D-III GameDay

As I write this, I’m watching the first-ever broadcast of ESPN College GameDay from a Division III campus. I was a bit surprised a couple days ago when I found out that this week’s show was going to originate from Williamstown, Massachusetts, for the rivalry game between the Amherst College Lord Jeffs and the Williams College Ephs (you’ve gotta love those nicknames!). It’s the 4th-most-played rivalry in all of college football, and the oldest in Division III, and these two schools really don’t like each other. Seriously, Amherst College was founded when Zephaniah Swift Moore bolted from Williams College, taking with him several students, professors — and even some library books! Williams has never forgotten. Now *that’s* a rivalry!
Being an alum of a D-III school (Gustavus Adolphus College), I’m thrilled that ESPN is giving some love to Division III colleges, and giving the rest of the nation a peek at what I think is the most pure form of collegiate athletics, as Division III schools put academics first and don’t offer any athletic scholarships. These student-athletes really are students first, athletes second, and that’s how it should be (average SAT scores? 1430 for Amherst, 1420 for Williams; it also costs $45k per year to attend both schools, yikes!). That being said, I still harbor a wee bit of animosity toward Williams College, as back in 2003 the Williams Ephs beat the Gustavus Adolphus Golden Gusties 67-65 for the Division III National Championship in men’s basketball. Yet in watching this show, and hearing them talk about D-III, I can’t help but have a sense of pride for my D-III brethren. Hopefully GameDay will come back to another D-III game someday, as there are a lot of great rivalries and great games out there.