FRANKLIN FIELD SATURDAYS
What Ted Gilmore has gathered here is a compilation of snapshots, narrative and pictorial – a
scrapbook, if you will – of 65 memorable Ivy League football games played at Franklin Field since the conference began round-robin play in 1956. It is meant to celebrate the 65th anniversary – 1956 to 2021 – of Penn football in the Ivy League. It also pays homage to the glory and majesty of the grand stadium at 33rd and Spruce Streets in Philadelphia, the oldest college football stadium in the United States.
Ted Gilmore is retired, after working for 40+ years in the Insurance industry, where he specialized in Workers’ Compensation.
As part of a three-generational Penn family, Ted began attending Penn football games at Franklin Field when he was 8 years old, and has rarely missed a game there since then – except during the 1980s, when his 2 children were involved in sports. The Pandemic of 2020 provided Ted with an opportunity to fulfill a goal of his – to put together a book about the best games played at Franklin Field since Penn joined the Ivy League in 1956. Producing this book also reduced his level of “withdrawal” resulting from the cancellation of Penn’s 2020 football season.
A native Philadelphian, Ted is a graduate of Central High School (of Philadelphia) and Penn. He now lives in Willistown, PA with his wife, Marygrace, with whom he recently celebrated Anniversary #50. When not attending Penn football games at Franklin Field (or Penn basketball games at the Palestra), he spends as much time as possible with his 5 grandchildren. This is his first book.