The cover of the October 7, 1961 official football game program.
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Gridiron Glory
A Du Bois Library exhibit honors the campus’s 133-year football tradition
The history of football at UMass Amherst and its predecessor institutions is being celebrated in an exhibit on the W. E. B. Du Bois Library’s Lower Level.
“Saturday’s Rivals: Football Memories from the Aggie Eleven of 1879 to the MAC of 2012” includes posters, programs, brochures, artifacts, and photographs and will run through January 3, 2012. A related online exhibit includes additional programs and photos as well as written histories and game listings and scores for the first several decades after football began on campus in 1878 at what was then Massachusetts Agricultural College (MAC).
In 1947 the Yankee Conference was formed, comprised of New England’s six land-grant institutions: the University of Connecticut, the University of Maine, Massachusetts State College (the former M.A.C., and ultimately to become UMass Amherst), Rhode Island State College, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of Vermont. In 1997, by which time UMass Amherst had won more league titles (17) and games (160) than any other member, the Yankee Conference was taken over by the Atlantic 10 Football Conference and split in two, placing UMass Amherst in the New England Division. As of 2012 the team will play in the Mid-American Conference (MAC).
The exhibit is open during all library hours.