The 150th meeting of college football's most-played rivalry is set for Yankee Stadium in November when Lehigh meets Lafayette. Lehigh Athletics has partnered with Charles Burton '92, owner of the popular Lehigh Football Nation blog to provide a historical perspective on The Rivalry in the weeks leading up to the game. Burton has been blogging about Lehigh football and The Rivalry for more than a decade and is currently working on a book on the history of The Rivalry.
October 16 – Lehigh beats Lafayette on way to national title in 1977  The latest disco music was available right off campus at "Records and Things".  A young Phillies pitcher named Steve Carlton wins his second Cy Young Award.  Debbie Boone's "You Light Up My Life" topped the charts, spending 10 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard .  Rocky was still in theaters.  Billy Joel would tour Bethlehem and the valley, perhaps setting the stage for his later hit Allentown.
In local news in 1977, Lehigh was also in the running for an invitation to the football postseason.
Coming into the 113th meeting between the Leopards and Engineers, as they were commonly known at the time, never before had been so much on the line for Lehigh. Â In front of an expected sellout crowd of 18,000 people, a win would in all probablility give them the Lambert Cup, given to the best team in the East, and an invitation to the Division II playoffs.
But a loss to the team that beat them last year would see all of Lehigh's opportunities fade away, the chance to qualify for the eight-team postseason playoff and championship Bowls, the opportunity to reverse last year's humbling loss to the Leopards.
It was win, and get the hardware, and a chance to compete for the championship. Â Lose, and sit at home, wondering what could have been. Â Read the full post HERE. Â Mike Rieker '78 passes in 1977 National Championship gameCoach John Whitehead gets a lift Â
October 8 – Dashiell helps deliver a "State Championship" in 1889  "A silver cup has been offered by Mr. R. P. Linderman, Lehigh '84, as a trophy of the foot-ball championship of Pennsylvania," the Lehigh Burr reported in 1889.  "Designs for the cup have not yet been prepared but it will be very handsome, of massive silver, while special care will be taken to secure a design thoroughly artistic and appropriate, and the cup will be fully equal to any college trophy of the kind ever offered.  The [articles and conditions drawn up for the Championship] is not intended to form a foot-ball league, such a thing being deemed unnecessary, but to provide such general regulations as will1889 Champions of Pennsylvaniafairly determine the state championship."
The idea of Lehigh, Lafayette and Penn competing for the "state championship" has as its origins the student newspapers, who had started tallying the records of the games between each other in the hopes of crowning a mythical "champion of Pennsylvania".
In 1888, Lehigh and Lafayette played each other twice, and played Penn once apiece in Philadelphia.
But the final records of Lehigh (2-1), Penn (2-1) and Lafayette (1-2) made it inconclusive as to who the state champion really was.
In 1889, with interest high in some sort of champions to be crowned, all three schools made an attempt to start a true "Championship of Pennsylvania", complete with its own trophy. Â It was was founded in part to broaden the interest in football at both Lehigh and Lafayette, to be sure, but it also may have been a way to lock in Penn to playing return games in the Lehigh Valley, as Penn had already cancelled return games against both Lehigh and Lafayette in the past.
It made for a thrilling season, and one that further intensified the already-fierce Rivalry. Â Read the full post HERE.
October 2 – How Lehigh boosters helped beat Lafayette in 1902Â
Only one football coach ever led both Lehigh and Lafayette to victories in the Rivalry.
In 1898, suffering through Parke Davis' final season, the head coach that had led Lafayette to the heights of natonal prominence brought in four different coaches to find a way to beat Lehigh in their second meeting at the end of the season.
One of those great football minds Davis brought in was Dr. Sylvanus P. Newton, a former Penn football player, Phi Beta Kappa scholar and expert football strategist.
Dr. Newton played a critical role for Lafayette in a slushy ice bowl in 1898, using the talents of their kicker, Ed Bray, and an ingenious way to deliver free kicks.
"Captain Best, the holder, and Bray, the kicker, scraped away the four inches of slush and snow so the ball could be placed on the ground for an attempt," the book Legends of Lehigh/Lafayette tells us. Â "The visibility [on the 35 yard field goal] was so poor that the crowd at first was silent, not knowing exactly what had happened. Â Several minutes later, the word spread that the kick was good, and the crowd exploded for the amazing feat (or foot) of Ed Bray".
The use of Newton's placement kick - his own invention - "made such an impression upon those in charge at Lafayette that he was invited to be their coach the following fall," Francis March wrote in the book Athletics at Lafayette College.  Read the full post HERE.
September 24 – Mob Scenes and Rioting Mark the Rivalry in 1962  It was the end of an era - in more ways than one.Lehigh's 1962 squad won 13-6 at Lafayette Sure, Lehigh and Lafayette students had performed midnight raids on the others' campuses plenty of times before, and done plenty of shenanigans in the towns of Bethlehem and Easton, some above board, some not.
"The Rivalry" has always involved pranks, including the occasional arrest for painting the Lafayette Leopard Brown and White, for example.
But in 1962, at a smaller scale yet predating the big stuff that would be coming in six short years at Kent State ("Four Dead in Ohio", Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young), it seemed like there was a rising level of tension between law enforcement and students in the air in the game between Lehigh and Lafayette in 1962.
"Over 400 Lafayette students marched on Easton Nov. 15th after the annual pep rally and bonfire before the Lehigh game and had to be dispersed with fire hoses," the Lafayette reported. "Observers said the demonstration was the most riotous display in more than 30 years."  Read the full post HERE.
 Lehigh Hall of Fame end Pete Williams '58September 17 – Lambert Cup competition adds sizzle to The Rivalry  Everyone had heard of the Lambert Trophy on the campuses of Lehigh and Lafayette.
Awarded to the most outstanding college football team in the East, it was routinely won by some of the legendary big-school programs of the time.  Jock Sutherland's Pitt teams and Earl "Red" Blaik's Army teams dominated the Lambert Trophy balloting in the first couple of decades of the award.
In 1957 the Lamberts and their board members, including Kermit Roosevelt, son of Teddy Roosevelt,  decided that there ought to be a Lambert Trophy for smaller schools in the
East as well - schools that played against "major colleges", but didn't play the majority of their games against those schools.
It gave an extra jolt of excitement to the Rivalry.
September 10 – Lehigh's youngest head coach scores rivalry win to cap undefeated seasonDick Gabriel '51 Dick Doyne '51 "72 aspirants greeted Lehigh's new football coach, Bill Leckonby, on the first day of the six-week spring training session," a Lehigh Alumni Bulletin inauspiciously announced in the spring of 1945.
It was reflection as to how low the Brown and White football team had sunk that the announcement didn't come with more fanfare.
After all, Lehigh was in the middle of a nine-year stretch where they had only been able to muster one tie in the span of eleven contests with their bitter Rivals.Â
Six times they were shut out. Â Only once did they score more than 7 points against the Leopards.
It probably didn't register that hiring of the former St. Lawrence University star, and former pro football player for the AAFL's Brooklyn Dodgers, only a few years removed from military service in World War II, would forever change the direction of Lehigh athletics.
Few probably realized at the time that the inauspicious announcement would lead not only to one of the greatest Lehigh head football coaching careers of all time, but also would raise the Brown and White to a level of Eastern football supremacy among its peer colleges, as well as a spokesman for a different level of football, separate from the largest football schools like Alabama or Penn State. Â Read the full post HERE.
September 3 – A goal line stand aids Lehigh's third straight rivalry win in 2010LB Al Pierce '11 with the 2010 MVP Trophy  It was destined to be a day of defense, and any number of hard-hitting inside linebackers could have been the MVP of the 146th meeting between Lehigh and Lafayette.Â
Lehigh's defense was on the field thirty-six minutes, and never let a tough Lafayette run game wear them down.
Almost right out of the gates, Lehigh's defense seemed to want to put their mark on this game.
The first three defensive plays featured three straight tackles by senior LB Al Pierce, pounding Lafayette's RB Alan Elder and hurrying QB Ryan O'Neil into throwing the ball out of play.
And it only got better from there. Â Read the full post HERE.
August 27 – Rivalry Narrowly Avoids Suspension During The "Great War"  The 1917 squad beat Lafayette 78-0, Lehigh's largest win in series history
Before World War I broke out, or the Great War as it was then called, President Woodrow Wilson pursued a strict policy of neutrality in regards to the trench battles in Belgium and France, echoing popular opinion. Â
But when World War became inevitable, it naturally affected the campuses of Lafayette and Lehigh in the seasons of 1917 and 1918.
Through the seriousness of war, the Rivalry continued where other college football seasons were halted, complete with much of the same pageantry.
In tough times, the Rivalry provided a much-needed escape though the seriousness of the times.
August 15 – Bonfires and "P-Rades" lead up to the game  For a very long period during the Rivalry, parades and bonfires have played a large part of the festivities, though their timing and purpose have changed over time.Scene from a bonfire in 1949 And just like "smokers", parades bonfires started out as athletic celebrations separate from the Rivalry, but ultimately became intertwined with the traditions of the game.
The tradition of the parade and bonfire dates from the times when cars were still rare, and most of the transportation into South Bethlehem came by the Lehigh Valley Railroad, whose station was only a few blocks from campus.
Bonfires celebrating athletic victories were not unknown in the late 1890s at both Lehigh and Lafayette, as well as parades for successful athletic teams. Â They may have been inspired by Harvard, Yale and Princeton, who was starting to celebrate their biggest victories over each other with large bonfires.
August 8 – Two blocked kicks save the Rivalry  In 1927, the Rivalry was in trouble.Lehigh's 1929 team snapped a 10-game losing streak against Lafayette "Thousands of vacant seats at Saturday's game, mostly on the south side of the field, were a silent protest to Lehigh's poor teams," the Easton Express wrote after another lopsided Engineer loss to the Leopards.  "The dear public was asked to part with $4 a ticket to see Saturday's game.  Of course, the public doesn't have to go.  They can stay at home.  That is what many did on Saturday.  But there are thousands of Alumni of both institutions who deplore the situation and a crying for relief."
The game in question was a 43-0 shellacking by Lafayette, capping off a dismal 1-7-1 season for Lehigh where the Brown and White were outscored 196-31 by their opponents.Â
For Lehigh, losing to Lafayette had become routine. Â It was their eighth straight loss to their rivals. Â The Brown and White had last scored a touchdown against Lafayette in 1921. Â Three entire classes had gone without scoring a touchdown against them, let alone come close to victory.
In the span of two years, though, Lehigh would break Lafayette's spell - first by scoring their first touchdown against the Maroon and White in nearly a decade, and then by beating them in one of the closest games in Rivalry history.
July 24 – The history of "Smokers"  The first organized cheering during the Rivalry games appeared to come up organically from Lafayette's and Lehigh's students. Former Lehigh coach and Athletic Director Howard "Bosey" Reiter By the 1890s and the advent of professional coaches, though, faculty and coaches got more involved in cultivating spirit in the teams.
Lafayette's legendary coach Parke H. Davis, contributing to Athletics at Lafayette College, makes no bones about his contributions, making the "creation of an intense football spirit" at Lafayette one of his priorities when he was hired.
"We instituted college mass-meetings," he said. Â "We composed songs. Â At that time there were none. Â We invented new cheers. Â We bragged and blustered, orated and printed glowingly about our prospects. Â We worked the college and the town systematically up to a football frenzy."
"Smokers" were athletic pep rallies which took place on the campus to celebrate a wide variety of events, as was the custom on college campuses at the time. Â During these extravaganzas, the students got souvenir pipes from the smoker as well as complimentary tobacco products.
Smokers took colleges by storm in the 1910s, but for Lehigh and Lafayette, the history of these types of meetings goes back further. Â Read the full post HERE.
July 9 – Lehigh begins its rise in 1912 and defeats Lafayette for first time in four years  Hall of Famer V.J. "Pat" Pazzetti '15, Captain of Lehigh's 1912 team Going into the 1912 season, the Rivalry was at a point when Lafayette was a dominant force over the Brown and White.
In an era where Princeton, Yale, and the Carlisle Indian School all competed for the top, Lafayette was right there alongside the top teams in the nation.
And soon, Lehigh would be in the conversation once again as well.
In 1911, Lehigh announced their seriousness to vault back into contention by signing four key transfers, including a future Brown and White hall-of-fame quarterback, QB Pat Pazzetti, from Wesleyan.
"The Pennsylvania college is pulling strongly for a record-breaking football team this year - hoping to put one on their old rival, Lafayette - and is doing all in its power to get the athletes in the institution," The Lafayette reported.  Read the full post HERE.
July 2 – A look back to 1893, an important year for Lehigh University and a strong year for the football team  It was common knowledge in 1893 that Lehigh was a rich institution.Manhattan Field - Site of the 1893 clash between Lehigh and North Carolina "[Our] forced economy in itself is a great hindrance to our success in athletic competitions," a 1890s letter sent out by Lafayette's alumni committee said.  "Our nearest antagonists - Lehigh, Princeton, Pennsylvania - are now so wealthy, that we, with our comparatively untrained teams, are at great disadvantage.  Our alumni all desire our success but few realize how much this success depends on them."
Thanks in no small part to Asa Packer's bequest to Lehigh of a huge sum of money and stock after his death in 1879, the University was the richest institution of higher learning at that time, surpassing, according to the New York Times, even Harvard and Yale.
The vastness of Lehigh's endowment was actually controversial.Â
"In one view, the gift is the noblest one of the kind ever made," they said of the bequest, "for it establishes the only institution - so far as we know - which gives absolutely free tuition to all comers, rich or poor. Â It is merely in an economic sense that the opinion is expressed that any addition to the more than 300 colleges now dwarfing and starving one another in this country is wicked waste of resources."
For more than a decade Asa's success in building the railway and navigating the business dealings of the railroad barons kept his family, and Lehigh University, rich, even a decade after his death.Â
But in 1893 that would begin to change.  Read the full post HERE.
June 25 – Lehigh's first win in the Rivalry  Lafayette dominated the early Rivalry, but in the late 1880s the tides turned dramatically, thanks to a play devised by the founder of Lehigh's football program.  The 1887 Lehigh Football TeamAnd, perhaps unsurprisingly, the origins of the play have also been disputed with a distinct Lehigh/Lafayette flavor.
The "V Trick", or "Lehigh V", as it's known in South Bethlehem, was a revolutionary play in college football at the time.Â
It involved, on a kick resulting in a change of possession, to have the eleven men form a "V" with interlocked arms to direct the mass of the entire team against a hapless weak link on the opposition's line, with the halfback running behind the rush line. Â This was especially effective after a kick, since the ten men would be able to run forward and get a head of steam going, applying their mass momentum to make larger gains. Â To some, it was the basis of all the mass momentum plays that followed, such as the infamous "Flying Wedge" implemented by Harvard.
Though it would ultimately be banned, plays like the "V Trick" were an important historic milestone in the evolution of college football.
 June 18 - Our series begins with a look at the first meeting between Lehigh and Lafayette, back in 1884.  Richard Harding Davis, member of Lehigh's first varsity football team  The same year Lehigh and Lafayette started their football Rivalry, the cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid down on Beldoe's Island on August 5th, 1884.
In attendance at that event was the president at that time, Republican Chester A. Arthur, and Democrat Grover Cleveland, who would win the presidential election later in the year.
In 1884, Mark Twain lived in a house just outside Hartford, Connecticut, a Victorian Gothic mansion where he and his family settled after he had penned The Innocents Abroad.  That year, in the upstairs billiards room, he wrote Huckleberry Finn.
More local to the Rivalry, in that same year the city of Easton would get electric power for the first time in its history. Â "Electric lights now burn brightly in Easton's streets," the Lafayette student newspaper noted, "and in many of her business houses and places of amusement." Â (South Bethlehem wouldn't get electric streetlights until 1887.)
It also would be year of the first-ever meetings between Lehigh and Lafayette on the gridiron, only a couple of years after the early collegiate athletic powers of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and others had established standardized rules for "rugby football", as it was still called at the time.
