 when it joined the BIG EAST Football Conference. The team went 13-9 in its first two years in the BIG EAST, including a 4-2 BIG EAST mark in 1992, before slipping to 4-7 the following season. The 1994 season celebrated not only the 125 years of college football, but also the return of the newly-renovated and expanded Rutgers Stadium. A new stadium has been quite a different setting than that of the first college football game played over 130 years ago. The Scarlet Knights are playing for their own place in history as they continue the college football tradition that was born “On the Banks of the Old Raritan.” After a less than stellar run through the mid-1990’s under 1998 BIG EAST coach of the year Terry Shea, the Scarlet Knights opted to take the program in a different direction. On December 1, 2000, then Director of Athletics Bob Mulcahy introduced the newest coach in the storied history of Rutgers Football - Greg Schiano. Under Schiano’s leadership, ‘it’s time’ for Rutgers Football to regain the nation’s attention.