On October 6, 1912, the Rice Institute defeated the Sam Houston Normals 20-6 in the first football game ever played by either school. Over the years there have been changes (from charter members of the Lone Star Conference to the Southland Conference, and from playing at Pritchett Field to Bowers Stadium), culminating in an undefeated regular season a century later that earned the team the right to play in the 2011 NCAA Division I Football Championship.

The concept of an entire graduating class presenting their alma mater with a gift may seem strange to seniors in this day and age but it was very much the norm up to the mid-20th Century. Scholarships and works of art were the usual gifts – such as the Statue of Athena, donated by the class of 1911-12. A century later the goddess of wisdom still stands in Art Building E.