With the Lumberjack football team sitting at 3-1, and Family Weekend upon us, football will be a big part of this weekend. The game not only will be the Jacks’ first home conference game of the season, but with the parents around, it will be one of NAU’s most attended games. So, since not everyone has seen the fact-sheet in the back of the football media guide, let’s take a stroll down memory lane with the history of NAU football.

In 1915, the Lumberjacks won their first football game.  Back then NAU was known as the Northern Arizona Normal School. NANS defeated Winslow High School 12-7. The team went on to finish with a 2-4 record. Their second win of the season also came against Winslow High. On a different note, this paper was founded in 1914 and was named The Pine. A student vote changed the name to The Lumberjack in 1946, but I digress. In 1916, NANS beat Arizona State for the first time in a 29-6 blowout. How often do I get to write a sentence like that? The following game, the team lost 108-0 to New Mexico. To be fair, the game was on the road. However, 1917 was a good year for NANS, as they finished undefeated with a stout record of 2-0.

The late 1920s and early ‘30s were a successful time for NANS. Then, 1925 saw another name change for the institution, as it became known as the Northern Arizona State Teachers College after they were allowed to offer a bachelor’s degree in education. In 1928, NASTC defeated Phoenix College 80-0. Those 80 points still stand today as the most points scored by the Jacks in school history. Still, barring a couple of turnovers, the present-day Lumberjacks had a shot to break that record against New Mexico Highlands. Football win number 50 came in 1929 with a 32-7 victory over Redlands. 

Yet another name change for the school occured in 1929;  it became the Arizona State Teacher’s College at Flagstaff. In the ‘30s the football team recorded its last victories over in-state rivals Arizona and Arizona State. A 7-6 win over Arizona in 1932 is the team’s only victory over the Wildcats. In 1938, the team beat ASU for the 14th time, 19-13.

The ‘40s and ‘50s saw the team progress even more. The program’s 100th victory came with a 12-8 win over Western State in 1947. The following year, the team played their first-ever night game, beating New Mexico State 13-7. 

Jumping ahead to 1957, the Lumberjacks played their first game in Lumberjack Stadium, beating Fort Huachuca 46-0. The next year was a banner year for the team, as they played for the NAIA National Championship. The game was broadcast on CBS, but Arizona State College-Flagstaff lost to Northeastern Oklahoma 19-13.

The school’s final name change to Northern Arizona University occured in 1966, with a short and simple acronym we can all love in NAU. 

In 1970, the Lumberjacks joined the Big Sky Conference. The Jacks played their final game in Lumberjack Stadium in 1977, but played their first game in the Skydome. NAU defeated Montana 25-24 in the dome when Tom Jurich drilled a 54-yard field goal. The Jacks lost in the Division II playoffs to Jacksonville State. In 1978, NAU won its first of two Big Sky championships.

The Lumberjacks  beat a Division 1-A (now FBS) team for the last time in 1987, when they knocked off Tulsa 24-20. In 1988, the Jacks were on ESPN when quarterback Greg Wyatt set an NCAA record for all divisions, with 700 completions by a non-senior. Also, Shawn Collins became the Lumberjack’s first first-round draft pick. In 1989, the Jacks recorded the program’s 300th win, with a 42-13 victory over Abilene Christian.

In 1996, running back Archie Amerson led the nation in scoring and was an NCAA record-holder with 2,429 all-purpose yards. 

Amerson earned the Walter Payton Award, given to the top Division I-AA (now FCS) player. However, 1996 was not done, as the Jacks became the first team in NCAA history to have a quarterback throw for 3,000 yards in Travis Brown, and also have a 2,000-yard rusher in Amerson. The Jacks also made their first trip to the Division I-AA playoffs. They lost to Furman 42-31. 

In 2001 the Jacks made another post-season appearance with a 34-31 loss to Sam Houston State.

Their performance in 2003 may give 1958 a run for the school’s most successful season. The Lumberjacks earned their second and last Big Sky championship. The Jacks also made their last appearance in the playoffs, defeating top seed McNeese State 35-3, led by freshman quarterback Jason Murrietta. It was the first time since 1958 the Jacks had won a postseason game. The Lumberjacks lost their next game to Florida Atlantic 48-25 in Flagstaff.

Through 93 years, 28 head coaches and hundreds of players, NAU football has a rich history. Some players have gone pro; even NFL head coaches Mike Shanahan, Andy Reid and Brad Childress were once assistant coaches here in Flagstaff. While this was a trip down memory lane, the trip is not over. With one more win,  Jerome Souers will have won more games than any other coach in NAU history.