{"id":170239,"date":"2025-09-11T08:05:39","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T12:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=170239"},"modified":"2025-09-11T16:20:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T20:20:19","slug":"15-for-150-moments-from-bates-footballs-sesquicentennial-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2025\/09\/11\/15-for-150-moments-from-bates-footballs-sesquicentennial-history\/","title":{"rendered":"15 for 150: Moments from Bates football\u2019s sesquicentennial history"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It\u2019s been a century and a half since Bates played host to the first football game in Maine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1875, the first game was a roughhouse affair, against Tufts, with a rudimentary set of rules but a purpose that has endured through the years: a chance to compete athletically, with high energy and high ideals, and to create connections and friendships of a lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To celebrate the sesquicentennial, Bates has scheduled a series of events<\/a>, including on-field festivities, coinciding with the season opener vs. Amherst at 1 p.m. on Sept. 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To celebrate the anniversary<\/a>, here are 15 uniquely Bates football moments from 150 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nov. 6, 1875: Maine\u2019s first college football game<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Tufts and Bates played the first college football game in Maine on Nov. 6, 1875.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Charlie Clark \u201951 wrote in Bates Through the Years<\/em>, the first game was \u201cgreeted at the time with some hilarity.\u201d Few Bates players knew the rules, and none had played before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This inscribed stone rests under the flagpoles at the northwest corner of Garcelon Field. (Jay Burns\/Bates College)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the days before the game, the Bates Student <\/em>noted student enthusiasm. \u201cEvery man who had failed to distinguish himself in baseball seemed possessed with the idea that here was an opportunity to immortalize himself.<\/p>\n\n\n

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James W. Smith, Class of 1877, played in the first football game. The Bates Student<\/em> praised his play. “Whenever he laid his hands on a man, he stopped, and in the dust sat down.” (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cTall and short, lean and stout, quick and slow, active and clumsy have all rushed into this new game. Shirts have been torn, coats curtailed, boots ruined, and shins bruised; but, never mind, it\u2019s fun and good exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bemused tone continued with the Lewiston Evening Journal<\/em>\u2019s coverage: \u201cOccasionally, 10 or 12 men got into a promiscuous scramble for the possession of the ball\u2026and came forth rubbing their shins and using such phrases as, \u2018Gracious juggernaut.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rules as published in the Student<\/em>: \u201cNo one wearing projecting nails, iron plates, or gutta percha on the soles or heels of his boots shall be allowed to play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a history of Bates football, Adelbert Jakeman, Class of 1927, noted an ulterior purpose of that first game: \u201cto form an acquaintance with the students\u201d from a fellow college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Oct. 26, 1889: Football promises to transform a \u2018dooryard dreamer\u2019 into a \u2018cosmopolitan\u2019<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Bates played only one football game in the decade of the 1880s, but there was lots of talk both on campus and across the country about how the new college sport could teach lessons in manhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 1893 team poses after its game vs. Colby on Oct. 4, 1893. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On Oct. 26, 1889, the Lewiston Saturday Journal <\/em>reprinted a letter from an unnamed Bates alumnus<\/a> urging the college to re-adopt the game. Football, the writer said, can knock the \u201cbow-kneed slovenliness\u201d out of a young man, and shake out the \u201chayseed element,\u201d language consistent with how football was being viewed as a route to manliness<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In football, a young man \u201chas got to wake, he has got to stir himself and at the same time he learns something of the universal struggle necessary to gain a foothold anywhere.\u201d The physicality of football, he wrote, \u201cmakes a cosmopolitan out of a dooryard dreamer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sole game played in the decade was versus an experienced Bowdoin team, a 62\u20130 loss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Oct. 29, 1898: Bates defeats Bowdoin in a historic \u2018nerve destroyer\u2019<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

By the 1890s, football was booming nationwide. In Maine, an historic Bates\u2013Bowdoin rivalry was taking root. Bowdoin had easily won the first five games of the series, but Bates broke through with a 10\u20136 win at Bowdoin in 1897. It was the first time Bowdoin had been defeated by a Maine college, which set the stage for high drama in Lewiston in 1898<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Garcelon Field not yet finished, the 1898 game was played at foggy Lee Park, a circus grounds near campus, with Bates upsetting its rivals, 6\u20130, in a bruising battle before 2,500 fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This commemorative paperweight depicts William Saunders\u2019 gate-winning touchdown (at right) vs. Bowdoin on Oct. 29, 1898. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Bates hero was William Allen Saunders, Class of 1899, a guard from Virginia who powered into the end zone for the game\u2019s lone touchdown. Newspapers called it \u201cthe fiercest foot ball [sic] ever seen in this state,\u201d and said Bates\u2019 \u201chappy farmer boys\u201d celebrated with trolley rides, fireworks, and songs mocking Bowdoin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saunders, who had studied at Storer College in Harpers Ferry before Bates, went on to a long career teaching math and science at historically Black colleges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nov. 30, 1905: President Chase defends the imperiled sport of football<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In the early 1900s, college football appeared  headed toward oblivion. Scandals involving professional ringers abounded, and mass-momentum formations like the \u201cflying wedge\u201d made the game deadly. In 1905, at least 18 people died playing football and more than 150 were injured, according to The Washington Post. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Nov. 28 of that year, Columbia University abolished the sport. The university released a list of injuries sustained that year, including broken arms, broken collar bones, a sprained spinal column, a dislocated shoulder, and a \u201cback injured by being jumped on by a Wesleyan player.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Bates President George Colby Chase poses in front of Rand Hall, circa 1915. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Two days later, Bates President George Colby Chase released a statement saying that the problem was not with the sport, but with college leaders<\/a>. \u201cWe have left too much to the well-meaning but undeveloped judgment of students.\u201d At the time, students had a large hand in running their college sports teams. Within a year, new rules at the national level legalized the forward pass, banned the most dangerous formations, and created what would become the NCAA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Bates, the reforms were welcomed by students. \u201cRingers, hirelings, and physically perfect ignoramuses, we will leave to those who want them. We want clean, intelligent Bates men,\u201d The Bates Student<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Oct. 28, 1911: A \u2018near-riot,\u2019 and accusations of UMaine \u2018muckerism\u2019<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Adelbert Jakeman\u2019s football history notes a \u201cnear riot\u201d after Bates upset the University of Maine, 5\u20130, at Orono, in 1911.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the game, Bates fans, led by the college band, began to parade from the field through the Maine campus. That did not go over well with the locals, who believed that the celebration violated sports etiquette. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Bates band, seen circa 1911, was at the center of a “near riot” at the University of Maine in 1911. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Maine students \u201cattempted to rush the Bates crowd,\u201d the Bates supporters decamped to a public street to form their march, \u201cbut again they were rushed by the Maine fellows.\u201d Chaos ensued. \u201cThe Bates line was broken up and considerable damage done to the band instruments in the scrap which followed,\u201d reported the Student<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, Bates professor and head football coach Royce Purinton, Class of 1900, told his physiology class that the Maine students were guilty of \u201cmuckerism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sept. 26, 1925: The huddle comes to Bates<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

What the conference on the pitching mound is to baseball, the huddle is to football. It\u2019s iconic, and it came to Bates football in 1925.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The newfangled approach to playcalling was described as \u201ca congregating of the players in a closely locked group behind the scrimmage line. From this circle, the men jump to their positions and the ball is snapped back and the play put into motion without an audible word.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 1927 Bates football team poses for a portrait. Two years earlier, Bates adopted the huddle as a way to call plays. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before the advent of the huddle, quarterbacks would yell out plays at the line of scrimmage. Head coach Oliver Cutts, Class of 1896, told the local paper that it would no longer be necessary for a team\u2019s home cheerleaders to hush the crowd while the quarterback yells out the play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Oct. 1, 1932: Bates ties mighty Yale<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The score was 0\u20130 but still made national news, including in The New York Times<\/em>, under the headline “Ability of Bates to Hold Yale to 0\u20130 Tie Listed Among Saturday’s Surprises.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cScarlet-clad gridiron warriors from Bates College, Lewiston, Maine, furnished one of the early football surprises of the season here Saturday in holding Yale to a nothing to nothing tie in the opening game of the season for the Elis,\u201d reported a wire story that appeared in newspapers as far away as Miami, Fla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 1932 Bates football team held Yale to a scoreless tie in New Haven, Conn., on Oct. 1. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To celebrate, Bates freshmen hauled logs to the top of Mount David, then touched off a bonfire that could be seen for miles around. \u201cBombs and red fire added to the general conflagration,\u201d the Lewiston Daily Sun<\/em> said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Down below, a crowd gathered at Hathorn Hall. Then, led by the campus band, the throng paraded around campus before heading up Mount David for a party and speeches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dec. 7, 1946: Bates heads to Ohio for the Glass Bowl<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In 1946, Bates returned from a three-year wartime hiatus with just 28 players. \u201cMost of the guys were veterans of the war. We had no doubt we would do well,\u201d recalled guard Linden Blanchard \u201949.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Art Blanchard \u201950 carries the ball during the Glass Bowl game on Dec. 7, 1946, between Bates and the University of Toledo. Blanchard was the game MVP. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Led by coach Raymond \u201cDucky\u201d Pond, the Bobcats rolled to a 7\u20130 season, outscoring opponents 89\u201310, and earned a postseason football bid to the inaugural Glass Bowl in Toledo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dec. 7 game was full of pageantry \u2014 bands, flags, and even an 18-pound lobster presented to Ohio\u2019s governor. Underdog Bates stunned the crowd of 12,000 by scoring first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Art Blanchard \u201950 was named the game\u2019s MVP, and while Bates lost 21\u201312, the team left Ohio with a unique Bates football milestone: the only bowl game played by a NESCAC team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This video clip shows cheerleaders delivering the huge lobster to Ohio Gov. Frank Lausche at halftime, a gift from Maine Gov. Horace Hildreth.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Nov. 10, 1956: Bates sweeps the old State Series for the final time<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Before the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin rivalry, there was the Maine State Series, with UMaine in the mix. By 1956, Maine had dominated, winning nine straight series games. But in 1956, the Bobcats rattled off five straight wins, including a sweep of the series<\/a>, to capture their last outright state title before Maine left the league in 1964.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With their coach, Bob Hatch (kneeling, center), the 1956 team celebrates a 38-13 win over Colby, giving the team the State Series title. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The star was Bob \u201cSpinner\u201d Martin \u201957, described by coach Bob Hatch as a player who \u201cdid so many things so well.\u201d An All-America selection, Martin led Bates in rushing, passing, receiving, punting, and scoring that year \u2014 99 points in all. Teammate Brian Flynn \u201957 recalled the grueling two-way play of the era: \u201cIf you went in you had to play both ways until you came out.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The clincher came with a 38\u201313 rout of Colby before Maine Gov. Edmund Muskie \u201936 and 3,000 fans, capping Bates\u2019 last State Series crown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oct. 28, 1961: Bob Hatch schemes his way to a huge surprise vs. UMaine<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Using an innovative spread formation vs. Maine on Oct. 28, 1961, head coach Bob Hatch surprised the heavily favored Black Bears, delighted the national media, and inspired the campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dubbed the \u201cPopular Halfback\u201d by the Associated Press<\/em>, the formation had running back Paul Planchon \u201964, with a \u201cpair of sticky fingers for catching passes,\u201d lined up like a typical wide receiver. But he wasn\u2019t out wide alone. With him went four linemen. When quarterback Swift Hathaway \u201962 took the snap, he could either hand off to a running back behind him or \u2014 which he did most often versus Maine \u2014 toss a pass to Planchon, who headed downfield with his escort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The creative play confused Maine, helping Bates to a surprise 15\u201315 tie. (The name \u201cPopular Halfback\u201d was a reference to the Army\u2019s \u201cLonesome End,\u201d Bill Carpenter, who always lined up near a far sideline and never even came into the huddle.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Typical of the headlines that ran in papers around the nation after Bates’ surprising tie game with the University of Maine in 1961 was this headline in the Scranton<\/em> (Pa.) Times<\/em>: “Little Bates Dazzling Them With Its ‘Popular Halfback.'”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Web Harrison \u201963, one of Hatch\u2019s players who would go on to coach Bates football from 1978 to 1991, recalled the post-game scene:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the most genuine display of school spirit I ever witnessed, students lined both sides of the walk from Alumni Gym to the Den, waited for the players to emerge from the locker room, and cheered each player as we walked to the Den.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All-Maine halfback Paul Planchon \u201964 was the centerpiece of Bob Hatch’s “Popular Halfback” formation in 1961. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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1974: A beloved coach coins \u2018Great Day to Be a Bobcat\u2019<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

When Web Harrison \u201963 joined the Bates football coaching staff in 1974, he would kid around with his friend and fellow alumnus Russ Reilly \u201966, who was a trainer and assistant coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Web Harrison ’63, seen in this circa 1974 photograph, coined the Bates cheer, “It’s a great day to be a Bobcat!” (Photograph by Joe Gromelski ’74) 
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Harrison, who had seen combat duty in Vietnam with the Marines, would greet Reilly with a version of a Marine Corps saying: \u201cGood afternoon, Russ! What a grand and glorious day to be a Bates student, where every day is a holiday and every meal is a banquet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That greeting was soon shortened to today\u2019s \u201cIt\u2019s a Great Day to Be a Bobcat!\u201d In this video, Harrison shares the story:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Nov. 7, 1981: On and off the field, Bates overwhelms its oldest rival<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

With All-American receiver Larry DiGiammarino \u201982 at his best on the field, and fired-up Bates students making headlines off the field, the 23\u201313 victory over Bowdoin was the high point of one of Bates\u2019 best seasons ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bates swaggered into Bowdoin with a 5\u20131 record under head coach Web Harrison \u201963, who was in the fourth year of a 20\u201312 stretch and two outright CBB titles.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Bates had wins and swagger in the early 1980s thanks to players like receiver Larry DiGiammarino ’82. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Before the game, when tailgating Bates students resisted extinguishing their barbecue grill, the Brunswick fire department was called in to \u201chose down the hibachi,\u201d according to The<\/em> Bates Student<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, a Bowdoin security officer was pushed aside as students rushed through the Whittier Field gate without paying. A Bates student was arrested, but released in time to receive an ovation from the Bates student section. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bates Student<\/em> called the sequence of events in Brunswick \u201coverreaction\u201d and called for the end of paid admission. After conferring with his Bowdoin counterparts, Dean of the College James Carignan \u201961 told the Student<\/em> that \u201cthey feel the whole thing is very unfortunate. They are most anxious that these kinds of incidents not interfere with our relationship as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Feb. 19, 1998: Bates appoints Mark Harriman as head coach<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

With his appointment as head coach in 1998, Mark Harriman took over a team that had won two games and lost 46 over the previous six years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he retired in 2018 with a record of 46\u2013115, Sun Journal<\/em> columnist Kalle Oakes praised the Bates coach under the headline, \u201cHarriman was the hero Bates needed.\u201d What his record didn\u2019t explain, said Oakes, was how Harriman created stability and restored pride in Bates football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Head coach Mark Harriman walks with his players past the Bobcat statue en route to Garcelon Field before their victory over Bowdoin on Nov. 7, 2009. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A few years earlier, Oakes had done something few columnists dare \u2014 apologize in print \u2014 in this case for snarky comments about Bates\u2019 football fortunes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In praising Bates football and Bates athletics, Oakes wrote, \u201cI\u2019ve never met a coach or athlete affiliated with Bates whom I didn\u2019t like. They\u2019re shake-your-hand-firmly, look-you-in-the-eyes, give-you-a-thoughtful-answer folks. They have sports and life in perspective. Lord knows we need more of those qualities in this world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Oct. 28, 2006: Bates football lands in Sports Illustrated<\/em> in a big, muddy way<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

On Oct. 28, 2006, Garcelon Field turned into a waterlogged stage as 4.62 inches of rain poured down during the Bates\u2013Colby game. Photographer Daryn Slover, on assignment for Bates, battled the elements until his lenses gave out \u2014 but not before capturing an unforgettable shot: Jamie Walker \u201907, of Needham, Mass., dragging a pile of Colby defenders on one of his 43 carries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Later featured in Sports Illustrated, this iconic Bates photograph shows Jamie Walker \u201907 of Needham, Mass., moving a pile of Colby Mule defenders during a game at Garcelon Field on Oct. 28, 2006. (Daryn Slover for Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The image, sent to Sports Illustrated<\/em> the next Monday, landed a two-page spread in the magazine\u2019s Football America<\/em> issue. After four overtimes, Colby\u2019s 22-yard field goal sealed the Mules\u2019 10\u20137 win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another national spotlight moment in the decade came in 2002, when Sean Atkins \u201903 of New York City ran for seven touchdowns and 302 yards<\/a> in a 48\u201328 win over Bowdoin. A clip of the performance aired on ESPN. \u201cThat\u2019s when it sunk in,\u201d Atkins said of seeing himself on TV. But any glory, he said, \u201cbelongs to Bates College and the people who gave me my opportunities.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Oct. 9, 2010: Bates dedicates major renovations to Garcelon Field<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In 2010, a $2.6 million, donor-funded makeover turned 1899\u2019s Garcelon Field into a truly 21st-century campus landmark. \u201cIt\u2019s awesome,\u201d Brendan Murphy \u201911 of Sandwich, Mass., a lineman and senior tri-captain, told the Sun Journal<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd it was all donor-funded. It\u2019s a good feeling that people stepped up to show what Bates athletics means to them, specifically football.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Renovations to Garcelon Field created new possibilities for the space, including the first nighttime home football game in team history, a 30\u20135 victory over Bowdoin in 2019. Here, Jackson Hayes ’23 hauls in a touchdown catch. (Brewster Burns for Bates College)
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The renovation installed a new FieldTurf surface; an aluminum grandstand for 1,500 (with stadium seats at midfield); an expanded press box; and four Musco light towers that finally brought true night games to Bates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The upgrade did more than freshen football\u2019s home. It also opened the door to all-year, day-and-night play on the field. With men\u2019s lacrosse moving to Garcelon, the venue hosted its first-ever playoff game, an NCAA first-rounder, and soon became a year-round stage for big moments, practices, and pick-up traditions alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sept. 28, 2024: A historic road victory vs. head coach Matt Coyne\u2019s alma mater<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In-state football rivalries have taken center stage ever since Bates began playing football in the 1800s. But in recent years, a rivalry with a NESCAC foe 350 miles away has gained traction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sept. 28 of last year, Bates defeated previously unbeaten Wesleyan  \u2014 the alma mater of head coach Matt Coyne, who was appointed Bates head coach in 2022. The road win was Bates\u2019 first against the Cardinals since 1981.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Bates football team celebrates its Sept. 28, 2024, victory over Wesleyan \u2014 the alma mater of head coach Matt Coyne, appointed as Bates head coach in 2022. (Matt Coyne\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like the crowds of yesteryear that boarded trains from Lewiston to places like Brunswick, New Haven, or even Toledo, Ohio, Bates believers turned out in force to support the Bobcats in Middletown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had a huge number of traveling fans down there,\u201d Coyne recalled. \u201cThe environment was unbelievable. We\u2019re sitting there, and it\u2019s louder on our side than on Wesleyan\u2019s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll the parents, the alums, everybody I\u2019ve heard from over the last 24 or 36 hours, hundreds of texts. It\u2019s really awesome and it\u2019s a testament to these kids\u2019 work ethic and what they\u2019ve put into this program.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1875, Bates and Tufts played the first college football game in Maine. Here’s to football’s sesquicentennial: 15 moments from 150 years of Bates football.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":104698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[7,24,11012],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-170239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-athletics","category-student-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170239"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170491,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170239\/revisions\/170491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}