Remembering Royce Flippin

 

The 1981 Princeton-Yale game was named the best game of the 20th century by Princeton Athletic News, which is another way of saying that TigerBlog thought it was the best Princeton football game of the 20th century.

If you recall that game, Princeton won 35-31 on a touchdown run on the final play to snap a 14-game losing streak to the Bulldogs. All of the details from that day can be shortened to two words: Bob Holly.

That 1981 game has not been the only dramatic end to a Princeton-Yale game of course. There have been many others.

Take 1954 for instance. On that day – Nov. 13, 1954 – Princeton and Yale were tied in the final minute. The Tigers had the ball and were driving, and they had the ball on the Yale 4 after Dick Emery's pass to Don MacElwee.

The next play saw Royce Flippin run it into the end zone. It was his third touchdown of the game, including one that came on a 70-yard run.

This is how the Daily Princetonian article two days later began:

On Thursday night Princeton's team physician Dr. Harry R. McPhee stated that the Tiger's ace tailback, Royce Flippin, would be available for "spot duty" against Yale Saturday. Dick Colman, one of the assistant coaches, came up with the quote of the day yesterday when he remarked that the "spot must have been the Yale Bowl." Saturday was Flippin's day. In his press conference yesterday coach Charlie Caldwell commented, "Flip really let out on his third touchdown."

There's a lot in that paragraph, by the way. There's a mention of not one but two Hall of Fame coaches, Caldwell and Colman. Caldwell, by the way, referred to that game as his second best win as Princeton coach, after a 17-14 win over Penn in 1946. There's also Dr. Harry McPhee, who is of course the father of a different sort of Hall-of-Famer, writer John McPhee.

As for Royce Flippin, he went on to win the Roper Trophy as Princeton's top senior male athlete of 1956, after winning the Poe-Kazmaier Trophy as the football team MVP in 1955. He was drafted by Washington in the NFL, and he went on to graduate from Harvard Business School and serve in the Marines before beginning a career in business.

He also served as the Director of Athletics at Princeton from 1972-79 before spending 12 more years as the AD at MIT.

Flippin passed away last week at the age of 87. The last time TigerBlog spoke with him was a few months ago, when he interviewed Flippin for his role in the growth of women's athletics during his tenure. His record in that area was tremendous.

Princeton women's athletics was in its infancy when Flippin became the AD, having only two years earlier had its first events. When he left, the program had 11 varsity women's teams.

Flippin worked closely with Merrily Dean Baker in building that women's athletic program. When TB spoke with Baker after Flippin's death, she talked extensively about how much Flippin had cared about the women athletes at Princeton. Beyond that, she spoke about how much he invested in her own professional development and career growth and how he did so for everyone in the department. She called him a "gentleman."

It's the same word that Ford Family Director of Athletics Gary Walters used as well. He described Flippin as "a gentleman, a great athlete and a scholar."

He was certainly all of those things. He established himself as a great athlete before he even came to Princeton after his time at Montclair High School, where he was one of New Jersey's great prep athletes of his generation.   

TB dealt with Royce Flippin many times through the years. He was certainly what Baker and Walters said he was, which is to say he was a great gentleman, a very caring man, a very loyal man. He always had time for TB whenever he needed him, and presumably there are literally hundreds of others who knew Flippin who can say the same thing.

TigerBlog is glad he had a chance to know Royce Flippin. He's very glad he had a chance to include him in his women's history book.

He was sad when he heard the news of Flippin's passing. Baker told TB about what a great family man Flippin was and the family he and his wife of better than 60 years Louise built together. 

Flippin was also a great member of the Princeton family, and not just for his successes on the field.

TB wishes the Flippin family his deepest condolences.