Text Box: A note about the artist:  Throughout his career, Mr. Friberg has painted a variety of themes: railroads and wagon trains, mountain men and miners, Indians and Biblical figures, the U.S. Calvary and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, canoes and sailing ships, wildlife and sporting events. Mr. Friberg describes himself as a storyteller. "That's all I've ever wanted to do. That's why I went into illustrating. Art to me is a service to bring enrichment to people's lives."  While his paintings are realistic and historically correct, it is Mr. Friberg's extraordinary ability to capture the drama of history and the human character's vibrancy and inner strength that has earned him the respect and recognition as on of the great master painters of modern times.  

Text Box: FOR LIMITED TIME ONLY! Those 1500 limited edition prints, numbered and signed by the artist, are available unframed for $285 or beautifully custom conservation framed with a commemorative medallion as shown for $499.

Text Box:     Commemorative medallion available only with framed print.

Text Box: 1500 s/n 100 a/p Archival paper

Text Box: 19”x30” unframed 29”x40” framed  

Text Box: For faster delivery ORDER BY CREDIT CARD CALL NOW: 1-888-FAMOUS-8 OR Call Keith Gilman directly at 908-208-4790

Text Box: Makes a great Gift!

Text Box: MAIL THE ORDER FORM TO: Famous Firsts 196 Elizabeth Avenue Cranford, NJ 07016

Text Box:            To commemorate the centennial in 1969, The First Intercollegiate Game was commissioned by General Motors' Chevrolet Division as a series of four paintings depicting significant moments in the history of college football. RUTGERS and PRINCETON played the first gridiron challenge between two schools on November 6, 1869.

Text Box:          This is the first in the dramatic series of Friberg paintings commissioned in 1969 by General Motors to commemorate 100 years of American intercollegiate football.          For years, some form of football had been played on campuses and elsewhere. It wasn't until 1869 that, for the first time, one college played another in a game. Rutgers challenged Princeton in what was to become the first game in the history of intercollegiate football.          The historic game was played on a clear autumn day in a cow pasture with a round ball. The players had no uniforms, helmets or protective padding. For identification, those on the Rutgers team wore a red sweater or simply wrapped something red around their heads.          The enterprising Rutgers "rushers" (today's linemen)

Text Box: locked arms in a "flying wedge" to protect the man in back who kicked the ball along the ground. (Hence the name "football".) The Princeton team got even by quickly forming their own copycat flying wedge.        One mercilessly aggressive player, known only as "Big  Mike", is recorded to have wreaked havoc among his opponents. He is depicted very boldly in the foreground.              Rutgers being a divinity school, some onlookers objected to such a rough game as unseemly student conduct. One outraged professor, here pictured, shook his umbrella at the team and shouted, "You men will come to no good end!" Yet, a number of that day's players, in time, became eminent clergymen.              It was from this primitive, improvised contest that the complex and highly organized game of our time has grown.

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