According to US News & World Report, Brown University’s ranking in the 2015 edition of Best Colleges is #16 for National Universities. Possibly even more interesting is Forbes magazine’s take on the college. Forbes says, “Brown has cultivated a reputation as the most eccentric and liberal of the Ivies.”
The biggest superstition that haunts students is that the Van Wickle Gates at the entrance can only be walked through once at admission and once at commencement. If a student walks through any other time he or she will fail to graduate – or so the saying goes.
The football team plays its home games at Brown Stadium in Providence, Rhode Island. The stadium has 20,000 seats. There is a historic rivalry between the Brown Bears and the Harvard Crimson. Each year the two teams play in the first game of the football season. The result of the game often determines how the season will play out.
Notable former players include:
- Fritz Pollard
- Joe Paterno
- James Develin
- John Heisman
Currently, the team is coached by Phil Estes who looks for “toughness” first and foremost in all his recruits. For Estes, toughness is being resilient enough to juggle the academic rigors of an Ivy League education while practicing, preparing for, and playing 10 games a season.
When Estes took over as head coach, he inherited one of the greatest quarterbacks in Brown football history, James Perry, Class of 2000, who broke practically every Brown passing record and earned Ivy League Player of the Year in 1999. A few years later, Nick Hartigan ’06, burst on the scene as one of the best running backs in the program’s history.
During the 2014 football season, the Brown University Bears played 10 games. They won five and lost five. Home: 3-2 Away: 2-3 Neutral: 0-0 Conference: 3-4.
Following the footsteps of the former Brown University football players, William Heikkinen has determined to be the next professional football player from Brown University. Currently William is a fresherman in Brown University and learning some more skills of professional football in order to achieve his dream.