Comments
OGraffe t1_iy9cj2y wrote
They also played the first college football game against Princeton and are regarded as the first football national champions
PeggyOnThePier t1_iyafoig wrote
They won that game!It is a shame that they don't playprinceton anymore. They were fun games. You could always tell, which school a person went to. Haha 😂. Go knights
MrCowBells t1_iy9llud wrote
I'm pretty sure this is an urban myth. I have yet to find any evidence beyond a Crimson article from 1953 saying alumni and the president at the time supported petition to join the sports league at the time and a failed attempt to merge with Princeton 200 years ago.
This myth likely stemmed from the fact that Rutgers shares the same pedigree as the other Ivy League schools and has a history that is as rich as them. (As evidenced in the linked Wikipedia article). If Rutgers decided to private instead of becoming a land grant (publicly funded) school, then they may very well have become one of the Ivy League schools.
dustin91 t1_iy9t0dx wrote
It may also have to do with both RU and Princeton being in the same (small) state, to have two Ivies… or IV, as their football designation was, if I remember somewhat.
Thendofreason t1_iya6rzk wrote
They would have been named Duke University instead but they didn't say yes to taking the money from the Duke family. The current Duke University said yes and got their name changed. If you are from Duke, know that your university was second on Duke's mind. Later a man by the name of Henry Rutgers did get the school to say yes to his money and name.
compuwiza1 t1_iyb35ze wrote
College football started there as well.
alesko09 t1_iyboavq wrote
That are also the only State University that doesn't have the name of the state in it.
Tanktopbro8 t1_iy91rl1 wrote
Also I'm pretty sure they were invited into the ivy league but rejected the offer.