Garnet Chargers

Union's football team went into last season on the back of a Liberty League title and came out with another, beating RPI 28-21 to win the 75th Dutchman's Shoes Trophy and secure back-to-back championships in 2024 and 2025. The programme has played since 1886, when its first recorded season closed at 1-1, and it now sits in NCAA Division III under head coach Jon Drach, who took over in 2024.

That RPI fixture is the point of the whole season. The two schools have met for the Dutchman's Shoes since 1886, making it the oldest football rivalry in New York State, and Union holds a commanding 85-33-4 edge in the series.

The nickname on the shirt is only a few years old. Union's athletic programmes were known as the Dutchmen from 1933 until 2023, when the college switched to Garnet Chargers — garnet for the school colour adopted in 1866, Chargers a nod to Schenectady's history as a centre of the electrical industry.

Union's teams have not been short of silverware beyond the gridiron: the men's ice hockey side beat Minnesota 7-4 to win the national championship in 2014. The football team plays its home games at Frank Bailey Field, a 1,600-seat ground in Schenectady.