Princeton Band at the ’63 Dartmouth Game

The recent PAW had a fine article on the undefeated 1964 Tiger football team, including the unfortunate loss to Dartmouth in the 1963 game at Palmer Stadium.

This game was famously delayed a week following JFK’s assassination. I was in the office of my thesis adviser, Professor Marvin Goldberger (later president of Caltech), when one of his colleagues burst in to tell Goldberger of the (presumptively fatal) shooting in Dallas. As Princeton Band president, I had already approved our halftime selections, including the show song highlighting Dallas “Big D, little A, Double L, AS” as the Band formed a Big D on the field. There was ample time to rehearse a different halftime show. Clearly that selection and our usual irreverent commentary would be scrapped. So we formed in concert formation and played a couple of classic Princeton songs, ending with “Old Nassau.” The crowd joined in singing this ode to Princeton.

Having been previously summoned to the Dean Lippincott’s office twice that season following some alumni criticism of our exuberant halftime shows, I was pleased with our performance and alumni praise for the respectful manner in which the Band serenaded the crowd that day.