Football Supplement | Lucky Number 1300

On Nov. 1, 1876, twenty Penn students took on a Princeton squad in the Quakers' first-ever football game. The Red and Blue lost, six goals to none, but by taking the field that day they kicked off the legacy that would become Penn football.

One hundred and thirty-three years later, Penn sets a new NCAA record every time it takes the field. Its 1,293 games played are the most in history, and when the Quakers take on Brown Oct. 31, they will become the first program ever to reach the 1,300-game plateau.

But more important than reaching that pillar of participation is the success that Penn has enjoyed over its history. The program has racked up 791 wins, 13 Ivy titles and a share of seven national championships.

From the legendary players that have worn the red and blue to the monumental coaches who have walked the Franklin Field sidelines, the Penn football tradition has become one of the most historic in the nation.

"It's a testament to the strength of this program, but moreover just that we've been here forever," senior captain Kyle Derham said of the milestone. "And the fact that we've been successful over those 1,300 games is a testament to the characters throughout the years and the players and the work ethic they've established here."

Though a national championship is an impossibility for the foreseeable future and Ivy dominance is five years gone, today's Quakers fight to maintain the tradition formed over the past 130 years, dating back to the days when football barely even resembled the game they play today.

A Glorious Past

After that opening loss to Princeton, Penn bounced back on Nov. 17, 1876 with its first ever victory, beating the "All-Philadelphia" team four goals to none. Two years later, the Quakers routed Swarthmore, nine goals and 16 touchdowns to zero, for their first victory over another college.

Over the next few decades, the Quakers began to take on a heavier load of games than similar programs. In 1886, for example, Penn played 17 games while Princeton played only eight.

Such packed schedules put Penn in the position to hold the record it holds today. Schedules began to normalize in the 1900s and teams began to play no more than 10 to 12 games.

As college football began to increase in popularity and the rules took shape, Penn became a national program, going undefeated thrice in the 1890s and earning a share of the national championship in each of those years. In this period, the Quakers began playing their home games on Franklin Field, their home to this day.

Penn's success continued in the first few decades of the nineteenth century, highlighted by undefeated national championship seasons in 1904 and 1908 and a Rose Bowl loss to Oregon in 1917.

But as football became more mainstream in the Midwest, the South and the West Coast, the Red and Blue's fortunes declined. Penn nabbed its final national championship in 1924, earning the honors from one poll while others favored Notre Dame.

Penn had some success over the next three decades, but bottomed out in the mid-1950s, with consecutive winless seasons in 1954 and 1955.

In 1956, however, the Ivy League began competition and many national powerhouses, such as Notre Dame and California, disappeared from Penn's schedule. The inferior opposition allowed the Quakers a degree of success, though apart from an Ancient Eight title in 1959 they wallowed in mediocrity for most of the first 25 years of the League.

In 1982, however, a last-second field goal over Harvard gave the Quakers a share of the Ivy title. They would go on to dominate the decade, winning at least a share of the title in six of seven seasons from 1982-88. That success carried through into the 1990s, highlighted by a 24-game win streak from 1992 to 1995 and six Ivy titles, the last in 2003, under the guidance of current coach Al Bagnoli.

The Legends who Wore

the Red and Blue

Perhaps even more notable than the programs' success or longevity are the players who have played for Penn throughout its history. Eighteen College and two Pro Football Hall of Famers have suited up for the Quakers, and five coaches have been immortalized in the College Football Hall of Fame.

"It's a big selling point for us in the recruiting process to be able to talk about some of the names associated with Penn football," said tight ends coach Mark Fabish, who played for two Penn title teams in the early '90s.

"Being associated with all the people who have played here before is such a tremendous honor," he added.

Some of the game's foremost visionaries made their mark on the Penn program.

Perhaps the greatest athlete to play for Penn was Chuck Bednarik, who played center and linebacker for the Quakers from 1945-48. In 1948, he was an All-American, third in voting for the Heisman Trophy and won the Maxwell Award. He went on to have an extremely successful career with the Philadelphia Eagles, racking up eight Pro Bowl selections over his 14-year career.

The last two-way player in the NFL, Bednarik has been voted into the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame. Today, the top defensive player in college football each year is honored with the Bednarik Award.

The most famous name associated with Penn football, however, is John Heisman. Although he only played two seasons and coached three for the Quakers with marginal success, he went on to have a celebrated coaching career and was a major force in shaping the game as it is played today.

In addition to leading the movement to legalize the forward pass, he invented the center snap, introduced the "hike" signal and fought to use quarters instead of halves. For his work in modernizing the game and service as athletic director of the Downtown Athletic Club in Manhattan, his legacy is cemented as the namesake of the award for the the top collegiate football player.

Of the five Penn coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame, George Woodruff and George Munger stand apart. Woodruff coached Penn from 1892-1901, leading them to three national championships. Over ten years, he compiled a 124-15-2 record while outscoring opponents 1,777-88.

As a student, Munger starred as a running back for Penn but immortalized himself with a victory in the decathlon at the 1931 Penn Relays. He went on to coach his alma mater for 16 years, returning Penn to national prominence and winning nine unofficial Ivy titles, though the League would not be formalized until after his tenure. Since 1989, the Maxwell Club awards the Munger Award for the nation's top coach each year.

Bringing the Past

to the Present

The only Penn coach with a longer tenure than Munger is the current man at the helm, Al Bagnoli. In 1992, he received the reins to the program after three consecutive losing seasons under Gary Steele. In only his second year, Bagnoli led Penn to an undefeated season and Ivy League title. Going into his 18th year, he has won at least a share of the title six times.

However, Penn's current five-year Ivy title drought is its longest since the years leading up to its shared crown in 1982. Thus, it remains imperative for Bagnoli and his staff to keep the past glory of the program front and center in the players' minds.

For that reason, Bagnoli instituted the "Guest Coaches Program" in 2007. For a number of games every year, he brings back alumni guest coaches to instill in his players a sense of the legacy they have inherited. They range from players who learned under Munger all the way up to Bagnoli's own students.

"We bring back some of our alumni from early on to come back … and to talk about the grand old times when we used to play in a packed house and we used to play the Stanfords of the world and the Cals of the world and to teach them the best way they can about what Penn football is," defensive coordinator Ray Priore said. "Obviously it's not the way right now, but there's a long, long history that goes with Penn."

Priore is going on his 23rd season at Penn and has thus been a part of seven Ivy titles and over 15 percent of the team's games. More than anyone else in the program, therefore, he understands how strong the tradition of Penn football is and how important it is to future successes.

"You're playing for not just yourself, but you're playing for everyone that's come before you and those that will come after you," he said. "You're following some great legends and great tradition, and you're our chance now to maintain this."

Magic number 1,300

The seventh game of the 2009 season will mark Penn's record 1,300th game, but the team is not focusing on the milestone. In fact, neither Derham nor freshman quarterback Billy Ragone even knew that the program was zeroing in on that mark. The tradition, however, is never far from the players' minds.

"It's definitely motivation to bring it back to where it was and to keep the winning tradition alive," Ragone said. "It's definitely in the back of your head when you strap on the helmet."

Moving forward, the players know that the lore - and correspondingly the record - is something to be aware of, but that the consistent focus is on winning. In fact, if they can win nine games this year, the Quakers will reach the vaunted milestone of 800 victories, a mark currently tallied by eight programs - seven of them Football Bowl Subdivision teams. (Harvard is sitting at 798.)

That 800-victory status may be the last of the major marks Penn leaves on the national collegiate football landscape. Though its 1,293 games is still a record by a vast margin - Yale is second with 1,241 - that gap diminishes each year.

While the Quakers play a 10-game schedule year-in and year-out, other programs load up their schedules with heavier workloads. Fordham has played 1,229 games, but schedules 11 games every year with the possibility of more games in the FCS playoffs. Rutgers' 1,228 games played is the most among FBS schools, and its 12-game schedule with the possibility of 13 if it goes to a bowl game virtually guarantees that it will pass the Quakers at some point in the next 35 years.

But though the record may disappear, the history and tradition will not. Photos of Munger, Bednarik and other legendary Quakers still plaster the walls of Weightman Hall, and Franklin Field remains the oldest football stadium in the nation.

"We have great tradition, we have a great legacy of athletics here, a great legacy of football and I think each kid is anxious to leave his own mark on the program," Bagnoli said. "They understand the tradition, they understand all the things that have happened leading up to the modern day. We're very fortunate; tradition is everywhere here."

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