In this week’s installment of our ongoing series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, the school gives up sports, violence erupts at morning prayers, and more.

August 11, 1956—Philip E. Capicotto ’56’s death only months after graduation shakes the Princeton University community. Diagnosed with cancer the previous April, Capicotto kept his condition a secret.

August 12, 1944—Due to the pressures of war, University president Harold Dodds announces that Princeton will not participate in Ivy League sporting events during the academic year, including baseball, basketball, soccer, swimming, and tennis. Princeton has already ceased participation in Ivy League football, rowing, fencing, squash, polo, golf, hockey, and gymnastics.

Princeton in wartime, ca. 1942. Historical Photograph Collection, Campus Life Series (AC112), Box SP18, Image No. 4431.

August 14, 1986—Shashi Ramakrishna ’86, who had disappeared from campus 7 months earlier, is found in Troy, New York.

August 15, 1805—An argument between two students during morning prayers results in one student stabbing the other. The freshman later confesses but says there were mitigating circumstances: the other student “wished to sit on his head” and “he did not intend to wound him so badly as he had done in the heat of passion.” He is later suspended, but ultimately completes his degree.

For last week’s installment in this series, click here.

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