First 50

The score of the first football game ever played, the one between Princeton and Rutgers in 1869, was 6-4 in favor of the Scarlet Knights.

The score of the first Princeton baseball game was 27-16, against Williams, in 1864.

Princeton actually played two games against Williams that season. The second was 30-17 in favor of Princeton.

In other words, the first football game was what is these days much more of a baseball score, and the first two baseball scores were more like modern-day football scores.

Since 1864, Princeton baseball has played countless 6-4 games, and by countless, TigerBlog means "a lot more than he want to count." 

On the other hand, Princeton football has played two 27-16 games, both against Brown. How many 30-17 football games has Princeton played? 

Any guesses?

It's either zero, eight or 16. Guesses?

You'd think 30-17 would be fairly common, right? Well, if you guessed "zero," you'd be correct.

The President of the United States on the day of the first Princeton baseball game was Abraham Lincoln. That, by the way, was the first intercollegiate athletic event in Princeton history.

Lincoln was the 16th POTUS. Richard Nixon was the 37th. 

That's a lot of Presidents between the first athletic event for Princeton and the first athletic for Princeton involving women.

The first time women competed for Princeton was shortly after the dawn of co-education. Two women, Margie Gengler and Helena Novakova, represented Princeton at the Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis Championships in New Paltz, N.Y. Together, they won the team championship all by themselves.

That event was 50 years ago Saturday.

Princeton women's athletics started out in the win column and has not let up since. In the first 50 years of women's athletics at Princeton, there have been, among other things, all of the following:

* 22 individual national champions
* 33 team national champions
* 35 Olympians
* 16 Olympic medals
* four Rhodes Scholars

There have also been, TB would assume, way more All-Americans than there have been 6-4 baseball games.

There have been just about 4,500 women who have won varsity letters at Princeton in the first 50 years (including, TB can say with limitless pride and admiration, his own daughter).

Women's athletics at Princeton have grown from two women in shirts purchased at the U-Store with their names sewn on the back of them by the only woman administrator in the Department of Athletics - and one of two overall at the entire University - to what it has become.

More than just all of the winning, the women's athletics teams at Princeton have been a model of what intercollegiate athletics can be at their best - a place for competition at the highest level by highly dedicated athletes who make lifelong friendships and learn all of the great lessons that serve them for the rest of their post-Princeton lives. They do all this while also being extraordinary ambassadors for the University and especially being inspirations to the little girls who watch them and want to grow up to be like them.

The 50th anniversary of women's athletics at Princeton is a very big deal, and the Department of Athletics will be celebrating for the foreseeable future. It's not the celebration that Princeton had hoped, as having in-person events will have to wait until the COVID pandemic ends.

Still, there will be speaker events, social media content, a podcast series with Ford Family Director of Athletics Mollie Marcoux Samaan (herself a two-sport athlete at Princeton), stories on goprincetontigers.com (including a webpage dedicated to the women's athletics celebration) and much more.

For his part, TigerBlog is currently writing a book on the first 50 years of women's athletics at Princeton. With everything he's done at Princeton in all his years here, this book is definitely his favorite project.

He's spoken to, and continues to speak to, so many impressive women through the generations who have done so much to bring women's athletics to Princeton and then take it to the level it now enjoys. He's very much looking forward to the final product this coming spring.

There will be some excerpts from the book on the webpage, beginning next week with some of the story of Merrily Dean Baker, the woman who purchased those two shirts and sewed those names on the back - and did everything else necessary to get the women's program started.

TB invites you to enjoy all of the upcoming content about the first 50 years of women's athletics at Princeton. 

And if you're one of those letterwinners, this celebration is all about you and what you've accomplished.

You're part of an amazing sisterhood.