By this time in your short Princeton careers, you’ve probably received your fair share of sales pitches on why Princeton is the greatest thing since sliced bread (it is). And since we would hate to miss out on our opportunity to offer you a few sips from the orange Kool-Aid, here’s one more:
Princeton is good at sports. Check that — Princeton is really good at sports.
To the large number of you who just started shaking your heads in disagreement, bear with us for one second. While Princeton might be the school of James Madison, Class of 1771; Woodrow Wilson, Class of 1879; and Albert Einstein, it’s also the school of Bill Bradley ’65, Dick Kazmaier ’52 (who?) and Yasser El Halaby ’06 (what the... ?).
Bradley — a Rhodes Scholar and former U.S. senator from New Jersey — happens to be one of the greatest college basketball players who ever lived. Back in 1965, Bradley dropped 58 points on Wichita State in the consolation game of the NCAA tournament Final Four. Oh yeah, Bradley also managed to receive All-America honors for three straight seasons.
Long before Reggie Bush lit up opposing defenses and boosters’ wallets, Kazmaier made a name for himself on the football field by running over, through and around the rest of the Ivy League. In the fall of 1951, Kazmaier totaled 1,827 yards of total offense — 360 of which came in a 53-15 thrashing of poor Cornell. For his efforts, Kazmaier got an invitation to New York City and the Downtown Athletic Club, where he received a nice little prize called the Heisman Trophy.
El Halaby made his mark on collegiate sports history more recently. As a freshman in the winter of 2003, El Halaby won the Collegiate Squash Association individual championship. As a sophomore in 2004, he won the title again. The next year, he took home his third, and then in 2006, he made it a clean four out of four. With no other individual before or since matching his mark, it’s safe to say that El Halaby’s dominance stands alone in the annals of collegiate squash. He is the undisputed duke, prince and king of collegiate squash.
And while those Tigers have all made the proverbial trip out of FitzRandolph Gate, the current crop of Princeton athletes is well positioned to continue their legacy.
Take a walk south to Class of 1952 Stadium, where our field hockey team — currently ranked No. 4 in the nation — has made mincemeat of its competition so far this year. Just make sure you get to the games on time, since they tend to get out of hand rather quickly. Through five games, the Tigers have outscored their opposition 27-3. A visit from No. 2 Maryland, last year’s national finalist, on Tuesday promises to be one of the most exciting sporting events on campus this year.
Travel north and you will find Myslik Field, our newly constructed soccer stadium where the U.S. national team trained for one week before the World Cup in May. Princeton, as you might have guessed, has a proud soccer tradition. Bob Bradley ’80, head coach of Team USA in the World Cup, both played and coached here. Last season, the men’s team reached the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2004, and the women’s team won the Ivy League title in 2008. Both teams returned many key starters from last season and will contend for the league title and spots in the NCAA tournament.
In DeNunzio Pool, the men’s water polo team is defending its national third-place finish from last year. Our women’s cross country team is defending its national fifth-place finish.
And let’s not forget the football team. Over at Princeton Stadium lives one of the most intriguing Tiger squads in recent memory. There’s a new coach, a new high-flying offense and one of the most inspiring stories you’ve ever heard, in the tale of senior running back and co-captain Jordan Culbreath. And if anyone tries to tell you Princeton football is no good, hit them with a trivia question: Which school boasts the most national football championships of all time? Notre Dame? Penn State? University of Southern California? Michigan? No. The good ol’ Orange and Black.
And those are just the fall sports. Some of them.
If we haven’t convinced you quite yet, that’s fine: Come out and see the games for yourself. We’ll be in the press box, but you’ll be amid some energized crowds, witnessing some superlative athletics.
And if that doesn’t convince you, you probably should have chosen Harvard.
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