Marvel: Princeton vs Rutgers
- Thread starter LiKnight
- Start date
Very nice, cept. We're not the Trojans. We're the Knights.
Nice artwork and I realize it's not meant to be an factual portrayal reflective of 1869 and the first game. That said, there weren't these mascots at that time and Rutgers mascot has obviously never been a Trojan, d'oh!
Weren’t we the Chanticleers then??
Would have been better with the tiger facing off against a big cock.
Would have been better with the tiger facing off against a big cock.
Athletic Memorabilia from the Archives
In honor of the school's original name, Queen's College, the early athletic teams were referred to as the Queensmen. Beginning in 1925, the mascot figure for football was a giant, colorfully felt-covered, costumed representation of the "Chanticleer." The chanticleer remained as the nickname for some 30 years.
In the early 1950s, in the hope of spurring the all-around good athletic promise and the RU fighting spirit, a campuswide selection process changed the mascot to that of a Knight. By 1955, the Scarlet Knight had become the official Rutgers University–New Brunswick mascot.
In honor of the school's original name, Queen's College, the early athletic teams were referred to as the Queensmen. Beginning in 1925, the mascot figure for football was a giant, colorfully felt-covered, costumed representation of the "Chanticleer." The chanticleer remained as the nickname for some 30 years.
In the early 1950s, in the hope of spurring the all-around good athletic promise and the RU fighting spirit, a campuswide selection process changed the mascot to that of a Knight. By 1955, the Scarlet Knight had become the official Rutgers University–New Brunswick mascot.
As you can see from the artwork the Scarlet Knight was drawn that way back in the old days.
If you mean the artwork in the upper left image of that 1961 Undefeated tweet, that actually resembles a knight, but the Marvel Trojan looks nothing like that. Different helmet type, wearing armor, on horseback.
The Chantiknight! -Truly a bird of a different feather.
For brevity's sake, here's the time line:
1869 - no nicknames, in 1870 we were referred to as the "Scarlet" when we hosted Columbia; many nicknames originated by alternating the school name with the school color; that's how you got the Harvard Crimson (originally the Harvard Magenta in 1874) or the NYU Violet; never really official for Rutgers though. Before they were referred to as the "Tigers" in the 1880s, Princeton was also referred to as the "orange and black."
about 1925 - Rutgers chooses the "Chanticleer" as the first "official" mascot through 1955; the students wanted "Scarlet Fever" but the prez of Rutgers wouldn't accept it, in 1923. That was a devastating disease in that era, it would be like calling your team "AIDS" and he vetoed the idea; they wound up with the magnificent rooster from the "Reynard the Fox" tale and also included in Jeffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
latter 1920s - they were also referred to as the “Queensmen” in honor of the University’s name before 1825 -- Queen’s College. The earliest mention of the “Queensmen” in the Daily Home News was February 7, 1930 when referencing the fencing team. "Queensmen" seem to arrive shortly after the "Chanticleer" but was never an "official' nickname.
May 12, 1955 - reported the school referendum vote brought by the Varsity “R” Club for changing the school nickname as: Scarlet Knights 405; Queensmen 254; Red Lions 160; Scarlet 139; Raritangs 105; Redmen 90; Flying Dutchman 18. Once second and third place tiered selections were factored in, the final vote was Scarlet Knights 610 and Queensmen 445.
So to summarize:
Official Nicknames:
Chanticleer 1925-55
Scarlet Knights 1955-present
alternative but unofficial nicknames: Scarlet and Queensmen
So are we clear?
I SAID ARE WE CLEAR !?
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My God, some people can find anything to complain about. The helmet crest isn't Trojan, it was common in the ancient Greek and Roman era, and the sword at his side curves like a Saracen scimitar, so it is clearly just meant to be a really cool picture and the guy went with a classical era knight instead of a medieval knight because he could draw a face with a fierce expression instead of a bucket helmet for a head. Get over it, please. I love the way it looks and I think I'm going to have a print made to frame and put on my wall. Oh, and stop whining!
A couple of thoughts on this:
What's a Raritang? Is that someone from the Raritan tribe, or someone who survived the Raritan flood?
Re: Flying Dutchman, I still think it's a shame Hofstra changed its moniker from Flying Dutchmen to the Pride. That was one of the best nicknames in college.
The beach is too sandy...the ocean is too salty...
Great poster. Stop complaining.
Great poster. Stop complaining.
So never the Chanticleers, just the singlar Chanticleer. Thankfully that was changed or that would have driven people with OCD completely insane.
The name Queensmen was popular enough to make it to Jimmy Monahan football card from 1951:
Raritangs were supposedly a sub-set tribe of Leni-Lenape Indians who hung out along the Raritan River. The Flying Dutchmen nickname, of course, was submitted because of Rutgers being started and run by Dutch Reformists.
WCTC went on the air December 12, 1946 and was owned by Chanticleer Broadcasting and its station manager James L. Howe, Rutgers Class of 1932 who sold WCTC in 1959. The call letters were taken from the Rutgers nickname at the time, ChanTiCleer.
Chanticleer nickname was originally meant to be singular. But people start to put an "s" on it and everyone then believes the nickname is "Chanticleers" So that's the deal. Better than the deal NYU got though. They stuck with their school color "Violet" over the decades. Then people started adding an "s" to it and now everyone thinks NYU took its name from a pretty flower.
So never the Chanticleers, just the singlar Chanticleer. Thankfully that was changed or that would have driven people with OCD completely insane.
The name Queensmen was popular enough to make it to Jimmy Monahan football card from 1951:
Dude was a specimen. 5'11" 195? 1951. Halfback. Would've been close to the biggest guy on the team.
Yes - more Roman Centurion than a knight?
I know there is a broad spectrum of head gear over the couple of centuries that the armored horseman was the predominate force on the battlefield.
Two sport athlete and a Rutgers HOF:
Mighty Mo," who was named to the First Team All-East squad in 1951 by Collier's Magazine and by the American Football Coaches Association, captained the 1951 Rutgers team and was the squad's leading rusher in 1950 and 1951. His 81-yard run against Temple in 1951 remains the longest run from scrimmage in Rutgers football history. The West Haven, Conn., native earned three letters in baseball and helped Rutgers post a 17-5 record in 1950, when the diamond squad won the District 2 title and finished as co-runner-up in the NCAA Tournament.
https://scarletknights.com/hof.aspx?hof=160
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