Arnold Friberg was commissioned in 1968 to compose a portrait commemorating the centennial observance of what is regarded as the first American intercollegiate football game, played between Rutgers College (now Rutgers University) and the visiting College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) on November 6, 1869 at College Field in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

It was played in front of approximately 100 spectators, including a Rutgers professor who is reported to have waved his umbrella at the participants while yelling, “You will come to no Christian end!”

Rutgers won, 6-4.