Banquet Night

There were 714 members in the Princeton Class of 1965, of whom approximately 500 are still alive. 

There will be 127 members of the class who attend Reunions this weekend. That's 25 percent of the living alums who will be back on campus for their 60th. 

If you graduated 60 years ago, by the way, you're probably around 82 or 83 years old. 

Compare that to what TigerBlog wrote yesterday, about how approximately 15 percent of his class at Penn came back for its 40th. There are reunions, and then there are Reunions. 

And the ones with the capital "R" begin today at Princeton. 

It's the start of a remarkable few days, beginning with Day 1 of Reunions, which run through Saturday. Then there is the prom Sunday, Class Day Monday and finally Commencement Tuesday.

There will be upwards of 30,000 people on campus all weekend. The energy level everywhere will be next level. 

Come Wednesday? It'll be nothing but eerie silence. 

One of the highlights of this weekend every year comes up tonight in Jadwin Gym. It's the Gary Walters ’67 Princeton Varsity Club Banquet, an event that is the near-culmination of the athletic year.

TB says the near-culmination, because there are still events on the calendar, with the NCAA track and field regionals and championships and the national championships in rowing still to come. 

For the most part, though, the story of the 2024-25 athletic year at Princeton has already been told. This was the year that Princeton won 17 Ivy League championships, which means that there were Tiger titles in more than half of the league's sports. 

There is more to the banquet than just on-field success, of course. It's a time to bring an entire senior class, and the "Team Around The Team," together to celebrate the latest chapter in a long line of Orange and Black. 

There are two awards whose winners have already been announced. There is the Marvin Bressler Award, given to "that member of the Princeton family who, through heartfelt support of the University’s student-athletes and coaches, best embodies a belief in the lifelong lessons taught by competition and athletics as a complement to the overall educational mission in the spirit of Marvin Bressler, a Princeton professor of sociology from 1963-94." This year's winner is Momo Wolapaye, the assistant dean for student life at Whitman College. 

TB had lunch with Momo a few months ago and wrote this about him afterwards:

TB can tell you that Momo is exactly the kind of person you want in his role. He's someone who is definitely committed to the student experience and to doing whatever he can to make that experience the best it can be.

There is also the Class of 1967 Citizen-Athlete Award, which is presented by the Princeton Varsity Club "for selfless and noble contributions to sport and society."

The winner is Kara Nortman, Class of 1997 and a huge reason why the NWSL has had the growth it's had in recent years. This is from her bio:

In 2023, Nortman announced the creation of Monarch Collective, an investment platform focused on women’s sports teams, leagues, and adjacent rights opportunities. Monarch Collective’s strategy centers on investing in established leagues such as the NWSL, with current investments in Boston Legacy FC, the San Diego Wave, and Angel City Football Club. Nortman and her co-Managing Partner, Jasmine Robinson, raised $250 million for Monarch’s inaugural fund, making it the largest dedicated women’s sports fund in the market.

There will be other awards, of course. The Roper Trophy and von Kienbusch Awards will be given to the top senior male and female athletes. The Class of 1916 Cup will go to the senior athlete in the highest academic standing. There are also awards for service and leadership. 

There's also an orange carpet, a cocktail hour, a lot of mingling, a lot of laughing and the senior athlete video at the end, where each soon-to-be graduate will be recognized. 

The banquet that began as an idea from the man whose name is now in its title was first held with a small gathering in the lobby of Jadwin Gym. It's grown into a full multimedia, multi-fun event that no Princeton fan who has ever attended hasn't loved.

It's a marvelous way to end a marvelous year. 

And that's something that can said every year.