Princeton University Athletics
Thursday TigerBlog - Banquet Night
May 21, 2026 | Tiger Blog
Did TigerBlog ever tell you the story about the time he had to escort a bunch of field hockey freshmen back from North Carolina for their orientation?Â
It was back in 2022. Princeton was playing in the season-opening ACC/Ivy Crossover, which that year was at UNC. The schedule, though, had orientation for freshmen starting between the two games the Tigers were to play, so someone had to bring them back.Â
Enter TigerBlog. He and the freshmen got up before dawn to get to the airport, and they were all back on campus in plenty of time.Â
TB should have taken a picture with them that day. He could have contrasted it with this one, taken this past fall at the NCAA Final Four, where this group led Princeton to overtime of the national championship game:Â
Time, once again, has done what it does.Â
Those six with TigerBlog will be at the Gary Walters '67 Senior Awards Banquet tonight in Jadwin Gym, along with the seniors from almost every Princeton sport. Missing will be TigerBlog and the 13 seniors on the men's lacrosse team, who will be in Charlottesville in preparation for Saturday's NCAA semifinal. Â
For those who will be there, it will be a night of emotions, as it always is. It's a celebration of Princeton Athletics' seniors, a class that has put up winning numbers that no other class in Ivy League — and maybe any other league anywhere — has matched.Â
There will be awards, with two field hockey seniors among the nominees (Beth Yeager for the von Kienbusch Award as the top senior female athlete and Helena Große for the Class of 1916 Cup for the varsity athlete in highest academic standing). The top male athlete will be announced. There will be awards for leadership and community service.Â
There will be two alums honored, including former Ford Family Director of Athletics Mollie Marcoux Samaan. The banquet itself is named for her predecessor, the man who started the event and built it into what it is today.Â
It was Gary who wanted to have a banquet to celebrate the awards that previously had simply been announced. He created most of the other awards that now are part of the evening. He saw it grow from a small gathering in the Jadwin lobby to outgrowing several other venues and now requiring the huge expanse of the back of the main floor.Â
The banquet comes on Night 1 of Reunions, which brings with it the explosion of orange and black that annually descends upon the campus in numbers no non-Princetonian can even imagine. As it does every year, the banquet begins the sprint to the finish line of Commencement, held Tuesday, after Class Day Monday and the prom.Â
The seniors who gather tonight have had vastly different experiences in their four years. A very small percentage of them will win awards, or were even nominated.Â
Some have started every game or competed in every event without a scratch or anything more than a few bruises. Others spent more time in the training room than on the field. Most were part of at least one championship celebration.Â
They did this across different venues, with different circles of friends. They'll be heading in many different directions once they have diplomas in hand Tuesday.Â
They do all have one commonality. They've all, every one of them, had an educational and athletic experience that has changed them, molded them, tested them and ultimately prepared them for whatever will be next.Â
That is undeniable.Â
Those are all among the emotions that are for contemplating later. For tonight, the emotions that swirl around Jadwin Gym will be the ones that generate laughs, smiles, hugs — and lots and lots of pictures. It's a night to be spent together, as one big Princeton Athletics class, something that they haven't gotten to do that many times in their four years on campus.Â
It's a night for happiness. It's a night to start the huge weekend that maybe, back when they were all at orientation, may have seemed so far in the future that it was impossible to contemplate.Â
And now it is here. It's a special night, this night that Gary Walters envisioned and brought to life.Â
It is every year. It's the best of what Princeton Athletics is. Â
