Hours before the Scarlet Knights’ 63-14 bowl-clinching victory over Louisville, the big football action was at the Rutgers University bookstore. About 100 fans and media members lined up for a two-hour session of interviews, photo-ops, and book signings focused on a new book by Thomas J. Frusciano, Rutgers University Football Vault: The History of the Scarlet Knights.

Appearing at the bookstore with Frusciano were Brian Leonard of the National Football League's St. Louis Rams, a member of Class of 2007 and five-year standout Rutgers running back, and David Finegold, dean of the School of Management and Labor Relations, where Leonard majored.

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The book chronicles Rutgers football from the world’s first intercollegiate game in 1869, to the 2008 International Bowl win in Toronto, and “definitely contains the most extensive collection of historical material relating to Rutgers football for public consumption,” said Frusciano, Rutgers' university archivist. 

Weighing in at nearly five pounds, the book is heavy on historical descriptions, photographs, and drawings. It is also crammed with nearly four dozen reproductions of artifacts – tickets, banners, programs, snapshots – that the reader can actually lift out of the pages to feel the history.

“Much of the photography and memorabilia was donated over the years by alumni,” said Frusciano, who began research and writing last March.. “It is just a small sampling of material that is in the university archives.”

The book includes a foreword by Greg Schiano, head coach, and an afterword by Leonard, who was in town for the Louisville matchup – his first home game since he closed out his college career in 2006. Asked what message he’d like to send to Rutgers faculty and staff, Leonard said, “Thanks for the best five years of my life.”

Finegold noted that Leonard had completed his career by winning the Draddy Trophy, known as the Academic Heisman. “It’s a testament to Brian’s academic record that he is not only featured in the book, but he wrote the afterword. It really underscores the fact that we have student athletes here, not just athletes.”

An archivist for 25 years, Frusciano said his book’s goal is “to place Rutgers into a larger context of college football history, particularly at certain periods of time when the game changed in style.” Specifically he pointed out the shift from soccer and rugby to the modern game, the calls for reform that took place because of the violent nature of the game around 1900, and the reaction to the game's wild popularity in the 1920s.

What really grabbed Frusciano as he worked on the book? “If anything, I would say how important football was to Rutgers students – past and present. It played such an important part of collegiate life, particularly when we were a small college. This was not unique to Rutgers, but it was fascinating seeing how football dominated the social scene on campus.”

Frusciano said that although it came as no surprise, he was also struck by the resiliency of Paul Robeson who attended and played at Rutgers from 1915 to 1918.  “As one of the very few African Americans playing college football at the time, he was subjected to enormous prejudice but endured it to become an All-American. His subsequent career as a singer, actor, and political activist brought both praise and scorn – but he remains the most famous Rutgers alumnus,” Frusciano said.

The Rutgers University Football Vault: The History of the Scarlet Knights is part of the “Football Vault” series from Whitman Publishing of Atlanta. The 144-page hardcover 12-inch-by-10-inch book with slipcase is available for $49.95 in bookstores. The book also can be ordered at www.CollegeVaultBooks.com.