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Some call it “The Biggest Little Game in America.”
ESPNU and The Boston Globe have written about it.
The 120-year-old contest sports a lot of history,
a good dose of myth, and a number of college traditions.
The Stats
- The Williams-Amherst football game is the NCAA Division III’s most played rivalry and the fourth most played rivalry in all of college football.
- As of the 2008 season, Williams leads the series 70-48-5.
- The Ephs have denied the Lord Jeffs a perfect season seven times; the Jeffs have ruined a perfect season for the Ephs four times.
- The last shutout (0-0 tie) occurred in 1995, the last season before overtime was introduced to prevent tie games.
- Weston Field hosted the largest game crowd in 1993, when 13,671 people packed the stands, setting a New England Division III record. Amherst’s Pratt Field held the second largest crowd: 12,449 in 1996.
History and Traditions
Williams-Amherst football battles are rooted in historic collegiate politics. In 1818, several Williams trustees tried to move the college from the far western region of Massachusetts east to the Pioneer Valley. State legislators failed to approve the move, and the decision prompted the resignation of then college president Zephaniah Swift Moore. Accompanied by several college faculty and students, and, according to lore, volumes taken from the Williams library, Moore ultimately founded Amherst Academy, now Amherst College. Hence the origin of Williams’ nickname for the Amherst team: “The Defectors.”
This move generated another historical event: because of Moore’s actions, Williams founded what is believed to be the oldest college Alumni Society in the world as a mechanism to save the college.
The pigskin tradition kicked off in 1884 with a sport that more resembled rugby than the football we know today.
Williams won the first few games played against Amherst, but ... there was a sporadic quality to the games ... sometimes Amherst players had to stop midway and catch the train home. [archives]
Scheduling follows an every-other-year routine. On odd years, Williams-Amherst game weekend is revered as the centerpiece of Homecoming Weekend. On even years, Williams’ Homecoming Game is against Wesleyan. These three schools make up “The Little Three,” believed to be the oldest continuous intercollegiate conference without a change in membership. Williams has won the most Little Three football titles; Amherst is second.
A Williams Homecoming staple known as “The Walk,” was dubbed “best post-game tradition in American college football” by Sports Illustrated magazine in 1992. Even those who snub football will know whether the Ephs proved victorious during Homecoming by the presence or absence of The Walk. Whether the challenger is Amherst or Wesleyan, a Williams Homecoming win is celebrated by team players walking up Spring Street, loudly singing the college fight song “Yard by Yard” to St. Pierre’s barber shop. Once at the barbershop, Eph players may opt to shave their heads, a sure sign of an Eph homecoming victory.
Until recent years, the only way to watch the game was to be in the stands. Now the Williams-Amherst game is broadcast on cable and satellite television and on Williams and Amherst college radio stations.
This year, Williams hosts the competition on Saturday, Nov. 14. Kick off is at noon (eastern time).
A 1904 Williams Record perhaps sums up best the dedication of the Eph supporters to their football team: “Can you conceive of any reason, save physical disability, or an absolute inability to secure the funds needed, which you, as a man, can present to your fellows as your justification for not attending the [Amherst] game?” (Williams Record, November 14, 1904.) [archives]
Be there!