The Touchdown Club sponsors:
An endowed scholarship, The Greg Schiano Show on MSG Network, football
games on WCTC Radio, the Scarlet Knight's Horse, and the annual Football
Awards and Hall of Fame Banquet.

The History of the Touchdown Club of New Brunswick
As told by Paul B. Jennings, M.D. – Referee in 1965 & Member starting 1955

This history is based on my memory of the fun and camaraderie of Touchdown Club meetings held at noon at the recently demolished Roger Smith Hotel on Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick. I can’t vouch for total accuracy but feel safe from reprisals since only Bob Ochs remains alive from the first referees! (Note: The presidents of the Club were referred to as Referees)

It is my understanding that the club was started by a group of downtown New Brunswick business men and merchants including New Brunswick Mayor Chet Paulus who owned the Paulus Dairy jointly with with his brothers John E. Paulus (Referee in 1948), and Reinhold (Sonny) Paulus. Some of my information came from Lou Migliorini who owned Rutgers Chevrolet.

The club apparently stemmed from the so-called “paving fund” started by Coach Harvey Harman when he came to Rutgers from the University of Pennsylvania.

This group of men would contribute money directly to needy football players or through the coaching staff to help with tuition, room and board and spending money. This was apparently an acceptable practice in the days before athletic scholarships, Scarlet R or the Rutgers Foundation. And most importantly, prior to the strict NCAA oversight of college athletics.

From the group the Touchdown Club evolved to hold weekly Friday meetings during the eight game season. During his tenure as President of Rutgers, Mason Gross attended most of the meetings sitting at the head table next to the Referee and often participated in the meeting.

A full luncheon or club sandwich would be served for a nominal price followed by remarks by the Head Coach and the showing of the films of the previous game and a scouting report of the next day’s game.

The meetings rarely lasted longer than one hour since the members had to return to their offices or stores – 3 consecutive referees were haberdashers in New Brunswick (Herb Fixler, Lou Wolfson and Luke Horvath).

Amazingly in this short time the entire game film was shown by the coach including his comments. Once there was a caustic remark by the usually affable Dr. John Bateman to a critic in the darkened room “I don’t know anything about your business either”.

Another feature of the meetings was “Pigskin Pickings” orchestrated by team dentist and one time referee Joel Fertig. Each week a list of college games scheduled for the next day was available. The object was to pick the winners no point spread involved. There were about 15-20 games which always included Rutgers and often included such power houses as Slippery Rock, Lebanon and Ursinus.

The results – first and last place were read the following week. The winner would receive two tickets to a Rutgers game. The fun began when there was a tie (sometimes there were 3, 4 or 5 way ties). Joel had a unique way of breaking ties –he used trivia questions mostly, but sometimes when there were multiple winners the finalists blew up balloons until they burst. I remember once a ROTC Colonel became a little blustery when he won and Matt Bolger – a Rutgers’s coach – muttered some remark about “hot air.”

Contestants some times were asked to sing to break a tie. It was hilarious when Herb Fixler, who was Jewish, went on singing multiple verses of “Onward Christian Soldiers” after the Reverend Danny Smith dropped out after one verse. Danny was minister at a Dutch Reformed Church in Millstone. The congregation could always tell when Rutgers won – Danny preached in scarlet socks – after a loss, his socks matched his black robes.

The good natured ribbing continued through the meetings, possibly related to the bar in the next room – often visited before, during, and after the meeting. The class of ’38 was particularly vocal led by Ed Isaacs. Class loyalty was a regular issue accentuated by class cheers.

Incidentally – the “men only” membership and the tales my father and I told about the meetings was directly responsible for my mother Viola Jennings joining with some other women and founding the Football Fan-ees.

Referees of the Touchdown Club, included mayors, a county Freeholder, a state Senator, two former Rutgers football players, a father-son combo (Chet and Bill Snedekor), a physician, a judge, insurance executives and local merchants. Some were Rutgers alumni and some were not, team loyalty was the only prerequisite.

It is ironic that an organization whose roots sprang from fund raising had its temporary demise partially because Scarlet R, a relatively new arm of the Rutgers Foundation, somehow viewed the Touchdown Club as competitive and wanted to take over some of its functions.

To his credit – Brian Crockett, former Scarlet R Director, was a supporter in its re-birth. Its now a much larger and a much different Club which complements the Scarlet R. We live in a different era. Rutgers football and the city of New Brunswick have changed.

The “old” Touchdown Club lasted about 50 years – served a great purpose and most of all was a lot of fun with the constant benefit of a 1 hour respite from the work week.