Brown Bears football

Brown Bears
2017 Brown Bears football team
First season	1878
Athletic director	Jack Hayes
Head coach	Phil Estes 19th season, 112–77 (.593)
Stadium	Brown Stadium (Capacity: 20,000)
Field surface	Grass
Location	Providence, Rhode Island
NCAA division	Division I FCS
Conference	Ivy League
All-time record	607–565–40 (.517)
Bowl record	0–1 (.000)
Conference titles	4
Rivalries	Harvard Rhode Island Dartmouth
Consensus All-Americans	10
Colors	Seal Brown, White, and Cardinal[1]
Fight song	Ever True
Marching band	Brown University Band
Website	BrownBears.com

For information on all Brown University sports, see Brown Bears

The Brown Bears football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Brown University located in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and are members of the Ivy League. Brown's first football team was fielded in 1878. The team plays its home games at the 20,000 seat Brown Stadium in Providence, Rhode Island. The Bears are coached by Phil Estes.

History

In the middle of the 1926 season, the “Iron Men” came into being when the same 11 players played against Yale for 60 minutes and a 7–0 win. The next week the same 11 players played without substitution against Dartmouth and won 10–0. Two weeks later the Iron Men played 58 minutes against Harvard, but in the last two minutes the substitutes came in to earn their letters. Brown won all its games that year until the Thanksgiving game against Colgate ended in a 10–10 tie. The famed “Iron Men” were Thurston Towle ’28, Paul Hodge ’28, Orland Smith ’27, Charles Considine ’28, Lou Farber ’29, Ed Kevorkian ’29, Hal Broda ’27, Al Cornsweet ’29, Dave Mishel ’27, Ed Lawrence ’28, and Roy Randall ’28. In the 1948 season, Brown fans were the originators of the popular de-fense! chant that spread to the NFL in the 1950's. Brown has 607 wins making them tied for 72nd all time in wins amongst division one football programs.

Brown players and coaches elected to the College Football Hall of Fame

• John W. Heisman (1887–89, elected in 1954)
• Tuss McLaughry (1926–1940, elected in 1962)
• Frederick D. Pollard (1915–16, elected in 1954)
• Eddie N. Robinson (played 1892–95; coached 1904–07, 1910–1925, elected in 1955)
• Wallace Wade (1914–16, elected in 1955)

Notable former players

• Joe Paterno
• Fritz Pollard
• George Pyne

Key

Notable alumni not in an NFL Draft include:

• Fritz Pollard
• Joe Paterno
• Kyle Rowley
• James Develin
• John Heisman

Championships

The Bears have no national championships, though they do have one undefeated team, the 1926 team, also known as the Iron Men of 1926, finishing 9–0–1 (and winning all three of their Ivy League games), with a 10–10 tie to Colgate in the last game of the season. The Bears have won the Ivy League title four times in their history.

The Bears won their first Ivy League title in 1976, sharing it with Yale while finishing 8–1 on the season, clinching the title with a 28–17 victory over Columbia. ^[3]

In 1999, the Bears went 9–1 (the most victories since 1926, along with a record seven game winning streak), while beating Columbia 23–6 to share the Ivy League title with Yale.^[4]

In 2005, the Bears finished 9–1, beating Columbia 52–21 in their final game in order to clinch their first ever outright Ivy League title and third overall. ^[5]

In 2008, the Bears finished 7–3 (while losing only one Ivy League game), beating Columbia 41–10 to clinch a share of the Ivy League title, their fourth over conference title and third in nine years. ^[6][7]

Conference championships

Bowl game appearances

Rivalries

Harvard

The first game in the series occurred in 1893. Brown's record versus Harvard is 30–84–2. During recent decades the respective squads meet annually the first weekend of the Ivy League football season.

University of Rhode Island

Dartmouth

Brown has a 31–57–4 record versus Dartmouth. Beginning in 2018 Brown will play New England Ivy League rival Dartmouth in their final game.

References

External links

• Official website

Brown University
Schools	College Graduate School Alpert Medical School School of Engineering
Research Centers	Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women Watson Institute for International Studies Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World
Athletics	Ivy League Brown Bears Football Men's basketball Women's basketball Men's soccer Men's ice hockey Women's ice hockey Brown Stadium Meehan Auditorium Murray Stadium Pizzitola Sports Center Stevenson Field
Campus	Buildings Statues Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology Ladd Observatory John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library Sciences Library John Carter Brown Library John Hay Library University Hall Van Wickle Gates
History	History of Brown University List of Brown University people Alumni Faculty Presidents
Student Life	Traditions Alma Mater Brown Daily Herald The College Hill Independent Brown Journal of World Affairs WBRU Brown Student & Community Radio Brown Television The Brown Jug The Brown Noser Brown Political Review Critical Review
Organizations	Brown Band University Orchestra Production Workshop Opera Productions The Chattertocks of Brown University Badmaash Dance Company Sarah Doyle Women's Center