To the Editor:
The well-researched and written piece on the Brown-Harvard football rivalry was one of the most informative sports stories published in The Herald in recent memory. It laid out in vivid detail the significant disparity in results over the 123 games played against Harvard since 1893. While Brown has been on the short end of the scoreboard for the vast majority of the contests, it is important to point out one major factor in the lopsided results: home-field advantage.
In the early days of competition, Harvard rarely left the confines of Harvard Stadium to play the Bears, or anyone else except their Big Three opponents Yale and Princeton. For the first 23 games between 1893 and 1915, Bruno had no wins. In the decade that followed, the Crimson and Bears traded wins and losses before Harvard finally ventured to Providence in 1925 to help dedicate Brown’s new stadium. There, Harvard escaped with a narrow 3-0 victory. Besides one game at Brown Field in 1945, the Bears continued to play Harvard on the road until 1952, when in conjunction with an Ivy Group Agreement, the Crimson made a courtesy call at Brown. The call was answered with a 28-21 victory from a Brown team that won only two games that season. From that point on, it took another 10 seasons for Harvard to agree to begin alternating home and away games. Finally, beginning in 1963, the teams began alternating meetings between Providence and Cambridge, a tradition which continues today.
Playing at home is clearly an advantage in sports. We can only speculate about whether a 50-50 home and away schedule over 123 games with Harvard would have altered the cumulative record. Brown’s almost 30% winning record at home would indicate that it would have.
Peter Mackie ’59
