"We have been forced to the conviction that it is impossible at present to expect from athletic competition with Harvard that spirit of cordial good will which should characterize athletic sports. Under these circumstances we have voted unanimously to sever athletic relations with Harvard in all sports."

With this terse statement, Princeton officially ended athletic relations with Harvard some 31 years ago this Nov.11. The reasons for this break were not a stolen drum or an injured linesman but a feeling "of many Harvard men that Princeton plays football in a manner unbecoming a gentleman and cares more for athletic victories than clean sportsmanship." Whether or not this feeling was prompted by the Tigers beating the Crimson 36-0 and 34-0 in 1924 and 1925 is unknown; the fact is that the two institutions did not compete against one another in any sport until 1931 and not in football until 1934.

Princeton Conformity

The comments of one eminent Princeton observer indicate the storm did not brew over night. "There is a feeling among many Harvard men that Princeton places chief emphasis upon uniformity of type and manner of dress, not on things of the mind; that her outlook is immature and provincial, and that membership in the Big Three is Princeton's chief claim to glory."

The issue had been under discussion between the two colleges during the summer but a move by Harvard to drop the Tigers from their schedule had been handily defeated by undergraduate opinion. The Lampoon reported that undergraduate pressure had forced this decision for "the Harvard man would like to see Princeton dropped, but they would still rather lick her."

It is somewhat doubtful that undergraduate feeling ran quite this high against Princeton. When November 26 came around and the Tiger eleven arrived in Cambridge, there was no rioting or efforts to lynch the Princeton team. Both coaches and teams were prepared for the game and no animosity was apparent.

The Vitriolic Poonies

The Lampoon then blew the whole situation wide open by publishing an issue on the day of the game almost wholly dedicated to the most vitriolic attacks on Princeton and its conduct in athletic events against Harvard. In its editorial, it commented, "Lampy looks forward to no chivalrous exhibition of sportsmanship; it will be a glorious free-for-all masquerading under the name of football and the Jester proposes to make the most of them. The Princeton brawl comes but once a year; it may never come again."

The humor sections of the magazine were almost exclusively diatribes on the average Princeton man and his social tendencies such as:

"Though a leader in Athletics,

Social doings and aesthetics,

In his studies he was just a bit obtuse.

But pass over this admission,

For he held the high position

In the Triangle of Lord Hypotenuse.