Athletics At Princeton, An Encyclopedia

Did you know that the first year that Florida State University had a football team was in 1947?

At least that's the first year of year-by-year results on the school's athletic site. 

TigerBlog expected that year to be much earlier. Like 1926, which was the first year Miami had a football team. Or even earlier, like 1906, when the University of Florida first had a football team.

So what was going on with Florida State? It turns out it's an interesting story. 

Florida State was founded in 1851. From its website: Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the state of Florida.

So why no football until 1947? Well, the school on that site was originally called Florida State College, and the school had a varsity football team in 1902, 1903 and 1904. Then there was nothing until FSU started up in 1947.

Why?

Well, in 1905, something called the Buckman Act was passed in Florida, which made a huge change in the way public higher education in the state worked. There were six state colleges at the time, and the Buckman Act created separate schools based on race and gender. Florida State College became Florida Female College, a school only for white women.

The act also created the State Normal School for Colored Students, which today is known as Florida A&M University and is one of the Historically Black Colleges. 

Florida State College remained all women until after World War II, when the number of returning soldiers who wanted to attend school on the GI Bill overwhelmed the system, forcing the school in Tallahassee to go co-ed again. It would not be integrated until 1962, however.

And that's why Florida State University didn't have its official football team until 1947. How did this come up?

Well, TB noticed that Princeton's year-by-year results for football start in 1869, with two games against Rutgers (a 6-4 RU win in the first college football game ever and then an 8-0 Princeton win a week later), and continue with a 6-2 Princeton win over Rutgers in 1870.

For 1871, there are no games listed, only a reference to informal games against the Seminary in which there were no records kept.

TigerBlog also has a book called "Athletics at Princeton," which is an encyclopedia of Princeton sports in the 1800s. It basically has a recap of every athletic event any Princeton team played in the 1800s.

Someone kept pretty incredible records back then.

TB has referred to the book in research many, many times through the years. It also makes for just fascinating reading, starting with the first paragraph of the introduction:

"I would much rather read this book than write the Introduction to it; for it is far easier to feel and recognize the Princeton Spirit in the records of athletic contests than to define and describe it in a prefatory way. But the choice is not left to me, and one thing at least the Princeton Spirit has always meant: when Princeton says to a son of hers 'Do this," he doeth it."

That was written by Henry Van Dyke, Class of 1883.

The book stretches more than 600 pages. TB was asked a question last week about something historical, and he knew the answer was in the book - which was on his desk on Jadwin's E level. So, he went to retrieve the book, and he 1) found the answer and 2) spent about two hours randomly reading stuff in the book.

Henry Van Dyke, by the way, had himself quite a life. He was born in Philadelphia, went to Poly Prep in Brooklyn, graduated from Princeton and the Princeton Theological Seminary and had a long career in education, writing and diplomacy. In fact, Henry's classmate Woodrow Wilson appointed him as Ambassador to Holland and Luxembourg in 1913, and he was there when World War I broke out in Europe and refugees headed to the two countries.

He also wrote a poem that was read years later at Princess Diana's funeral:
Time is
Too slow for those who Wait,
Too swift for those who Fear,
Too long for those who Grieve,
Too short for those who Rejoice,
But for those who Love,
Time is not. 

Interesting guy.

Anyway, back to the Florida State connection, the book mentions that in 1871, Princeton played games against "the Seminoles." That must be what the Seminary was referred to back in those days, as opposed to the actual Florida State Seminoles.

When TB saw that in the book, it got him to see when FSU first played football, and, well, now you know.