Email This PageThe Old Pigskin
More than 200 guests—including about 70 alumni—attended last November’s revival of the Delta Upsilon (DU) Pig Roast, held on the 10th anniversary of Swarthmore’s final football game—a 16–6 defeat of Washington & Lee on Nov. 11, 2000. To mark the occasion, DU alumnus Tom Elverson ’75, son of the late coach Lew Elverson, presented President Rebecca Chopp with this 1904 football relic. The ball had been found in a storage room in the Department of Physical Education and Athletics and was restored by DU. Among the guests at the pig roast were many alumni who had played football and Peter Alvanos, the team’s final coach, whose remarks focused on the need to reconcile the wounds caused by the elimination of the sport. Many in the audience agreed that the DU event went a long way toward achieving that goal. The 107-year-old pigskin is currently on display in the hospitality room of the Tarble Pavilion, overlooking Clothier Fields.
