Penn Football shuts out Princeton, 7-0
October 17, 1936
60 years after their first meeting, Penn shut out Princeton in a one-touchdown matchup.
This solo touchdown was achieved on a 57-yard punt return by team captain Lew Elverson, a member of the mid to late-1930's single-wing "Destiny Backfield."
The night before the game, there was a rally in the Quad, where the players pumped up the huge crowd that had gathered, according to E. Craig Sweeten (W'37) in a Penn Gazette interview.
Many years later the football alums from the class of 1937 presented the game ball, which read the final game score, in addition to other game and team memorabilia for a display on the fifth floor of Van Pelt.
Though Princeton was held scoreless in this mid-October matchup, the Tigers came close to catching the Quakers on multiple occasions.
The Tigers made it across the Quakers' 10-yard line five times in the game, at one point coming within two yards of the end zone. But the defense held their own.
Coach Harvey Harman said it was the team's "guts" that lead to the win, according to letsgoquakers.com.
The same year, this squad took down powerhouses such as Michigan.
Harman left Penn with the class of 1937 the following year, heading over to Rutgers. He was replaced by coach George Munger.
In the 1936 season, the Red and Blue only gave up more than seven points once, going 7-1 that season. It would take a few rebuilding years to get back to such a record.
