Sport: Dear Old Rutgers

For 32 years red-blooded U. S. college athletes have thrilled to the classic vaunt: “I’d die for dear old Rutgers.” All that was golden about the glorious ’90s is bound up in those few quiet words. According to legend, they were uttered after he had broken his leg in the Princeton game by Philip M. Brett, Rutgers football captain in 1891, now a Manhattan attorney. But last week the Rutgers Alumni Monthly robbed Mr. Brett of his glory. Legend was wrong, said the Monthly, in a few particulars. Mr. Brett did not break his leg. Mr. Brett said nothing about dying for dear old Rutgers. It was the late Frank Kingsley Grant, ’95, whose leg was broken in the Princeton game of 1891.* Mr. Grant was stoical. Calling for a cigaret before they carried him from the field, he simply said: “I’d die to win this game.”

* There was then no rule against freshmen playing on Varsity elevens.