The Brown & White

It's the most played college football rivalry in the nation, a bitter fight that began in 1884 and continues every November. It's a rivalry that has been, at times, subdued, other times violent. And although Lehigh and Lafayette College students may swear bitter hatred for one another each November, does the rivalry live on in the months between the game and in the years following graduation?

Nine years after Fred Brehm graduated from Lehigh, he met Carrie Stotz, who had graduated from Lafayette five years prior, through a mutual friend at an Allentown dog show.

"If I had known she went to Lafayette when I met her, things might have turned out differently," Brehm said. "We're one big Lehigh-Lafayette family now, but both sides still take a lot of ribbing."

Carrie Brehm said her father was a strong supporter of Lafayette because he lived near the university, and some of her favorite memories are of attending the football games with him. She said she and her husband still attend the Lehigh-Lafayette game and tailgate with friends.

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Conflict during the Lehigh Lafayette game arguably reached its peak in 1991, during the 127th football rivalry which united students on both sides.

Eighty police officers patrolled the field to prevent the annual charge for the goalposts after the game. Not since 1948 had the posts remained erect after the game.

Hundreds of Lehigh and Lafayette students banded together to overcome the police. They fought side by side until they were sprayed with mace, tackled to the ground or arrested.

During that year's meeting, the police were able to prevent students from tearing the goal posts down, and ever since, the aggression and ferocity of the rivalry has subdued, said Tim McGeary, '99, a senior systems specialist at Linderman Library.

"The rivalry is calmer now because the administration has done a good job in keeping things from happening during halftime or during the game," McGeary said. "It seems congenial even at tailgates and more of a friendly rivalry. It's competitive, but at the end of the day the fans can walk away and still have fun with each other."

McGeary said he can see Lehigh and Lafayette are very connected.

McGeary said he appreciates how the schools use the rivalry to work together during Lehigh-Lafayette week to organize fund raisers for charity. Furthermore, he said the relationship of the schools serves as an extended network that students can easily tap into after graduation.

Engulfed in a sea of brown and white, surrounded by an explosion of taunting cheers, in the midst of the marching band's roar, it's hard to think students would ever come across the divide of the football field.

But from both schools students do not let it prevent them from interacting with their neighbors.

"I used to be on the swim team so I would have meets against Lafayette sometimes," graduate student Betsy Balaguer said. "We were friendly with them though, and there wasn't any hostility between us."

Bill Jones, '10, thinks the physical distance between the two schools does a better job than the rivalry of keeping Lafayette and Lehigh students apart.

"I don't have friends at Lafayette because there's not much communication or any connection between our schools," Jones said. "I don't care much about the rivalry."

Josh Brown, '08, who once worked for a Lafayette alumnus, said his relationship with his boss was polite, friendly and even humorous, despite the rivalry.

"We would bust on each other about it, but it wasn't anything serious," Brown said. "It was more of a 'ha-ha, we got you this time' type of riling."

Linda Lipkis, '84, decided to stay at Lehigh after graduation and now works at the music library in the Zoellner Arts Center. She said she thinks the rivalry between Lehigh and Lafayette has changed since she was a student.

"I never go to the games anymore, but anecdotally the rivalry sounds pretty healthy, although not as rabid as 1980 to 1984," Lipkis said. "Lehigh was around three-fourths male when I went here so it was really intense. I think the increase in female students has calmed things down some."

Lipkis enjoys the amount of school spirit involved in the Lehigh-Lafayette week, but she also worries about student safety.

"It's nice to see college kids get worked up over something, if not politics or something more important," Lipkis said. "I wasn't as nervous about the drinking before I became a mother, but now the excessiveness of it makes me worry about the health of the students. The rest of the rivalry is harmless fun."

Although students' perspectives of the rivalry and their attitudes toward Lafayette students may change after graduation, the memories of cheering on the Mountain Hawks from the stands in the November cold stay with alumni and keep them coming back.

"I took my 18-month-old daughter to tailgates at the Lehigh-Lafayette game this year and met up with a bunch of friends and their families," McGeary said. "Now I'm making fun new memories with them."

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Reflecting on his years at Lehigh, Brehm said he has not noticed much of a change in the annual rivalry in recent years.

"I always thought it was excessive and that it would have been more fun if it wasn't. From what I've seen, it still is excessive."

Brehm's son, Will, '08, has attended Lehigh for the past four years and they still attend the Lehigh-Lafayette game with friends. Now with their daughter Laura looking at colleges, there is hope to even the sides for the rivalry.

"Although Carrie is happy that Will goes to Lehigh," Fred wrote in an e-mail, "she secretly hopes that our daughter Laura will go to Lafayette so Carrie has someone to defend her when Fred and Will start to tease."