Illinois Fighting Illini

Come show your Fighting Illini pride by ordering a flag today! In the early years when the Illini were barely a football team,Scott Williams stepped in as the coach and as a player to whip the team into shape and represent their school. When Williams approached the head of the athletics department asking to participate in a game,they were less than enthused. Williams how ever, proposed that the team pay for their transportation,uniforms,and other expenses to convince the department to let let them play,they succeeded. In their first game they lost 16-0 to the Wesleyan football team. The determined to change Illini went on to face Purdue and lost in a devastating score of 62-0,but they learned a few things from their match with Purdue. They went back to face Wesleyan and won 12-6, thus starting their very first football season with a record of 1-2. It was that first determined team that has now become the great Fighting Illini!