October 19, 1946: Princeton beats Rutgers 14-7 at Rutgers Stadium. An attempt to steal the cannon proves even more embarrassing for RU.
Rutgers University is in New Brunswick, in Middlesex County, New Jersey. (The stadium is across the Raritan River, in Piscataway.) Princeton University is in the town of the same name, in Mercer County. They are separated by 17 miles of State Route 27. In 1869, Rutgers beat Princeton in "the first college football game," in New Brunswick, hence Rutgers calls itself "the Birthplace of College Football."
Two cannons were left on the Princeton campus after the War of the American Revolution, although neither of them were used in the Battle of Princeton of January 3, 1777, as is often claimed. "Big Cannon" is located behind Nassau Hall in the center of the quadrangle there, called "Cannon Green," and "Little Cannon" is situated between Whig and Clio Halls.
For the War of 1812, Big Cannon was transported to New Brunswick to help defend the city against potential attack by the British, remaining on the Rutgers campus, where it was used for training during and after the American Civil War of 1861-65 by Rutgers cadets, until it was taken back to Princeton in 1875 by the "Princeton Blues," a local militia.
On the night of April 25, 1875, 10 members of the Rutgers Class of 1877 set out to take Big Cannon from Princeton. However, they were unable to move it, so instead they returned to New Brunswick with Little Cannon. Princeton responded with a raid on Rutgers, stealing some muskets, and the presidents of the colleges exchanged polite but demanding correspondence. Eventually, a joint committee settled the matter, and Little Cannon was returned to Princeton, escorted by the New Brunswick Police Chief. In other words, Rutgers was forced to cave.
On October 19, 1946, a contingent of Rutgers men slipped onto the Princeton campus, and again tried to steal the famed Big Cannon. This attempt was even more disastrous than the first. They attached one end of a heavy chain to the cannon and the other to their car, a Ford. Surprised by Princeton students and the police, they gunned the engine of the car so hard that the car, weighted down by the cannon, was torn in half. The Rutgers students managed to escape, but with neither the car nor the cannon.
On the eve of the annual Rutgers-Princeton game of 1971, Big Cannon was apparently "stolen" again. A 5-foot-deep hole was found where the cannon sat. Campus police were baffled that the cannon had been taken, given its extreme weight. After crime photos were taken, it appears that a hole had simply been dug next to Big Cannon and the dirt from the hole used to bury it. Reports appeared in the Rutgers newspaper, the Daily Targum, as well as nearby papers such as the New Brunswick-based Daily Home News, the Princeton Packet and The Times of Trenton. (Rutgers won the game, 33-18.)
With Rutgers having committed to "big-time" (sometimes written as "bigger time") football, and Princeton having committed to the smaller-time Ivy League, the schools haven't played each other in football since 1980, a 44-13 Rutgers win in Piscataway, although they still play each other in other sports.
Rutgers University is in New Brunswick, in Middlesex County, New Jersey. (The stadium is across the Raritan River, in Piscataway.) Princeton University is in the town of the same name, in Mercer County. They are separated by 17 miles of State Route 27. In 1869, Rutgers beat Princeton in "the first college football game," in New Brunswick, hence Rutgers calls itself "the Birthplace of College Football."
Two cannons were left on the Princeton campus after the War of the American Revolution, although neither of them were used in the Battle of Princeton of January 3, 1777, as is often claimed. "Big Cannon" is located behind Nassau Hall in the center of the quadrangle there, called "Cannon Green," and "Little Cannon" is situated between Whig and Clio Halls.
For the War of 1812, Big Cannon was transported to New Brunswick to help defend the city against potential attack by the British, remaining on the Rutgers campus, where it was used for training during and after the American Civil War of 1861-65 by Rutgers cadets, until it was taken back to Princeton in 1875 by the "Princeton Blues," a local militia.
On the night of April 25, 1875, 10 members of the Rutgers Class of 1877 set out to take Big Cannon from Princeton. However, they were unable to move it, so instead they returned to New Brunswick with Little Cannon. Princeton responded with a raid on Rutgers, stealing some muskets, and the presidents of the colleges exchanged polite but demanding correspondence. Eventually, a joint committee settled the matter, and Little Cannon was returned to Princeton, escorted by the New Brunswick Police Chief. In other words, Rutgers was forced to cave.
On October 19, 1946, a contingent of Rutgers men slipped onto the Princeton campus, and again tried to steal the famed Big Cannon. This attempt was even more disastrous than the first. They attached one end of a heavy chain to the cannon and the other to their car, a Ford. Surprised by Princeton students and the police, they gunned the engine of the car so hard that the car, weighted down by the cannon, was torn in half. The Rutgers students managed to escape, but with neither the car nor the cannon.
On the eve of the annual Rutgers-Princeton game of 1971, Big Cannon was apparently "stolen" again. A 5-foot-deep hole was found where the cannon sat. Campus police were baffled that the cannon had been taken, given its extreme weight. After crime photos were taken, it appears that a hole had simply been dug next to Big Cannon and the dirt from the hole used to bury it. Reports appeared in the Rutgers newspaper, the Daily Targum, as well as nearby papers such as the New Brunswick-based Daily Home News, the Princeton Packet and The Times of Trenton. (Rutgers won the game, 33-18.)
With Rutgers having committed to "big-time" (sometimes written as "bigger time") football, and Princeton having committed to the smaller-time Ivy League, the schools haven't played each other in football since 1980, a 44-13 Rutgers win in Piscataway, although they still play each other in other sports.
Big Cannon at Princeton is routinely painted red by Rutgers students, particularly in the week leading to Rutgers commencement, as well as on other notable Rutgers dates. In November 2011, a group of Rutgers students who went to paint the cannon in Princeton brought a video camera with them and made a documentary about the tradition.
The footage became part of a larger project about the history of the Cannon War and its perception in the minds of current students today. The film, Knights, Tigers, and Cannons. Oh My!, by Zack Morrison, premiered at the New Jersey Film Festival in September 2012, and won the award for Best Student Film.
*
October 19, 1946 was a Saturday. In other notable college football games:
* Number 1 Army beat Number 11 Columbia, 48-14 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York.
* Number 2 Notre Dame were idle that week. Notre Dame would play Army in a de facto National Championship game at Yankee Stadium 3 weeks later, but it ended in a 0-0 tie. Notre Dame, naturally, were awarded the National Championship.
* Number 3 Texas beat Number 14 Arkansas, 20-0 at Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. Arkansas won the Southwest Conference title, anyway.
* Number 4 UCLA beat the University of California, 13-6 at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, California. UCLA won the Pacific Coast Conference title.
* Number 5 Michigan and Number 10 Northwestern played to a tie, 10-10 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.
* Number 6 University of Pennsylvania beat the University of Virginia, 40-0 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
* Number 7 Alabama were upset by Number 9 Tennessee, 12-0 at Shields-Watkins Field (later Neyland Stadium) in Knoxville, Tennessee.
* Number 8 Georgia beat Oklahoma A&M (later Oklahoma State), 33-13 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia.
* Number 12 Louisiana State University were upset by Georgia Tech, 26-7 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
* Number 15 North Carolina beat Navy, 21-14 at Municipal Stadium in Baltimore.
* Number 16 Rice beat Southern Methodist University (SMU), 21-7 at Rice Field in Houston. Rice shared the SWC title with Arkansas, but lost the head-to-head tiebreaker. Nevertheless, they were invited to the Orange Bowl, where they beat Tennessee. Rice went to the Cotton Bowl, where they played LSU to a tie.
* Illinois, then unranked, beat Number 20 Wisconsin, 27-21 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. Illinois went on to play UCLA in the Rose Bowl. That was the 1st time that the Champions of the leagues that would come to be known as the Big Ten and the Pac-12 were locked into playing each other in the Rose Bowl. Illinois won, 45-14.
* New York University beat the University of Rochester, 6-0 at River Campus Stadium in Rochester, New York.
* Fordham University lost to St. Mary's of the San Francisco Bay Area, 33-2 at the Polo Grounds.
Baseball season ended 4 days earlier, with the St. Louis Cardinals beating the Boston Red Sox in Game 7 of the World Series. The league that would become the NBA played its 1st game on November 1. The NFL scheduled no games for this day, but the nascent All-America Football Conference played 2. The New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 21-10 at Yankee Stadium. Yes, there were football teams with those names. And the Buffalo Bisons beat the San Francisco 49eres, 17-14 at Civic Stadium (later War Memorial Stadium) in Buffalo.
And there were 2 NHL games on this day. The Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens played to a tie, 1-1 at the Montreal Forum. And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 6-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The New York Rangers and the Chicago Black Hawks were not scheduled,
Also on this day, Arsenal defeated Staffordshire team Stoke City 1-0 at Highbury. Kevin O'Flanagan scored the goal. Soccer was not his best sport: He was renowned as a rugby player for Ireland, and excelled in sprint races and the long jump. He was also a noted amateur golfer and tennis player, and played Gaelic football as a boy.
But he's not the most notable player in this game. That would be Albert Sigurður Guðmundsson. Although this is the 1st of only 2 League matches he plays for Arsenal, it makes him the 1st native of Iceland ever to play professional soccer. He later served his country as Minister of Finance.
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