Three Garretts

TigerBlog hopes all the Princeton moms out there had a great Mothers' Day.

There was some great social media content in honor of the holiday. Here's an example of a particularly good one:

Honoring our own mothers by supporting mothers in our community 💐

PSB celebrated #MothersDay this week by donating diapers, wipes, and formula to @HomeFront Diaper Drive.
A very Happy Mother’s Day to all the Tiger mamas! 🧡🖤 pic.twitter.com/b0xBfPzIaE

— Princeton Softball (@PUSoftball) May 9, 2021

That's a very impressive move by the softball team. 

For the day after Mothers' Day, you should still be nice to your mom. In the meantime, here is something about one of the great families that Princeton Athletics has known.

If you have a Facebook account, which TB does not, you can watch a special show this evening featuring the three Garrett brothers, John, Jason and Judd.

As you almost are certainly aware, the Garretts are among the best football players Princeton has ever seen. Jason and Judd were Bushnell Cup winners (in 1988 and 1989), and both went on to NFL careers as players, coaches and in Judd's case scouting (and also writing; you can find his novel HERE). 

Jason is still the offensive coordinator for the Giants after spending 10 years as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. For his part, John is now the head coach at Lafayette.

All three are very close to Princeton head coach Bob Surace, by the way. Surace graduated in the same class as Judd (1990) and was a first-team All-Ivy League center. Surace and Judd Garrett won an Ivy League championship together as seniors.

The three Garrett brothers played together in the 1987 season. One of the games in which they played was against Lehigh, a game Princeton won 16-15. 

Rob Goodwin kicked a game-winning 38-yard field goal on the final play of the game, but that's not really what was the big story of the game, even if you factor in that Princeton was out of timeouts and had to rush the field goal team onto the field and get the kick off before the clock read all zeroes (though they might have gotten a little help from the refs).

Instead, it was the game-winning drive that Jason orchestrated, leading the Tigers from their own 2 to the Lehigh 21 with 2:25 to play. The drive almost ended before it started, as the Tigers had a third-and-28 from their own 6 long before getting anywhere near where Goodwin could win it.

The Garretts, though, bailed out Princeton. First Jason found Judd for 20 yards to make it a manageable fourth down. Then he connected with John for the first down to keep the drive going.

Jason also found John on the last play before the field goal, gaining just short of 10 yards, or enough to warrant a measurement that stopped the clock and gave Princeton a little advantage in getting the kick away.

Jason finished the game 25 for 31 for 309 yards. That was also the game where Dean Cain had three interceptions.

That epic game-winning drive is a big part of the discussion tonight. 

The event is being put on by an organization called "Soldiers To Sidelines," which helps veterans who are interested in getting into coaching. From the organization:

We will be breaking down film from the Princeton vs Lehigh two-minute drill where Jason, Judd, and John took part in that comeback. We will be asking the brothers what they saw and felt as the drive evolved. Additionally, we will be discussing with them the family connection to football and how coaching has become a "family business" for them.

It sounds great, right? 

If you're interested, you can watch it HERE.

The drive itself was a thing of beauty, and it'll be fascinating to see what their top memories of it are. 

It certainly seems like a great event for Princeton fans. Jason Garrett is one of the very best public speakers TB has ever heard, and the Garretts together are a very, very special part of Princeton Athletic history.  

Once again, kickoff for the event, as it were, is at 8.