Pandemonium in Piscataway!

Rutgers Radio Network announcer Chris Carlin said it best—“There’s pandemonium in Piscataway!”—when Rutgers defeated #3 ranked Louisville in November 2006, 28–25, on the last-second field goal by Jeremy Ito RC’08, RBS’08, prompting exuberant fans to flood the field at Rutgers Stadium to celebrate the upset. The Scarlet Knights went 11-2 and, following the team’s 37–10 victory over Kansas State in the Texas Bowl, finished the season ranked #12. Hear Chris Carlin's iconic radio call of the game.

 

Life magazine coverThat Ol’ School Spirit

“Nobody Ever Died for Dear Old Rutgers,” from the 1947 Broadway musical High Button Shoes, referred to injured football player Frank “Pop” Grant RC1895, who reportedly said he would “die for dear old Rutgers.” Or was it, “I’d die to win this game”? Or did Grant say, “I will die if somebody doesn’t give me a cigarette”? See video.

 

 

Ed Sullivan showA Really Big Show

Scarlet Knights football head coach “Dr. John” John Bateman, second from right, appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show with his co-captains, Bob Stonebraker RC’70, left, and Lee Schneider AG’70, GSNB’72, GSE’88, right, after Rutgers beat Princeton, 29–0, in the 1969 centennial game, which garnered considerable national attention and even featured a commemorative United States Postal Service stamp. See video.

 

Old Rutgers JerseyBleeding Scarlet

Students adopted scarlet as the school color in 1869 because, one legend has it, the color symbolized the spilled blood of Nathan Hale, the Revolutionary War spy who was hanged by the British in 1776 in Manhattan. Another story claims that scarlet was chosen instead of orange, a color traditionally associated with the Dutch, because red fabric was readily available.