|
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
History
 Mascot
Since its days when the school was officially known as Queen's College,
the athletic teams were referred to as the Queensmen. Officially serving
as the mascot figure for several football seasons beginning in 1925 was
a giant, colorfully felt-covered, costumed representation of an earlier
campus symbol, the "Chanticleer." Though a fighting bird of the kind
which other colleges have found success, to some it bore the connotation
of "chicken." It is also a little-known fact that the New
Brunswick-based broadcast station, WCTC, which serves as the flagship
station of Rutgers athletics, had its call letters derived from the word
"ChanTiCleer." Chanticleer remained as the nickname for some 30 years.
In the early 1950's, in the hope of spurring both the all-around good
athletic promise and RU fighting spirit, a campus-wide selection process
changed the mascot to that of a Knight.
By 1955 , the Scarlet Knight had become the new Rutgers mascot. The
Scarlet-garbed knight, riding a spirited white charger, came to
represent a new era - the rejuvenation of first class football "On the
Banks."
Colors
1892 - A Rutgers legend is created when the Princeton football team
breaks the leg of Rutgers' biggest player, Frank "Pop" Grant. While
being carried from the field, Pop is claimed to have mumbled, "I'd die
for dear old Rutgers." The saying, spread across the country when it was
satirized in the play "High Button Shoes," became a slogan for school
spirit and the old college try. Many alumni have since offered their own
versions, including the alumnus who swears Pop really said, "I'll die if
somebody doesn't give me a cigarette."
Rutgers was a pioneer in establishing a college color, and a pioneer in
using a color on the field of sports.
The color scarlet was first proposed in the campus newspaper, The Targum,
in May 1869. It was adopted shortly thereafter. This color was chosen
because it is a striking color and because a good scarlet ribbon could
be easily obtained. Originally, the students desired the color orange to
commemorate the Dutch heritage of Rutgers. An orange flag,however, could
not be found in the New Brunswick area. The students settled for an
available scarlet flag. Scarlet soon became symbolically appropriate,
for it was discovered that the Dutch Prince of Orange actually used red,
not orange, in his family coat of arms. The trustees adopted scarlet as
the school color in 1900, making Rutgers one of the first colleges in
the US to have an official school color. From the time of it's choice by
the students, the scarlet has been the Rutgers color.
FIGHT SONG
R-U, Rah, Rah,
R-U, Rah, Rah,
Whoo-Raa, Whoo-Raa;
Rutgers Rah
Up-Stream Red Team;
Red Team Up-Stream
Rah, Rah,
Rutgers Rah!!
College and university colors and coats of arms were not unusual in the
old world but had been little used in the new world. They came into
large and vivid use only when athletics began to take rigorous hold in
this country.
In the historic first collegiate football game on November 6, 1869, the
Princeton team members watched the Rutgers men don turbans and kerchiefs
as close to scarlet as possible for team identification.
Even without scarlet shirts, head wear alone had added another "first,"
the custom of wearing caps of a team's college, one long-copied over the
years of football uniform development.
Sports lore at Rutgers has also known terms such as "Scarlet Scourge"
and the lasting "Upstream Rutgers!" from the first "big time" grid
venture under George Foster Sanford.
Through the years, Scarlet has become embodied in the literature and
songs of the college. Scarlet is identified with its sons and daughters,
and is highly emblematic of the college itself.
The Ringing of the Bell
Rutgers began its extraordinary history as Queen's College, which was
charted in 1766, the eighth institution of higher learning foundation in
the colonies. In 1825, the name of the college was changed to Rutgers.
Its athletic teams have long competed in proud association with colonial
Queen's College and "Old Queens" building traditions. The bell in the
latter's cupola, an 1826 gift of namesake donor Colonel Henry Rutgers,
along with tolling the change of classes, was, and still is, rung on
special occasions, including those of prized athletic success. Most
recently, the bell was rung when the 1999-2000 women's basketball team
adavnced to the NCAA Final Four in Philadelphia, and when the 1990 men's
soccer team reached the championship game of the NCAA Tournament. |
