Each Thursday throughout the fall semester, we'll be bringing you a historical feature that looks back at some major moments and individuals throughout the course of athletics history at Slippery Rock. For our final “Throwback Thursday” feature this semester, we’ll take a look back at Slippery Rock’s 1937 game against Boston University at Fenway Park, which ultimately set SRU on its path to becoming America's favorite small-college football team.

There is little doubt that football is the most popular college sport in America. Countless studies and polls have proven this to be a fact. However, even with its national popularity, at its core college football is a sport rooted in regional isolation. 

Despite today’s unlimited technological possibilities that makes staying up to date with teams from one corner of the country to the other easier than ever, the fact is that of the 759 collegiate football teams competing at any of the four NCAA Division levels (FBS, FCS, II, III), or in the NAIA, only a small fraction of programs have any sort of national prominence.

Being known outside of your region, or even your own state in many cases, is a virtual impossibility for schools below the top division of the NCAA. So just how did Slippery Rock University, which has been dubbed by former USA Today writer Erik Brady as “USA’s college football cult team”, achieve its own national notoriety? 

Every great super hero has a rare origin story and Slippery Rock football is no different. The program’s assent to national fame began 84 years ago and included a game at historic Fenway Park.

For this week’s “Throwback Thursday” feature, we’ll take a look back at Slippery Rock’s 1937 game against Boston University at Fenway Park, which ultimately set SRU on its path to becoming America's favorite small-college football team.

The Slippery Rock football program began in 1898. Like the vast majority of college football teams during that time, SRU spent its first 38 years of existence competing against other local colleges and high schools unheard of outside of its own little corner of the world. In fact, of Slippery Rock’s first 250 games, only 22 were played against teams hailing outside of Pennsylvania. But that was all about to change.

The Rock football mystique began to take shape in 1936 due to a controversy over which team, the University of Minnesota or the University of Pittsburgh, deserved to be the top-ranked team in the country. 

Both the Associated Press and the Dickinson System ranked Minnesota first. The Football Annual and various coaches polls, including the United Press International ranking, picked Pittsburgh. One journalist thought the argument was foolish. To prove it, he wrote a story supporting Slippery Rock, which went 6-3 in 1936, as the No. 1 team in the nation using the transitive property method.

Backtracking across the scores from the 1936 season, the journalist proved his point: Slippery Rock beat Westminster, which beat West Virginia Wesleyan, which beat Duquesne, which beat Pitt, which beat Notre Dame, which beat Northwestern, which beat Minnesota. Therefore, Slippery Rock should be No. 1.

Readers of the article, which was reprinted by newspapers all over the country, enjoyed a story that poked fun at big football schools and supported a small one. They loved the name "Slippery Rock." As a name for a typical small school, it seemed almost too good to be true.

One such person who was quite fond of the Slippery Rock name long before its “national championship” was legendary journalist Bill Cunningham of the Boston Globe and Boston Herald. Cunningham so often referenced Slippery Rock in his columns throughout the 1930s that SRU began to gain quite a following in New England.

With Slippery Rock’s popularity at an all-time high, Cunningham spearheaded a campaign to bring Slippery Rock to Boston in 1937 to play the Terriers of Boston University; which played their home games at Fenway Park. 

While Cunningham continued to champion the idea of Slippery Rock coming to Boston publicly, Dr. A.P. Vincent, Slippery Rock’s faculty manager of athletics, negotiated the details with Boston University officials privately. Finally a deal was reached for Slippery Rock to play Boston University on Oct. 9, 1937 at Fenway Park. Cunningham, who was known for his sense of humor, wrote of the announcement:

“It is this way, Mr. Toastmaster, Invited Guests, Ladies, Gentlemen and any others, my Alma Mater that I have never attended is coming to town to play a game of football. Yas, suh, Good ol’ Slippery Rock. Ol’ Soapy Pebble, ol’ Greasy Boulder, herself, in person and not a talking picture. Boston University is to be the party of the second part and I want to warn them now that they’d better get ready.”

Just like that, Slippery Rock was set to play its first game outside of the Pennsylvania-Ohio-West Virginia tri-state area.

Slippery Rock entered the 1937 season after having won six of its final seven games to end the 1936 campaign. The Rock’s 1937 roster featured 13 newcomers and 28 returners including senior quarterback Raymond Meals, fullback Loyal Briggs and end Roy Van Horn. However, Slippery Rock did lose the majority of its offensive line from the previous season.

Before Slippery Rock could turn its focus to Boston it had to play games against West Chester University and Waynesburg University to start the year. To say the season got off to a rough start would be an understatement. Slippery Rock first lost on the road at West Chester, 7-0, followed by a 21-0 loss to Waynesburg. The Rock’s new offensive line was blamed for the lackluster offense to start the year.

Making matters worse was the fact that injuries were starting to take its toll on Slippery Rock early on. Among the injured were Van Horn (fractured fibula) and starting center Johnny Beckert (pulled muscle). Slippery Rock entered its much-anticipated road game winless, without a point scored and beat up.

10,000 fans filled into Fenway Park to watch Slippery Rock and the Terriers square off. Boston scored two touchdowns on reverses within the opening four minutes of the first quarter, recorded a pair of goal line stands and resorted to the hidden ball trick for another touchdown on the way to a 20-0 victory against the visiting Rock squad that by all accounts provided the Terriers with more competition than was anticipated. 

Despite the loss, Slippery Rock received a hero’s welcome nationwide as the small school’s scrappy play was applauded in newspapers like the New York Times, Boston Herald and numerous other large media organizations across the country. This was not a 15-minutes of fame situation; Slippery Rock was here to stay. 

Slippery Rock built on its popularity in the years following the trip to Fenway Park as it maintained its national exposure as welcomed guests far and wide. In 1963, SRU was invited to play Northeast Oklahoma State in the All-Sports Bowl in Oklahoma City. A year later Slippery Rock was granted the opportunity to play in the famed Rose Bowl in front of 15,000 people against California State – Los Angeles. 

Slippery Rock made three trips across the country in the early ‘70s to Thibodaux, Louisiana (Nicholls State University) in 1972, Tacoma, Washington (University Puget Sound) in 1973 and Kingsville, Texas in 1976 (Texas A&M University Kingsville). 

In 1979, and again in 1981, The Rock played games at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. Slippery Rock drew 61,143 fans - to this day, the largest crowd to see an NCAA Division II football game – for its 1979 game against Shippensburg University and attracted 30,000 fans for its 1981 season-opening game against Wayne State University.

The foundation for the trips to Ann Arbor were laid many years prior when Steve Filipiak, public address announcer at Michigan Stadium from 1959-71, included Slippery Rock games among the scores he would announce during Michigan contests. Click HERE to read more about The Rock’s storied relationship with the University of Michigan.

Slippery Rock made its first trip to Florida in 1990 when it met Central Florida in the season finale at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. In 1998, The Rock opened their season against South Florida in the final game played in Tampa Stadium. 

SRU traveled back to the sunshine state in 2001 when it opened the year at Pro Player Stadium (Now known as Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami as the first-ever foe for Florida Atlantic University, which was led at the time by Hall of Fame head coach Howard Schnellenberger. 25,632 spectators watched on as Slippery Rock defeated FAU, 40-7, behind four rushing touchdowns from The Rock’s running back duo of Dorrian Glenn and Brandon Markus. 

Its latest noteworthy road game happened seven seasons ago when Slippery Rock returned to “The Big House” for a third time as SRU and Mercyhurst were invited by the University of Michigan to compete in what was dubbed “The Big House Battle” on Oct. 18, 2014. The game drew 15,121 people despite heavy rain and frigid temperatures throughout the day.

"Slippery Rock has a special place in the hearts of our fans," said Dave Brandon, who was at the time the Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics, in 2013. "We have embraced this relationship for decades and thought now would be the appropriate time to entertain another game at Michigan Stadium."

All of these road games through the years have enabled Slippery Rock to capture the attention and hearts of college football fans from all over the country thanks to an 83-year old fictitious national championship claim, a quirky sportswriter and a unique name.

While Slippery Rock has won the hearts of many fans nationwide thanks to the funny name, the quality of the football played on the field certainly hasn't hurt its reputation. The University of Michigan and other major programs that still announce SRU scores get to announce a lot more wins than losses, especially in the most recent decade. The Rock are coming off the best season in school history after winning 13 straight games last fall and reaching the NCAA Division II semifinals before finishing the year with a 13-1 record that included PSAC and Super Region titles. 

Whenever those fans get to see the Green and White take the field again, one thing is for certain - they'll have plenty to cheer for.

To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on Twitter (@Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics) and Instagram (RockAthletics).