Tiger Helmet

Princeton's orange and black "Tiger Helmet" is a distinctive piece of the University's sports tradition. Designed by legendary Hall of Fame coach Herbert O. "Fritz" Crisler and first worn by the undefeated national championship team of 1935, this colorful headgear is a link to one of the great eras in the heralded football history of Old Nassau. The helmet was styled to represent a fighting tiger with its ears glared back and three symbolic orange-stripes running sleekly from front to back and matches the traditional tiger striping on the jersey. At a time when all helmets were similar, Coach Crisler thought that this highly visible emblem would help quarterbacks more readily find their downfield receivers. When Crisler left Princeton in 1938, he took the helmet design with him to Michigan, where in maize and blue it became an icon of that university's football program. This distinctive helmet design which originated at Princeton - where intercollegiate football was born - is a reminder to students, alumni, fans and worthy opponents of all the great Tiger players who ever proudly represented Old Nassau on the gridiron.

Tiger Uniform

In 1880 the Princeton football team adopted an orange and black striped jersey with alternating stripes on both the body and the full-length sleeves. It was about this time that a newspaper account credited the men from Nassau Hall with fighting like Tigers.

Princeton's orange derives from the fact that its original college building, Nassau Hall, was named in the "immortal memory" of William of Orange of the House of Nassau. The black came about because it was the only color ink available when the Class of 1869 wanted its class numerals printed on orange badges to wear for a baseball game with Yale in 1868. At the Saratoga Regatta in 1874, Princeton crews wore orange and black, and since that year these have been recognized.

Move your mouse over Dick Kazmaier's Photo to see the current uniform.