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RUTGERS STADIUM The "big mud hole," after three years of construction and an even longer period of research and planning, was a transformed marvel. The Class of 1939, dubbed "The Stadium Class," would honor Little by dedicating its yearbook to him. The dedication reads, in part, "We acclaim all that George Little has done - Sponsored large-scale intramurals to provide 'athletics for all' - conceived and developed a vast athletic plant...traveled, dreamed, and fought for Rutgers...thoughtful, creative, impulsive, dynamic, generous - bubbling over with ideas and enthusiasm - unflagging in labor and effort - a champion of progress." A plaque in Little's honor would later adorn the stadium entrance beneath the press box. The 1938 season would open not only with a new stadium but also with a new coach. Upon the resignation of J. Wilder Tasker, who had been the head coach since 1931, Harvey Harman took over the reins. Arriving from the University of Pennsylvania, one of his first efforts, in concert with President Clothier and athletic director Little, was to have Princeton agree to shift the game from Palmer Stadium. The Tigers had not visited the Rutgers campus since 1888 and a span of 17 games, but they agreed to make the short trip on November 5, the seventh game of the season for the Scarlet. The Rutgers-Princeton clash would come one day short of the 69 years since the historic first intercollegiate game between the teams. It would fall also on Harman's 38th birthday. Rutgers opened the season with four games on Neilson Field defeating Marietta (20-0) and Vermont (15-14) before losing to NYU (25-6) and then edging Springfield, 6-0. The first game in the new stadium was against Hampden-Sydney before an estimated crowd of 10,000. Rutgers took an early 7-0 lead on a Burt Hasbrouck two-yard run and Len Cooke added the extra point for the first scores in the stadium. The game's most exciting play came after the Scarlet took a 26-0 halftime lead. Art Gottlieb hit Moon Mullen on a short pass at the Rutgers 43-yard line and the senior end raced 57 yards for the game's final score. A Hampden-Sydney threat was turned away on a Gottlieb interception in the Scarlet end zone at the end of the third period and the final score was Rutgers 32, Hampden-Sydney 0. At halftime of the Dedication game, Judge George H. Lane, the sole Rutgers survivor of the first contest in 1869, would be honored. On a sad note, William Preston Lane, the only Princeton survivor of the first game, passed away that very morning. The first-half play, before a crowd of 22,500, had been as masterful as the words. But, in the halftime dressing room, the Scarlet squad, at an 18-13 deficit, wondered if the 69-year-old jinx would continue to hold. One writer's account of the game imagined that "Over them hung the most grotesque hoodoo in the history of football." Down 18-7, Rutgers stormed back as Herm Greif, who had worked on the WPA crew three years before, replaced Gottlieb and quickly completed a pass to Joe Varju who was tackled at the Princeton one-yard line with just 59 seconds remaining in the half. After three passes, Greif ran for the score to bring the Scarlet to within five points at halftime.
The day deserved a storybook ending and that was to follow. Princeton penetrated to the Rutgers 15-yard line in the third period but the drive was stopped by the Scarlet. The game's golden moment came with five minutes remaining. Rutgers center Doug Hotchkiss recovered a Princeton fumble at the Tiger 12. But, in two plays, Rutgers had lost 10 yards. Gottlieb and Tranavitch combined on a nine-yard pass completion and, on fourth down, Gottlieb found Mullen at the goal line for the go-ahead score. The extra point by Walt Bruyere was good, Rutgers had taken a 20-18 lead. The ensuing Princeton possession saw the Tigers take to the air, but Mullen shut down the drive at the Rutgers 30 with an interception. That left time for only a last line plunge and the game was over, the hex was gone. Rutgers had defeated Princeton for the first time in 69 years. The 1938 Dedication game was certainly of storybook stature, but there have been many more that rival that first contest. None more so, perhaps, than that on another Princeton visit. Never has there been such preparation for a game in Rutgers Stadium that there was for the Centennial contest in 1969. All the elements of great sports drama were there - proclamations were issued; a special commemorative stamp was issued; a re-enactment of the first game drew 10,000 fans; pennants from some 350 football-playing colleges waved above the stands; an unscheduled protest march by Afro-Americans; introductions of celebrities, including the oldest living Rutgers football captain, William VB Van Dyck and Master of Ceremonies, Ozzie Nelson; the coin toss, or rather the three coin tosses, first with a 1869 silver dollar and then with a pair of Centennial medallions. The game would be the first Rutgers home football contest ever televised as Chris Schenkel and Bud Wilkinson manned the ABC booth. A crowd of 31,000 was on hand for the game, the largest in Scarlet history to that point, and later eclipsed only by the 31,219 for the Rutgers-Temple game in 1988, a Homecoming affair. Princeton provided the game's opening salvo as Robinson Bordley returned the kickoff 63 yards to the Scarlet 24-yard line. Rutgers successfully repulsed the attack. Both teams missed field goal tries, but, after an interference call at midfield, Rutgers took a 7-0 lead on Rich Policastro's rollout and Chris Stewart's PAT near the end of the first period. The Scarlet upped the lead to 21-0 by halftime on a Bruce Van Ness TD and Bob Stonebraker's reception from Policastro. Rutgers scored again on a 27-yard Mike Yancheff-to-Joe Barone pass, and, because the goal posts had already been dismantled, the Scarlet scored on a two-point conversion by Yanceff. The 29 points were the highest ever recorded by a Rutgers team against Princeton. The victory was Rutgers 10th in the 60-game series. The teams would go into their second centuries, once again having made football history.