History Section
Created
5/27/01;
Updated
2/6/26

 





Featured Historical Research and Articles
One of the goals of this site is to explore the history of football at Northwestern.  Below are links to some of the original research into NU football history, and links to articles regarding the history of the 'Cats.

Here is a comprehensive history of NU's uniform,
from "NWU" jerseys to Under Armour...
 
The gallery covering 1895-1985 of
football program cover artwork...
 

HTP has expanded its section describing NU's first game in 1876, a game that makes NU the oldest football team in the midwest...
 

Research provides several NU games
not in the official records...
 

Northwestern's surprisingly long connection
with the color black...
 

NU first played Michigan in
an epic game on Chicago's south side...
 

A "warm-up" game turns into
a brawl for the ages...
In 2003, evidence came to light of NU's
tenth win in 1903...
  

Bio of College Football Hall of Fame
member Jimmy Johnson...
 

In 2005, the 'Cats celebrated 100 years of
playing football on Central Street...
  

What were the circumstances after the
Chicago Tribune called NU "The Wildcats"?
   

The list of all of the Wildcats historical trophies,
  including information about the Fire Bell...
   

The Wildcats were the first college team
to wear modern plastic helmets...

Visual proof that Art Murakowski's
1949 Rose Bowl touchdown was good...
  

NU's unique, most noteworthy tradition had a relatively brief history...

Here is a detailed timeline of
Northwestern's Rose Bowl season...



Don't miss historical info in other sections, including Photos, 'Cat Data Extra (with info about home game site history, attendance records, and homecoming records), Bowl Histories, Lost Fight Songs, and more.


Non-Football Historical Research and Articles

The weird 100-year history of NU's annual candle ceremony...
 
Audio recordings made by NU students
in 1949 that documented student life...



Northwestern Wildcat Football: The Book

The 2005 book about NU football history is still available...




NU Football: An Anecdotal History
During the offseason HailToPurple.com occasionally posts small excerpts from Gary Barnett's High Hopes, Walter Paulison's Tale of the Wildcats, local newspaper columns, and several other sources that give anecdotal histories of Northwestern Football.  Click below to view the history passages, in the order of the events they describe.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three
NU's official football results (which can be found in the media guide)  include the dates of each game, the opponent played, the location and the score.  However, for many games between 1882 and 1937 some of this information used to be missing.   Using Tale of the Wildcats, James Howell's Web site research, old copies of the Daily Northwestern and the Chicago Tribune,  and other schools' media guides, I filled in some of the holes that were in the Northwestern football media guide's official history and game-by-game results. Here is the HailToPurple PDF file: history.pdf
Update: Northwestern has updated its official team history, and it has filled in much of the missing information as of 2025.