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Marquis Collection

Stephen Biale ’82, P’12 has been collecting Lafayette football memorabilia since the early ’80s. Here are some of the rare Rivalry items found in his personal library.

Amy Downey

In the late 1880s, when the Rivalry began, game programs were preceded by score sheets. Pictured here is Biale’s score sheet from Nov. 21, 1885, when the Pards matched up against Lehigh for just the fourth time in history.

He also treasures the Oct. 28, 1911, ticket against the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, accompanied by his photo of Carlisle’s star athlete, Jim Thorpe, on March Field.

“My collecting interest ramped up significantly as we were planning the 150th meeting between Lafayette and Lehigh,” says Biale (pictured), who is a Friends of Lafayette Football founding member and 2007 inductee into the Maroon Club Athletic Hall of Fame. The former offensive lineman and co-captain played in three Rivalry games, including the dramatic 1981 win at Lehigh that propelled the 9-2 team to the final No. 8 national ranking in NCAA Division 1-AA.

The Rutgers vs. Lafayette football game ticket from 1883—the sixth game ever played by the Pards—is perhaps Biale’s most cherished piece of Lafayette football memorabilia: “The game represents the very first win of our fledgling football program,” he says, adding that it was played on the Quad with 4 inches of snow on the ground.

Biale has 60 vintage Rivalry programs dating back to 1905 and, within the next couple of years, expects to have amassed the largest known collection. In his lot are programs from 1921 and 1926—both years that a perfect record was attained. “During those two years, Lafayette won the national football title as the best team in the land,” Biale says, noting that the third national championship occurred in 1896. Another notable piece is the 99th Rivalry program from 1963: The date was changed due to the assassination of John F. Kennedy.