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Princeton University Athletics
150 Years ? Football
November 21, 2014 | Football
| Football |
| First Game: Nov. 6, 1869 (at Rutgers) • America's First College Football Game |
| 10 League Championships • 28 National Championships |
| 1869 | Rutgers defeats Princeton six goals to four Nov. 6 in the first college football game ever played. Princeton wins the return match eight goals to zero the following week. |
| 1880 | Orange stripes are added to the black shirts. This, along with a newspaper account that credits the Princeton 11 with “playing like Tigers,” gives rise to the University's athletic team nickname. |
| 1903 | Princeton allows only six points during the season to win its 21st national championship. The team is captained by future College Football Hall of Famer John DeWitt '04. |
| 1922 | The famed "Team of Destiny" rallied from an 18-7 deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat Chicago 21-18 with a late goalline stand. Princeton clinches the championship with a 3-0 win over Yale. |
| 1933 | Art Lane '34 captains the Princeton 11 to an undefeated, untied season and the national championship. One of the best defensive teams in Princeton football history, the Tigers allow only eight points. |
| 1951 | Dick Kazmaier '52 wins the Heisman Trophy and is the first to do it by more than 1,000 votes. Princeton repeats its 1950 undefeated season and is awarded the Lambert Cup. |
| 1957 | Dick Colman replaces Charles Caldwell as Princeton's coach and guides the Tigers to their first Ivy championship. Both Caldwell and Colman would be elected to the Hall of Fame. |
| 1981 | Bob Holly '82 throws for 501 yards and runs for the winning touchdown in a 35-31 victory over Yale, Princeton's first win over its most historic rival in 14 years. |
| 1992 | Keith Elias '94 breaks the school record with 1,575 rushing yards as Princeton earns a share of the Ivy crown. Elias earns All-America honors. |
| 1995 | Freshman Alex Sierk '99 kicks an 18-yard field goal on the final play of the season to give Princeton the outright Ivy title. It is the last Ivy title at Palmer Stadium, which would be demolished in 1997. |
| 2006 | Princeton wins the Ivy League championship and finishes with its best record (9-1) since 1964. The Tigers rally from a trio of 14-point deficits and defeat Yale 34-31 to clinch Princeton's first H-Y-P bonfire since 1994. |
| 2013 | Princeton breaks both the team and Ivy League records for both total (511.6 yds/gm) and scoring offense (43.7 pts/gm) en route to an 8-2 mark and its 10th Ivy League championship. |
The 150th anniversary of the first intercollegiate athletic event in Princeton University history will be Nov. 22, 2014, which will be 150 years to the day that Princeton defeated Williams 27-16 in a baseball game. As part of the 150th celebration, Princeton will be commemorating the history of each of its 38 varsity teams, in reverse order of the time they became varsity programs.
Friday, May 22
Thursday, November 20
Wednesday, November 19
Tuesday, October 28