The Washington & Jefferson Presidents football team represents Washington & Jefferson College in collegiate level football. The team competes in NCAA Division III and is affiliated with the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC). Since its founding in 1890, the team has played their home games at College Field, which was remodeled and renamed Cameron Stadium in 2001.
A number of players were named to the College Football All-America Team, and two players, Pete Henry and Edgar Garbisch, have been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. Several other former players have gone on to play professionally, including "Deacon" Dan Towler, Russ Stein, and Pete Henry, who was also elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the National Football League (NFL) 1920s All-Decade Team. The team has been coached by some of the best-known coaches in football history, including John Heisman, Greasy Neale, and Andy Kerr.Founded in 1890, the team quickly became well known for drawing large crowds and defeating a number of prominent football teams. The faculty and administration expressed concern over the strength of the team and made efforts to reduce the influence of professionalism on the players. During the 1910s, some sportswriters suggested that the Presidents were one of the top teams in the nation. The greatest achievement in the team's history was in 1921, when the Presidents appeared in the 1922 Rose Bowl, playing the heavily favored California Golden Bears to a scoreless tie. The Red and Black finished the season with a share of the 1921 national championship, as retrospectively named in the 1930s by the Boand System. As college football evolved in the 1930s and 1940s, the Presidents fell far behind their larger competitors, who were able to offer scholarships for their players. Controversy over the poor play of the football team, and a lack of play against larger teams, contributed to the resignation of a college president. In 1958 the team joined the newly-formed NCAA College Division and the Presidents' Athletic Conference. In the 1970s the team joined NCAA Division III when the NCAA split the College Division. By the 1980s, the team had learned to thrive in that environment, winning a number of conference championships and regularly qualifying for the NCAA Division III playoffs.
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