Four Who Could Score
Sue Wicks CC’88, a three-time Kodak All-American, scored a record 2,655 points for the Scarlet Knights before joining the WNBA’s New York Liberty. Tim VanLiew CCAS’12, a javelin-thrower on the Scarlet Raptors track and field team, also led the Rutgers–Camden men’s soccer team to its first New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) championship in 2011 (one of the team’s four NJAC championships in the last five years). Soccer’s Alexi Lalas SAS’14 led the Scarlet Knights to the NCAA Final Four in 1989 and to the national championship game in 1990. Ashley Canty NCAS’17, of Rutgers–Newark, was the NJAC’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Year in 2016.

 

trophyBorn Winner
There have been notable first games at Rutgers, each the occasion for a victory as well.

1869  First intercollegiate football game
1938  First football game at Rutgers Stadium
1969  First centennial intercollegiate football game
1972  First intercollegiate Ultimate Frisbee game (See video.)
1974  First women’s intercollegiate basketball game for Rutgers

And the losing team was always from the same university. Name the school:
1. Columbia University
2. Harvard University
3. Princeton University
4. University of Pennsylvania

ANSWER  3. Princeton

 

Phil SellersA Real Barn Burner
During the magical 1975–76 season, the routine sight of Phil Sellers dashing the length of the basketball court to score sent the crowd inside “the Barn” into a frenzy as paint chips rained from the ceiling of the College Avenue Gym in New Brunswick. Sellers, the all-time leader in points and rebounds, led the team, which included Eddie Jordan SAS’15, to a 31-2 regular- season record and its only NCAA Final Four appearance. A decade earlier, the 1966–67 team featured Bob Lloyd RC’67* and Jim Valvano RC’67* who brought the Scarlet Knights, coached by Bill Foster, to a third-place finish in the National Invitation Tournament.

 

illo of Theresa GrentzBehind Every Great Woman Is a Great Woman
Theresa Grentz, the first full-time women’s basketball coach in the nation, led the Scarlet Knights for 19 seasons (434-150) and coached Sue Wicks CC’88*. Grentz’s  successor was C. Vivian Stringer (451-231), the team’s fourth and current coach, who has mentored stars such as Tasha Pointer RC’01, SCILS’01, GSE’03 and Cappie Pondexter RC’06, a 2008 Olympic gold-medal winner.

 

“You can call it the Chanticleer ... you can call it any damn thing you want, but everybody knows it’s a chicken.”
1950 chanticleer— Harvey Harman, football coach 1938–41 and 1946–55, when asked why he supported changing the Rutgers mascot. 

 

*A member of the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni