The School, the Gym, the Coach

Perhaps no United States college or university has changed more in the last one hundred years than Rutgers.  Founded in 1766, the school, then known as Queens College, was founded, like other colonial colleges, primarily to prepare young men for the ordained ministry, in this case the Dutch Reformed Church.  Unfortunately, the denomination was one of the smallest in the United States and unable to provide any significant financial support.  Gradually separating itself from the church during the 19th century, Rutgers began to achieve some degree of financial stability during the Civil War while also becoming New Jersey's land grant college, thereby adding agriculture and the manual arts to the school's classical curriculum.  By the time basketball arrived on the banks in 1907, however, the school was still quite small with a student body of 236.  The size of the student body almost doubled over the next decade and by the beginning of the 1919-20 academic year was approaching 700.  Tuition that year had increased by 50% to an unprecedented $150 and was scheduled to go up another $50 the following year which with fees of $70 would push the cost of an academic year to almost $300 probably about the equivalent of $5,500 today, still a bargain by modern terms.

Daily Home News - January 31, 1907

When basketball arrived at Rutgers a decade after the first college game, it did so not because of student demand for an indoor winter sport, but as a means of supporting the school's football team.  In January of 1907, football coach Frank Gorton announced the introduction of basketball on both the inter-class and intercollegiate level.  According to Gorton, the new emphasis on passing in football meant that the "college that does not play basketball will be greatly handicapped in the great fall game" so "Rutgers cannot afford to go on another year without basketball."  In addition to a series of intramural contests, a team representing Rutgers was to play two games with New York University and one with Lehigh.  The school's first intercollegiate game was played at NYU on January 18, 1907 and not surprisingly for a new team, resulted in a 20 point loss.  Far less understandable was a 88-23 shellacking at the hands of Lehigh where the Home News incredibly claimed "The game was more closely played than the score would indicate." Although the team showed improvement in a one point loss in a return match against NYU, the team would have to wait until the following season, for it's first victory, a win over Manhattan on December 19, 1907.

Ballantine Gymnasium

Both the 1907 season ending loss to NYU and the victory over Manhattan were played at Ballantine Gym, the first home of Rutgers basketball.  Ballantine Gym opened its doors in April of 1894 thanks to a $60,000 donation from Robert F. Ballantine a trustee of the school.  Thanks to a further gift from his widow, a pool was added in 1915.  By that point, however, the amount of intercollegiate basketball played there had been spotty at best.  Perhaps because of the somewhat mixed motivation for taking up the game, the sport was dropped after the second season with a combined record of 4-14.  Basketball returned in 1913 with little success over the next two years as the team managed only three wins against 10 losses.  While it wasn't obvious at the time, a major change for the better came in 1915 with the arrival of Frank J. Hill as head coach.  Although Frank Hill has been well recognized by the schools where he coached, detailed information about his long basketball career, especially before he went into coaching is somewhat sketchy.  According to the Pro Basketball Encyclopedia Hill was "one of the best centers of the early years of professional basketball" who played for the Paterson Crescents around 1910 when the team played in the Hudson River League, an early pro league.

Frank Hill - Pro Basketball Encyclopedia

As his pro career, wound down, Hill branched out into both coaching and officiating.   In a 35 year career as an official, Hill quickly earned an "outstanding reputation" to the point that he was the only official to work the New Jersey high school tournament (a much smaller affair) for the event's first 16 years.  Even more unique was Hill's career as a coach which began at St. Benedict's Prep in Newark which he followed by adding Seton Hall University and Rutgers to his portfolio.  As hard as it may seem to believe, Hill coached all three teams at the same time while simultaneously holding a full time job with the Newark water department.   The feat is somewhat explained by the fact that at the time the coach's role during games was much more limited because of the prohibition on reentry limited substitutions and the coach could not speak to the players during the game.  The captain's role was much greater and included running practice when the coach wasn't available.   After only a 7-9 record in his first two seasons, Hill led Rutgers to winning seasons the next two years setting the stage as the team began preparations for the historic 1919-20 season.