Brown vs. Coast Guard Football Game

On a fair April Saturday in 1942, Brown and the Coast Guard Academy played a historic football game on Brown Field to benefit the U.S. Coast Guard Welfare Fund. Since the winter entry of the U.S. into World War II, college athletics were markedly impacted, with teams dropped and traditional schedules changed, as schools assumed a wartime footing with year-long operation. Team rosters were in flux, as players came and went for campus-based military training. 

 

In the game program (15 cents), which featured a photo of the Brown NROTC Unit on the cover, the Coast Guard Superintendent stated that "the only justification for college athletics is to support the war effort." Brown President Wriston and the Superintendent welcomed the beginning of athletic relations between the two schools, and the latter noted that this was "the first intercollegiate football contest of the present war."

 

The game itself was attended by 5,000 spectators, who paid $1.10 for admission, as did the 13 members of the working press. Game officials and others donated services and materials, resulting in a $4,742.73 profit for the Welfare Fund. Brown won the contest 19–6, with "Doc" Savage ’44 scoring two touchdowns and Bob Margarita ’44 adding the third Brown tally.