Fordham University Athletics
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The 22 Fordham University varsity sports teams are known as the "Rams." Their colors are maroon and white. The Fordham Rams are members of NCAA Division I and compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference for all sports except football. In football, the Rams play in the Patriot League of NCAA Division I-AA. The University also supports a number of club sports and a significant intramural sports program.
Contents |
[edit] Varsity
This is an incomplete listing of the 22 varsity sports played at Fordham.
[edit] Football
[edit] History
In the mid-1930s, Fordham in the heart of the Bronx boasted what might have been the greatest offensive and defensive line in college history -- the "Seven Blocks of Granite." Tackle Ed Franco was a consensus All-American. So was center Alex Wojciechowicz who later became an All-Pro with Detroit and Philadelphia. Guard Vince Lombardi later became one of the greatest of pro coaches. In 1937, the team went undefeated and was ranked number three nationally. So popular was Fordham, that the Cleveland NFL franchise formed in the '30s took its nickname from the Rams of the Bronx.[1] The Cleveland Rams later moved to Los Angeles and then to St. Louis, Missouri, and are now known as the St. Louis Rams.
On December 15 1954, Fordham scratched its football program for various reasons, mainly financial. A club football team was established in 1964 (on shaky authority) and football was re-established as a varsity sport in 1970, but in Division III. Fordham joined the NCAA's Division I-AA in 1989.
With 722 all-time wins at the close of the 2005 season [2], Fordham's football program ranks 15th among Division I programs on the all-time NCAA wins list, and fifth among programs currently playing at the Division I-AA level, trailing only Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, and Princeton University.
Fordham was invited to play in the 1942 Rose Bowl, but declined the invitation because it had previously accepted a berth in the 1942 Sugar Bowl. The Rams, who defeated the University of Missouri by a 2-0 score, were the 1942 Sugar Bowl champions. The Rams also played in the 1941 Cotton Bowl but lost, 13-12, to Texas A&M.
Since 2002, Fordham has played Columbia University for The Liberty Cup. The trophy was dedicated after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, forced the postponement of the annual meeting between New York City's two Division I-AA programs.
[edit] Football milestones
- Liberty Cup Winners: 2002, 2003
- Patriot League Champions: 2002
- Division I-AA Playoffs: 2002 (Quarterfinal Loss)
- Division III Playoffs: 1987 (Quarterfinal Loss)
- Bowl games:
- 1941 Cotton Bowl [3]
- 1942 Sugar Bowl [4]
- Wins: 722 at the end of 2005 season, 15th most wins in NCAA, 5th most wins in Division I-AA
[edit] Current players in professional football
- Javarus Dudley, WR, Atlanta Falcons
- Kevin Eakin, QB, Hamilton Tiger-Cats
- Matt Fordyce, K, Chicago Bears
- Aki Jones, DL, Washington Redskins
- Tad Kornegay, DB, Hamilton Tiger-Cats
[edit] Baseball
Founded in the late 1850's, the Fordham Rose Hill Baseball Club played against St. Francis Xavier College in the first ever nine-man team college baseball game on November 3, 1859.[5]
Steve Bellán, first Latin American to play Major League Baseball, started his career as a player at Fordham.[6]
There have been 56 major leaguers who have played for Fordham, including All-Star pitcher Pete Harnisch and Baseball Hall of Famer Frankie Frisch. Frisch, a star athlete in four different sports at Fordham, was known as the "Fordham Flash".[7]
Jack Coffey Field, a multisport field, is named after John "Jack" Coffey, former athletic director and baseball coach at the University. He amassed 817 wins as a baseball coach. Coffey's name is also the answer to a popular baseball trivia question, since he is the only player to play with both Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth in the same season (1918 Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox). A renovation completed in 2005 resulted in an official renaming of the baseball portion of the field to "Houlihan Park at Jack Coffey Field".
[edit] Clubs
This is a partial listing of the club sports played at Fordham
[edit] Hockey
The University supports hockey as a club sport. In 2006, Rams hockey took their first Conference championship since becoming a club in the late 1960's. The team is recognized as a Division III team by the American Collegiate Hockey Association, and it is a member of the Metropolitan Collegiate Hockey Conference.
[edit] Lacrosse
Founded in 1970, the Lacrosse program has grown tremendously. After years as the top independent lacrosse team in the New York metropolitan area, the team has been accepted to be a member of the National College Lacrosse League. The Rams currently compete in the Metro New York Division.
[edit] Rugby
The University supports men's and women's rugby as club sports. They play in the Metropolitan New York Rugby Union, a member of USA Rugby, and field within it Division I 'A' and 'B' side rugby squads. The men's team won the conference championship in 2003 and 2004, and made it to the first round of the national tournament in 2004. The women's team is a two time defending champion of the Big Apple Classic, which is hosted on Randall's Island, NY. They were also east coast champions in the spring of 2005. The Rose Hill Campus is host every spring to the "Irish-Italian" men's rugby game, a staple of Fordham's Spring Weekend festival.
[edit] Sailing
Fordham is a Regular member of the Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association (MAISA), one of seven regional conferences of the Intercollegiate Sailing Association of North America (ICSA), the governing body of US Sailing. With 43 schools and a geographical territory extending from Canada to Virginia, MAISA is one of the most competitive conferences in the country. In 2005, Fordham was ranked # 11.[8]
| The Atlantic 10 |
|---|
| Charlotte • Dayton • Duquesne • Fordham • George Washington • La Salle • UMass • Rhode Island • Richmond • Saint Bonaventure • Saint Joseph's • Saint Louis • Temple • Xavier |
| Patriot League |
|---|
| Bucknell • Colgate • Holy Cross • Lafayette • Lehigh Non-football members: American • Army • Navy Football-only members: Fordham • Georgetown Women's Lacrosse-only member: Villanova |
