From the start of intercollegiate football at Rutgers, the football manager was a student who campaigned and was elected to the position. He was in charge of the schedule that was often arranged as the season progressed. Eventually his duties changed and in 1913 the faculty chose the manager.
And he became a she when Shirley Krapf of Roselle became the first female football manager according to the October 21, 1973 New York Times. “Miss Krapf got her opportunity to know the football players and their coaches while waiting on tables in the school dining room. Night after night, she would half-jokingly remind the coaches that they could do their part toward helping Rutgers implement its new co-ed program by allowing woman to have a more active role in football. ‘And then it happened,’ Miss Krapf said. ‘They said, ‘okay you can be a manager.’ I could hardly believe it.” That occurred in the 1972-73 school year [Rutgers College went co-ed that year] according to the November 2, 1974 Rutgers-Connecticut football program. Now in her junior year, Ms. Krapf became the first woman to hold the title of head manager of the Rutgers football team.
And he became a she when Shirley Krapf of Roselle became the first female football manager according to the October 21, 1973 New York Times. “Miss Krapf got her opportunity to know the football players and their coaches while waiting on tables in the school dining room. Night after night, she would half-jokingly remind the coaches that they could do their part toward helping Rutgers implement its new co-ed program by allowing woman to have a more active role in football. ‘And then it happened,’ Miss Krapf said. ‘They said, ‘okay you can be a manager.’ I could hardly believe it.” That occurred in the 1972-73 school year [Rutgers College went co-ed that year] according to the November 2, 1974 Rutgers-Connecticut football program. Now in her junior year, Ms. Krapf became the first woman to hold the title of head manager of the Rutgers football team.
