Dartmouth and Harvard football have a storied history. So do their coaches.

Born eight days apart, the figureheads of these two Ancient Eight dynasties have been friends for nearly a half-century, going back to their days of Little League baseball. The pair had a memorable encounter during an early game. As he rounded third, future Crimson coach Tim Murphy charged down the line and plowed into future Big Green coach Buddy Teevens manning the plate. The collision adeptly foreshadowed the many years that the two would meet across an Ancient Eight football field.

Before they competed in football, the pair played for the same varsity squad. Teevens took snaps at quarterback while Murphy protected him on the offensive line and took spells at defensive end and linebacker.

After attending the same middle school, the two became good friends—so good that after work during the summer, Murphy would hitchhike his way to the Teevens household and join Buddy and his five brothers in their gym.

By the time they attended Silver Lake Regional High School in Kingston, Mass., the two were inseparable. Both starters for the varsity team, Teevens went on to lead Dartmouth to an Ancient Eight title in 1978, and Murphy headed to Springfield College to play linebacker.

The pair reunited in 1985 when Teevens became Maine’s head coach and brought Murphy on as the offensive coordinator. When Teevens eventually left for his alma mater, Murphy took the reins in his first head coaching position with the Black Bears.

Now, 30 years later, the two face off every season in the rivalry between their two respective institutions. So far, Murphy has been perfect. When coaching against his high school teammate, Murphy is 13-0.

“They’ve probably done the best coaching job of turning a team around this year of anyone in our league,” said Murphy of the Big Green coaching staff. “They’re literally two plays away from being 7-0. They’ve done a remarkable coaching job.”

A SERIES OF FORTUNATE EVENTS

The Big Green went up 14-0 early in the first half, and then the Crimson scored 25 straight points. Harvard’s about-face can be attributed almost entirely to a single moment.

With over a minute left in the half, the Crimson was forced to punt the ball. Up 14-0, Dartmouth had the opportunity to extend its lead to three possessions heading into the locker room. In other words, the Big Green controlled the game.

The punt soared high and towards returner Danny McManus, who called for the fair catch. Senior halfback Jack Stansell was the first man in crimson to meet him on the coverage. Racing behind Stansell, a Dartmouth defender ran into the halfback, who collided with McManus. Flags came flying.

The contact with Stansell was not enough to knock over McManus—just enough to distract him as the ball bounced off his chest and toward the approaching Harvard coverage.

The referees conferred among one another, presumably about the distance of the penalty on Stansell, only to pick up the flags and declare Crimson ball on the the Big Green 38-yard line.

That decision did not sit well with the visitors from Hanover.