in the Mid-American Conference
of the NCAA
's Division I-Football Bowl Subdivision.
NIU's football program was established in the late 19th century, playing its first ever game against DeKalb High School in 1899 and was led by coach John L. Keith to the team's first ever victory. NIU started out in the independent scene from 1899 through 1919 before joining the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
.
"There's naught, no doubt, so much the spirit calms as rum and true religion." -- Lord Byron
"The chief fuddling they make in the island is Rumbullion, alias Kill-Divil, and this is made of sugar canes distilled, a hot, hellish, and terrible liquor". -- 17th Century account
"Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!" -- Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
"Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash." -- Attributed to, and denied by, Winston Churchill
"Where I go, I hope there's rum" - Jimmy Buffett
"But why's the rum gone?" - Johnny Depp as "Captain Jack Sparrow", The Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
"Hide the rum." - Johnny Depp as "Captain Jack Sparrow", The Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest
"I prefer rum. Rum is good." - Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean:At World's End