The story of Princeton's football stadiums

This is the fourth in a series of articles on the history of Princeton football in honor of its 135th anniversary.

Football, one of the longest standing traditions in college and American history, has its roots on this campus. In 1869, the Princeton Tigers played in the first intercollegiate football game, facing off against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The Princeton football program took off from there, clinching a series of national titles into the 1920s, boasting the most Division I national championships in the country. Though its last national championship win was in 1950, in total, Princeton still leads all Division I schools in national championships with 28.

With the creation of the Ivy League in 1955, the Tigers continued their domination on the football field, winning eight league titles to date. Their last Ivy League crown came in 1995, playing and winning in historic Palmer Stadium, the second of three homes for the Princeton football team.

Though Princeton Stadium now hosts Tiger football, the Tigers did not always play in such luxury. When the team first came together in 1869, it played on University Field, at the site of the E-Quad today.

While playing on University Field, the original "Princeton 25" lost the first college football game to Rutgers, six goals to four. It was also while playing on this field that Princeton ousted Yale University three goals to zero in the first game of the second-oldest college football rivalry in history.

University Field was still the team's home turf when Princeton first became the Tigers. The team wore black for the first time in an away game against Yale played in Hoboken in 1876. In 1880, the black shirts of the team uniform gained orange stripes as well; this, in addition to a newspaper claim that the Princeton team "play[ed] like a Tiger" led to the initiation of the University's mascot.

University Field played host to several undefeated seasons for the Tigers, most notably in 1893, when Princeton ended Yale's 37-game winning streak, and 1906, the year that President Theodore Roosevelt called for changes to the game to make it safer.

On Oct. 24, 1914, Palmer Stadium, once the second-oldest football stadium in the nation, finally opened. In its inaugural game, Princeton defeated Dartmouth 16-12 before a crowd of about 7,000 people, with Knowlton Ames Jr., son of legendary Knowlton "Snake" Ames, scoring the very first touchdown in Palmer Stadium.

The historic stadium was a feat of construction. The George A. Fuller Co., responsible for building the facility, completed the stadium in only four months, practically one full month ahead of schedule. In hopes of speeding up the process of construction, the workmen were divided into two sections, one of which was assigned to the eastern half of the stadium and the other assigned to the west. The summer of 1914 saw a joking race between the two sides as each worked to "beat" the other to completion of the stadium that would eventually seat 45,725, with seating on three sides in a horseshoe shape.

Palmer Memorial Stadium was officially named for Stephen S. Palmer, father of the stadium's donor, Edgar Palmer '03, on Nov. 13, 1914 when Princeton hosted Yale. Upon turning the stadium over to the Trustees of Princeton University, Palmer noted that his only hope was that the teams playing within the walls of the stadium would be sure to play fair and preserve the glory and honor of Princeton University. Little did Palmer know that the stadium would see an overall Princeton football record of 283-161-17, with 14 undefeated seasons and undefeated Tiger teams in 1920, 1922, 1933, 1935, 1950, 1951 and 1964. Between 1949 and 1951, Heisman trophy winner Dick Kazmaier '52 made Palmer Stadium an imposing venue, leading the team to an 18-1 home record during his three years of play.

Palmer Stadium was not only home to the Princeton football team. In the late 1930s, a series of international track meets were also held there. In 1936, Jesse Owens set the Palmer record for the long jump. Palmer Stadium also hosted men's and women's lacrosse games, including the men's Final Four in 1981, as well as several NFL preseason games.

Several memorable weatherbeaten games transpired in Palmer Stadium, two of which saw meetings between Princeton and the Big Green of Dartmouth. The first, the famous "Twelfth Man" game of Nov. 23, 1935, took place amidst blizzard-like conditions as the Tigers toppled Dartmouth 26-6 in their final game of the undefeated 1935 season. What was most memorable about the game, however, was one cook in a local diner who evidently got so excited that he felt the need to join the game. With Princeton leading comfortably into the fourth quarter, the aforementioned cook ran onto the field and joined the Dartmouth line. Following one play, stadium police escorted the so-called "Twelfth man" from the field.

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Fifteen years later, the Tigers and Big Green met yet again on Princeton's journey toward another undefeated season. This time, however, the weather was in fact what made the game so infamous. Amidst a hurricane, the Tigers and Dartmouth did battle through torrential downpours and 80-mile-per-hour winds with gusts that reached 108 miles per hour. Though the stadium had been covered for most of the morning, the tarps broke around noon and within minutes an inch of water covered the field. The press box was also subjected to the severe conditions, as the tar paper roofing was ripped off in the winds and the gusts caused the box to sway.

On that afternoon, there were 19 fumbles between the two teams: Dartmouth had 13 and Princeton had six. The Big Green completed only one pass throughout the game, though Princeton fared little better, completing just two. As 5,000 dedicated Tiger fans watched, the Princeton team completed its perfect season with a 13-7 win against Dartmouth. Predictably, both teams scored their touchdowns when playing with the driving wind at their backs.

Palmer Stadium served the members of the Princeton Football Association for 82 years before the final game was played against Dartmouth in 1996. The symbolism was appropriate considering that the stadium's inaugural game was played against the Big Green as well in 1914. Following that final game, the stadium closed and construction began on Princeton Stadium, the 21st-century facility that hosts the Tigers today. Before construction was completed, however, the team had to endure a full season on the road, its so-called "Road Warrior" season, not hosting a single home game in the 1997 season.

Princeton Stadium opened in 1998 as the Tigers played their inaugural game against Cornell. Once again, the opening of a new stadium saw success for Princeton, as the Tigers made their way to a 6-0 win over the Big Red. For the remainder of the 1998 season, the stadium saw an average 80 percent capacity for home football games.

Built for $45 million, Princeton Stadium stands on the site of Palmer Stadium, though it is about 70 feet farther north than Palmer was. Princeton Stadium has two tiers of seating and has seating on all four sides, as opposed to the one-tier seating on three sides that existed in Palmer Stadium. With a slightly smaller capacity than its predecessor, Princeton Stadium can seat 27,800 with room for more than 30,000 overall within the facility. Yet one of the main differences stands is that, while Palmer Stadium had a track running around the football field, Princeton Stadium was built without a track.

To complete the project, the Weaver Track and Field Stadium was constructed south of the football stadium, which also opened in 1998. One of the more unique features of Princeton Stadium is the wall-building. The wall-building surrounds the seating area on three sides, allowing the stadium to maintain the historic horseshoe design of Palmer Stadium. It was built from 3,500 precast pieces of concrete, the heaviest of which weighs in at a substantial 80,000 pounds. These blocks were built in South Carolina and were then shipped to Princeton on trucks.

Princeton football history has a longstanding and esteemed tradition, and the teams since 1869 have had a longstanding tradition of playing in historic and now state-of-the-art facilities. Preserving tradition, history, and the honor of both the school and the game, Princeton's football stadiums represent the glory of Princeton University and the tradition of football, just as Edgar Palmer wanted.