The Weekly Blog: 4/18/07

A Princeton portrait
H. Vincent Poor *77, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and his predecessor as dean, Maria Klawe, were on hand as Klawe’s portrait was unveiled during a reception April 13 at the Friend Center. Klawe is president of Harvey Mudd College.

Photo by Frank Wojciechowski

Wilde ‘West’

Director Davis McCallum ’97, a former lecturer in Princeton’s theater and dance program, will stage his latest work, “West Moon Street,” starting April 21 at New York City’s Hudson Guild Theatre, 441 West 26th Street. The play, written by Rob Urbinati, is based on Oscar Wilde’s “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime,” and it will be presented by the Prospect Theater Company, which was founded by five Princeton alumni, including Cara Reichel ’96 and her husband Peter Mills ’95. For more information visit www.ProspectTheater.org.

Princeton in the Ivy League: A 50th Anniversary Countdown

In 2006-07, the Ivy League is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its start as an athletics conference and the 51st season of Ivy sports. To mark the occasion, PAW has selected a few notable numbers for Princeton’s top teams and athletes in the last half century. If you have other favorite numbers for our list, please send them to us.

51 – Consecutive years in which Princeton has won at least one Ivy championship, a feat matched only by Harvard.
47 – School record for consecutive wins, set by the women’s swimming team from 1998 to 2004.
42 – Uniform number worn by Bill Bradley ’65 during his illustrious basketball career, and before that, by football’s lone Heisman Trophy winner, Dick Kazmaier ’52. Though the University does not officially retire numbers, no men’s basketball or football player has worn 42 since Bradley and Kazmaier.
’39 – For 1939, the year in which PAW first tried to explain the term “Ivy League.” That fall, football was scheduled to play seven consecutive games against “Ivy” schools – Cornell, Columbia, Brown, Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, and Navy. Penn and Army were also considered Ivies, according to PAW.
38 – Varsity sports currently offered at Princeton. Among the Ivies, only Harvard fields more teams, with a national-best 41.
’33 – For 1933, the year New York Herald Tribune sportswriters Stanley Woodward and Caswell Adams first use the term “Ivy colleges,” and later “Ivy League,” during football season to refer to a cluster of prestigious institutions in the northeast.
30 – Points scored by football running back Ellis Moore ’70 (five touchdowns) in a 1967 win at Harvard.
26 – Regular-season wins for men’s basketball in 1997-98. The Tigers beat UNLV in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, lost to Michigan State in round two, and finished the year 27-2.
22 – Career interceptions for football defensive back (and television Superman) Dean Cain ’88. The mark remains a Princeton record.
19 – Consecutive wins by Princeton’s women’s lacrosse team after losing its first game in 2002. The Tigers avenged that early loss to Georgetown, beating the Hoyas in the national final to win the second of the program’s three NCAA titles.
16 – Ivy championships for Princeton softball, in 27 seasons.
15 – Ivy championships for Princeton field hockey, in 28 seasons.
14 – Wins, without a loss, by Princeton’s men’s lacrosse team in 1997. The Tigers won the NCAA title with a 19-7 win over Maryland in College Park, Md. From 1992 to 2001, Princeton won six national championships and nine Ivy championships.
4 – Seconds remaining (actually, 3.9) when men’s basketball’s Gabe Lewullis ’99 scored a backdoor layup to beat defending-champion UCLA in the 1996 NCAA tournament.
1 – Men’s squash player who has won four individual national championships: Princeton’s Yasser El Halaby ’06.

More at PAW Online

Under the Ivy – Was Princeton’s 1966-67 basketball team its best ever? Gregg Lange ’70 thinks so. Read why and write to PAW to make your case for other top Tiger teams.
More from Baker – Read an extended version of PAW’s interview with James A. Baker III ’52.