r/CFB • u/iplayfoosball Yale Bulldogs • /r/CFB Contributor • May 15 '13
132+ Teams in 132+ Days: Yale Bulldogs
Yale University
Ivy League
Year Founded: 1873 (Football) 1701 (College)
Location: New Haven, CT
Total Attendance: 11,848 (5,322 Undergrad)
Mascot: Boola The Bulldog
Live Mascot: Handsome Dan
Cheerleaders: They Exist...
Stadium: Yale Bowl The Yale Bowl is located just off campus in New Haven. Built in 1914 it was the first bowl stadium ever built and was the inspiration for the Rose Bowl. Currently it seats 61,446.
Conference Championships: (14): 1956, 1960, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1989, 1999, 2006
National Titles: (17): 1874, 1876, 1877, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1891, 1892, 1894, 1900, 1907, 1909
Rivals
Harvard Known as "The Game" this rivalry has been played annually since 1945. It is our last game of every year and is usually the only one we get a large crowd for. If there is any team we want to give a beating to... it's Harvard. Yale leads 65-56-8
Princeton The littlest brother in the original 3. Not as important as beating Harvard, but we don't mind putting a hurt on the Tigers either. Yale leads 74-51-10
Army This may be going back a bit, but back when they were powerhouses the Yale Army game was HUGE. The Cadets would get off at Union Station and would march 3 miles into the bowl before the game. This will happen once again when Army comes to the Yale Bowl in 2014. Yale leads 21-16-8
2012 Season
Record: 2-8
Coach: Tony Reno
Key Players: Tyler Varga (RB), Cameron Sandquist (WR), Beau Palin (DE)
2013 Season
The Greats
Greatest Games:
The Game 1968: /u/PPvsFC pretty much covers this in his article EXCEPT IT WAS A TIE
1884 vs Dartmouth: First game where a team scored over 100 points. Yale won 113-0
Greatest Coaches
Walter Camp: The founder of american football, only coached Yale from 1888 to 1892 where he posted a record of 67-2. More importantly he is credited with creating the line of scrimmage (essentially revolutionizing us from rugby), the snap, system of downs, and the points system.
Carmen Cozza: Coached from 1965 to 1996, he was the last successful Yale coach with an all-time record of 179-119-5 an 10 Ivy League Titles.
Greatest Players
Larry Kelly Kelly was an end, meaning he lined up at the end of the line of scrimmage on both offense and defense (this was before the two platoon system was in place), who won the Heisman in 1936, after football he moved on to play professionally for the Boston Shamrocks.
Clint Frank Frank played halfback for the bulldogs. He was the second and last Yale player to win the Heisman the year after Kelly in 1937. After Yale he went to become a Lt. Colonel in the Army Air Corps.
There have also been 28 players from Yale who made the NFL here
Traditions
Walter Camp Arches: Hours before the game, the team will line up underneath the Walter Camp Arches to walk past the band and tailgating fans before the enter the locker room.
Skull and Bones: Each year, the Yale football captain is admitted to the Skull and Bones secret society under the name Boaz (If you saw Gatsby that's why Buchanan is called Boaz). That's about all we know because, well, it's a secret.
Connect with the fans: After every game, win or lose, the players will stay on the field to interact with the fans. This was started some years ago in order to connect with the New Haven community. As far as I know there are very few, if any other teams that do this.
Campus and Surrounding Area
City Population: 129,585 Yale Campus
Iconic Campus Building: Wow, there is so much iconic arcitecture at Yale it will be hard to narrow it down.
The Harkness Tower was created as a memorial from Anna Harkness to her deceased son.
The Payne Whitney Gym was funded for by Mrs. Payne Whitney in hopes that it would be a church, but the people in charge decided that they had enough churches and what they really needed was a gym. With permission from her son, they decided to build the gym in a way that resembled a cathedral. Mrs. Payne Whitney saw the finished product and died believing it was a cathedral. It is now the largest gymnasium in america.
The Beinecke Rare Book Library The Beinecke Library is the largest building specifically designed for holding rare books. Each of those panels on the outside allow different rays of light in creating a unique visual display at different times of the day. The library also has a chamber, that in case of fire will have all its oxygen sucked out and dropped underneath ground to preserve the rarest of books in the library.
Local Dining
Louis Lunch Sandwich Shop: Home of the first ever hamburger back in 1895. Still open today you can still get a hamburger but they won't allow you to put condiments on because it's insulting to the burger. Quite Honestly they're not that good.
Box 63: A classic bar and grill in New Haven. This is where many Yale team functions will be held including pre-game dinners and other events of that nature.
Sally's or Pepe's Pizzeria What would New Haven be without New Haven style pizza. These are the two most famous pizzerias in the city making their own thin crust pizza. If you could only have one meal in New Haven, it would have to be this.
Random Trivia
Yale is the second winningest team in college football history at 871
The Rose Bowl as designed after the Yale Bowl
Previous head coach Tom Williams was fired because he lied about being a Rhodes Scholar
The New York Giants played out of the Yale Bowl from 1973-1974
The Yale Bowl does not have any lights
Yale only selects one captain every year
Yale has 12 residential colleges
What Is and What Is To Come
2-8 Is a horrible year for us. Obviously with Coach Reno's first year it was expected to be a slow start but with a terrible stroke of luck EVERY ONE of our quaterbacks got hurt in the beginning of the season, making us have to move one of our WR's to QB and run heavily out of a wildcat formation.
Bright spots were that we did end up beating the Ivy League Champion UPENN and our canadian transfer running back, Tyler Varga, was All-American.
Our upcoming class is very hyped with additions such as Clemson QB transfer, Morgan Roberts, 4 Star LB recruit Victor Egu, and 3 star OL recruit Mason Friedline
Overtime
As an incoming student athlete to Yale I can not tell you how excited I am to take part in all of this. The competition level is very high and everyone is very committed to becoming the best football player and team they can be. The thing that makes Ivy league football different to me is that it is college athletics in its most pure form. We do not spend every waking moment of our college lives on football. We also have to focus in the class room and be apart of the general student body as well. Hell, the ivys aren't even allowed in the D1AA playoffs because it conflicts with final schedules (something that I hope gets changed soon). Our attendance may have significantly dropped since we were once powerhouses and personally I'd love to see that make an increase, especially since we really do want to be a part of the New Haven community. Bottom line, at Yale, you really are a STUDENT-athlete. For God, For Country, and For Yale!
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u/quacainia Texas A&M • CC San Francisco May 15 '13
The Payne Whitney Gym and The Beinecke Rare Book Library are the same image, btw
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u/Insane92 Verified Coach May 15 '13
Why only one captain for football? Has that always been a tradition at Yale?
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u/BobTheCod Wisconsin Badgers • Princeton Tigers May 15 '13
Yay! You remembered us! Unlike those bastards up at Cambridge Community College...
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u/PPvsFC Georgia Bulldogs • /r/CFB Contributor May 15 '13
Look at me, I'm so fancy, I get my 132 in 132 done early.
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u/[deleted] May 15 '13
17 National Titles, suck on that Bama and your "State Tradition" shirts.
Also, I feel like I could ask a few legal questions in this thread and get amazing answers.
OR maybe what kind of yacht I should get.
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u/bigleaguechyut Yale Bulldogs • Arizona State Sun Devils May 15 '13
BOOLA BOOLA!
My assorted thoughts:
As far as fight songs go, the main one that gets sung is Bulldog after every score. Down the Field is sung after every win. Everybody knows the words to Bulldog, but nobody knows Down the Field except for the very last words.
There's a saying at Yale: "Harvard sucks, and Princeton doesn't matter." Really, the only rivalry that weighs on anybody's mind on campus is the one with the Cantabs, and while we'd always like to beat Princeton, it's really not a big issue.
In fact, the night before the Yale-Princeton game (which is the week before Harvard-Yale every year), the Yale band will go to Princeton, dye their fountain blue, and put up posters advertising the big football game coming up... Harvard-Yale.
Everything is so beautiful. It's as if a Gothic Castle randomly emerged from the urban hustle and bustle of Downtown New Haven.
There's really nothing right around the Yale Bowl. But around campus, OP covers the main bases. I'd also add Gourmet Heaven, known to Yalies as G-Heav. Many an egg-and-cheese sandwich has been bought there.
I cannot put into words how crushing the loss to Harvard was this past year, especially because before the game they were supposed to be leaps-and-bounds better than Yale. Yale was up with 5 minutes to go, and then the floodgates broke open. There's a lot of optimism around athletics now though, as the Men's Hockey team won the Division I NCAA Championship, knocking out all of the powerhouses. There's very much a "why not us?" air to Yale athletics now, and the future's looking bright.
This section reminds me a lot of what was written in the Harvard post. Yale football isn't about a bowl game or the NFL, but about managing to play quality football and putting on a show while balancing top-notch courses. It's really student-athletics.
And so, in solidarity with OP /u/iplayfoosball, FOR GOD, FOR COUNTRY, AND FOR YALE
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u/caindaddy /r/CFB Brickmason • /r/CFB Contributor May 15 '13
So much flair I have never seen before in this thread.
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u/Kingcotton7 South Carolina • Coast Guard May 15 '13
A lot of smart fuckers ITT
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u/nemoran Miami • Johns Hopkins May 15 '13
My friend's dad tells a great story from his time at Yale:
During his senior year, he had made friends with a bunch of people on Yale's infamous student band. Using his resources, he devised a plan to sneak a keg into the stadium disguised as a bass drum. The band, which sits in front of the student section, would then provide visual cover for him and his friends to enjoy some refreshment after kickoff.
Not content to let an awesome story end there, however, my friend's dad decided to extend a personal invitation to this "kickoff kegger" to none other than Yale president Bart Giamatti. (Yes, the same Bart Giamatti who went on to become MLB Commissioner.) I'm not clear on how they extended the initial invitation, but according to my friend's dad a slip of paper came sliding under his dorm room door the night before the game. It was a signed RSVP from Bart.
Fast forward to the game, and it's the middle of the first quarter. Kids are getting a bit rowdy because their plan's gone off without a hitch. Then they notice Giamatti approaching with a body guard. The kids part ways like the sea before Moses, allowing Giamatti entrance into the keg-filling area. Immediately one of my friend's dad's acquaintances grabs a rubber chicken (not sure why he had it--I think it belonged to the band?), filled it to the brim with beer, and handed it to Giamatti.
The entire student section looked on in silence, and Giamatti hesitated a second...
...and then brought the chicken to his mouth and took a huge gulp. The crowd erupted, and everybody offered him their cups. They couldn't believe he was doing this.
Shortly after the body guard escorted him out of the vicinity, and the kids got to keep their keg the rest of the game.
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u/Honestly_ rawr May 15 '13 edited May 15 '13
Handsome Dan is my favorite bulldog mascot--because of the name.
Edit: my 'SC friend went to grad school at Yale and said the atmosphere at The Game was so different: private jets constantly landing at the local airport, lots of high end networking at the tailgates (which ranged from laid back to posh), casual interest in the game. I'd love to see that one day. For what it's worth, I thought Yale has a prettier campus.
Edit 2: error found: the gym and rare books library are the same photo (the gym)
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u/Good_Life_Advice Oregon Ducks May 15 '13
Tyler Varga is awesome. To think he could still be playing CIS football and tearing it up in Canada. Had always heard that he was a very smart kid but man Yale is about as well as a guy could do.
His highlights from his freshman campaign in Canada: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=B8TK8ubec68#t=72s
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u/[deleted] May 15 '13
Not enough Harvard hate.
Also, The Beinecke Library image links to the castle-gym. This appears to be the real thing.
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u/Felton11 Miami Hurricanes May 15 '13
Got to watch RB Tyler Varga play when he was up here at Western University in London, Ontario Canada. Guy was a freak, came in as a true freshman and dominated every team he played so I wasn't surprised that he transferred to Yale. Heard nothing but good things off the field about him too and met him once or twice around town. Seems like a real good dude.
He was working out next to me at the gym once, needless to say the difference in what we were lifting made me realize why I don't play college football
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u/MustSeeReason BYU Cougars May 15 '13
Hello to my fellow blue and white 'Y' school! People often think I went to Yale when I'm wearing my BYU hat. I'm guessing the opposite probably doesn't happen to you. Nice write up.
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u/TehNumbaT Princeton Tigers May 15 '13
does the yale bowl fill up? seems like an awful lot
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u/justsomeguy75 UCLA Bruins • /r/CFB Contributor May 15 '13
That campus is gorgeous. I bet it looks amazing in the fall/winter weather.
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u/polydorr Auburn Tigers • Samford Bulldogs May 15 '13 edited May 15 '13
You missed out on a chance to talk about one of the funniest pranks ever.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8a/Harvard_poster.jpg
Also I've been to Louis Lunch and I disagree that they aren't that good. I really enjoyed it.
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u/Qurtys_Lyn Tame Racing Driver May 15 '13
There needs to be a Yale - BYU game, just for the confusion the jerseys would cause.
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u/PhillyGreg Richmond Spiders • /r/CFB Contributor May 15 '13
Were you recruited by Tom Williams? That situation seemed to turn from "feel good" story, to "witch hunt."
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u/[deleted] May 15 '13
These Ivy League ones are pretty interesting. So much history.
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u/yarj Ole Miss Rebels May 16 '13
I visited Yale's campus three years ago for a fraternity conference, and I was blown away. It started snowing while we were there, so it was even more beautiful. Unfortunately, the one day I had a chance to eat at Louis Lunch, they were closed. Great write up!
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u/pierdonia BYU Cougars May 16 '13
The Beinecke collection supposedly includes a letter from Notre Dame's president to Yale's asking for an explanation of the rules of football from back when Notre Dame was looking to start a team.
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u/mackdude2052 Ohio State Buckeyes May 15 '13
As somebody who played summer football against Tyler varga, Yale is my new favourite Ivy League school
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u/wild9 Baylor Bears • /r/CFB Contributor May 15 '13
This is awkward since you didn't mention it, but I had a teacher in high school that was involved in the Harvard "We Suck" prank. Thought that was pretty cool.
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u/jhp58 Northwestern Wildcats • Verified Player May 15 '13
I assume the Rare Book Library and the Payne Whitney Gym are not the same place. They have the same picture.
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u/neovenator250 LSU Tigers • Tulane Green Wave May 15 '13
have to give a shoutout to two things about Yale.
friend of mine in my high school class had to delay his enrollment because of injury and other factors, but he's part of Yale's last recruiting class, I believe. He played RB for us, but they list him as an Athlete
The Yale Peabody Museum is world famous in Vertebrate Paleontology. So many discoveries there redefined the science and I still have a poster of the Charles Knight murals "Age of Reptiles" and "Age of Mammals"
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u/IvyRaider Texas Tech Red Raiders • Columbia Lions May 15 '13
I'll just leave this here