Against all the odds, Fordham basketball had a remarkable year. The men’s team finished with a 25-8 record, making it to the semifinals of the A-10 championship this weekend. The women achieved an 18-12 record, securing their seventh straight postseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament berth. Both teams played with fierce determination and talent—they simply never gave up. No team in the nation had more come-from-behind victories after the half than our Fordham men’s team.

This in a year when the football team also made us proud with their 9-3 season, making it to the Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs. Fordham water polo won its second consecutive Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championship this fall, to earn the Rams their second straight trip to the NCAA Championship. I won’t list all of our teams here, but you get the idea.

Do you know what makes me even prouder? Our student-athletes have a collective GPA on par with, and sometimes higher, than the collective average. They have higher retention, graduation, and employment rates. They learn from their wonderful coaches, and from each other, an extraordinary level of discipline, teamwork, and leadership.

I also need to thank the whole student body because if there were a March Madness for college basketball fans, we would clearly win. For all of you students and alumni who packed the Rose “Thrill” gym, for the thousands of you who came to the Barclays Center—for those who painted letters on your chests (well done, front row, well done) and shouted your heart out—I think our own Vince Lombardi and Vin Scully would have been very proud.

All my best,

Tania Tetlow
President

As a snow squall blasted through New York City on January 30, 200 Fordham alumni and friends gathered at New York City’s iconic Tavern on the Green for the inaugural Alumni Recognition Reception.

The Fordham University Alumni Association—which was created in 2017 to help connect alumni from all of Fordham’s schools to the University and to each other—organized the event to celebrate all alumni volunteers and honor two, in particular: Morgan Vazquez, FCRH ’13, received the first Trailblazer Award, and Dennis Kenny, FCRH ’57, LAW ’61, was named Ram of the Year. It was the group’s second annual reception, but the first time these biennial awards have been presented.

When Vazquez accepted her award, she joked about her deep love for Fordham. “If I have a plan over the weekend, 90 percent of the time it has to do with Fordham,” she laughed. “If I tell someone a story, 95 percent of the time it has to do with Fordham.”

She thanked her fellow alumni volunteers for helping her create a Fordham community she and others could be a part of even after graduation, and she became emotional as she shared her gratitude for Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., Fordham’s late provost, who she said was a huge part of her Fordham experience and a source of inspiration to her.

Kenny thanked his wife of 62 years, fellow Ram Judy Kenny, GSE ’86, and spoke about the great joy his role as a mentor has brought him. “There’s no better way to give back to the University that has bestowed an education on you,” he said.

As the Ram of the Year, Kenny also shared some of the mascot’s history with attendees—from its birth as part of a cheer during an 1893 football game through the years a real ram lived on campus until the version we know today. “The Ram is a proud symbol of all things Fordham,” he said. “Thank you, all Rams and friends of Rams, for this award.”

“It’s a great learning process for our players, and I truly do feel it helps them once they leave Fordham, when they enter the so-called real world,” said McElderry.

Calling the diversity an “asset” at a time when immigration is under attack nationally aligns with the University’s support for immigrants frequently articulated by Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. But it also makes for a great team, said McElderry.

“In addition to students from abroad, we have a lot of players that are first generation who speak different languages, come from a real traditional culture, and even though they’re living in New Jersey or Connecticut, their culture is really from Europe or from Africa or from South America,” said McElderry. “I mean, we’ve really had kids from basically every continent play for us during the last 15 years. I truly value it and I think it’s helped our team be more successful. Plus, they’re great students.”

Sophomore Andron Kagramanyan plays midfield and is from Ontario, Canada. He speaks Russian and succinct English.

“It doesn’t matter what language you speak; the real language is soccer,” he said.

McElderry said he feels “privileged” to be part of a sport that attracts players from all over the world.

“Many of these guys are familiar with playing with other players from different areas and different cultures,” he said. “It just feels natural, especially here in New York City.”

Joe Conlin, who served as associate head coach/offensive coordinator at Yale for the past four years, was named head football coach at Fordham, it was announced Dec. 22 by director of athletics Dave Roach.

“After an extensive search, we are excited to welcome Joe Conlin to Fordham,” said Roach. “We believe he is one of the top young coaches in the country who truly cares about the welfare of the student-athlete which makes him a perfect fit for Fordham. We look forward to Joe translating the great success he had at Yale where he led the Bulldogs to the 2017 Ivy League title, to Rose Hill. It’s an exciting day for Fordham and I look forward to working with Coach Conlin as he takes over the helm of our program.”

“In Joe Conlin we will have a coach who knows how to win, how to hold his student athletes to the highest standards on and off the field, and who understands the importance of academic excellence in athletics,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “I am deeply pleased that the team will be in good hands.”

“Karen and I are honored to be a part of the Ram family and I’m excited to lead a Patriot League program that has been as successful as Fordham is recent years,” said Conlin, whose grandfather was a cousin of Fordham basketball Hall of Famer Ed Conlin. “From step one of this process to its culmination, I have been nothing but impressed by the University and all who support Ram Football. We’re eager to get started, get to know the men on the team, and hit the recruiting trail.”

Conlin, who completed his sixth season at Yale in 2017, was named the Joel E. Smilow ’54 Offensive Coordinator at the school in 2014.

In 2017, Yale ended a 37-year drought when it beat Harvard 24-3 in the 134th edition of The Game to win the Ivy League Title. Yale improved from 3-7 in ’16 to 9-1 in ’17 and its offense improved in nearly every key statistical category under Conlin’s leadership.

Full Story: Fordham Athletics

It would take more than a century for the Rams to score a win against the Black Knights.

Up until World War I, most East coast colleges played on a small scale. This so-called “infant era” brought Fordham together with Princeton, Columbia, NYU, Navy, and, of course, Army. It wasn’t until after the war that the Rams developed their legendary status. In 1936, sportswriter Grantland “Granny” Rice referred to Fordham’s front line as the Fordham Wall, which shortly thereafter evolved into the Seven Blocks of Granite with the legendary Vince Lombardi, FCRH ’37, anchoring the famous offensive line.

Lombardi—From Campus to Post

After a brief stint as a student at Fordham Law, Lombardi worked as a high school teacher and football coach in New Jersey before returning to Rose Hill as the team’s assistant coach in 1947. West Point scooped him up the following year, thus setting the stage for a contentious Fordham-Army matchup.Before he left for West Point, however, Lombardi recruited Andy Lukac, FCRH ’51, for the Rams. Lukac rose to team captain and played the last game, in 1949, between the two teams before before Fordham discontinued its football program following the 1954 season (a hiatus that would last until 1964).

That 1949 game wasn’t pretty. It was cold and rainy, and the field was pure mud. The Black Knights shut out the Rams, 45-0, at West Point before a capacity crowd of 27,000 in Michie Stadium.

“They were tops in the country and we were just coming up out of the doldrums, but we were undefeated at the time,” said Lukac. “Lombardi was up there, and he knew all our weaknesses. Army did us in, but it was a day to remember, you can put it that way.”

Lukac said that he’s convinced that there were more penalties called in that Fordham-Army game than in any other game “in the history of football!”

“They’d hit us and we’d hit them back,” he said. “We had a lot of noses broken on that day, it was like a boxing match. At the end of the game everyone is OK, but during the game it’s another story.”

And 62 Years Later …

Lukac said the postgame civility among players made perfect sense for two institutions that prized good sportsmanship. It’s a tradition that Jack Keane, GABELLI ’66, a retired four-star general, witnessed firsthand when Fordham and West Point finally met again 62 years later, in 2011, amid a freak October snowstorm that dropped six inches on the field. As with the game six decades before, it wasn’t pretty. Fordham lost, 55-0.

By game’s end, the frigid stands were nearly empty. But a West Point tradition dictates that the home team appear before the corps of cadets and sing their alma mater, said Keane.

“When the West Point guys went over to the cadets, the Fordham guys saw what was happening and went over with them,” said Keane. “The superintendent, General Dave Huntoon, was standing next to me. He looked at me and said, ‘Wow, that’s something. You guys really understand. You get it.’ I said, ‘Yep. Yeah, we get it.’”

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, has said on many occasions that Fordham and West Point share a common purpose. Keane agrees.

“Both institutions have a strong moral foundation,” said Keane. “It’s very sincere and very genuine.”

Sometimes a Win, Always a Ram

Despite having served nearly 40 years in the Army, Keane said he still identifies as a Ram. He reveled when, in 2015, more than a century after their first game, Fordham finally beat West Point, 37-35.

At the time, 84-year-old Lukac was also watching the game near the end zone.

“It was a moment of everything coming together,” he said. “We were just so happy, that the rest of the season didn’t seem that important really.”

Now 86 and a little less mobile, Lukac said he still plans to be in the stands on Sept. 1.

Moises Mura, a Fordham ROTC cadet who served 11 years in the Army as staff sergeant and is now a junior in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies, will also be there. Like Keane, Mura said his years in the Army haven’t diluted his loyalty to the Rams.

“I never called a university home, so I’m excited to do that,” he said. “I’m a student at Fordham and I intend to be a Fordham alumnus, so I’ll definitely be rooting for Fordham.”

 

The 36-minute film, which was shown on the video board at Yankee Stadium prior to the Rams’ 54–14 victory over Holy Cross last November, has recently been released on DVD by Fordham athletics.

Ross Greenburg, the founder of Ross Greenburg Productions, served as the film’s executive producer. A former president of HBO Sports, he has more than 50 Emmys to his credit, including one for Lombardi, his 2010 documentary on Fordham alumnus and football icon Vince Lombardi, FCRH ’37.

Not surprisingly, the story of Lombardi and his fellow linemen on the 1936 Rams—the Seven Blocks of Granite—is at the heart of Fordham Football: A Walk Through History.

“That was one of the most legendary teams in college football history,” said Christian Goewey, a Fordham senior and WFUV sports reporter who co-produced the film, with Benjamin Warhit, while interning at Ross Greenburg Productions last year.

Goewey said he and Warhit, the film’s director and editor, focused in particular on the decades before World War II—a golden era of Fordham football, when legendary coaches Frank “The Iron Major” Cavanaugh and “Sleepy” Jim Crowley led the Rams to national prominence, including a 1942 Sugar Bowl victory. But the film also recounts the team’s slip from prominence in the decade following the war, when college football was declining in popularity in New York City—trends that contributed to the University’s decision to discontinue the sport in 1954.

The final third of the documentary includes segments on the student-led resurrection of the sport with the club teams of the 1960s; the program’s subsequent return to varsity status; and the Rams’ recent resurgence as three-time Patriot League champions, most recently in 2014.

Several alumni are featured in the film, including veteran sportswriter Jack Clary, FCRH ’54; Andy Lukac, FCRH ’51, who was recruited to Fordham by Lombardi and served as captain of the 1950 team that went 8–1; and Bill Burke, FCRH ’65, LAW ’68, who was Fordham’s sports information director during the 1960s.

Also featured are Tim Cohane Jr., son of the Fordham publicist, Tim Cohane, FCRH ’35, who helped popularize the nickname Seven Blocks of Granite, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Maraniss, author of When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi (Simon & Schuster, 1999).

For Maraniss, the famous nickname transcends the 1936 team and has come to mean something more to Fordham football and its fans.

“Sometimes a name will become a symbol of something larger than what it’s about,” he says in the film, noting that the 1930s were “a time of impermanence,” when “you didn’t know if you would keep your job … [and] you could see danger on the horizon.” The name, then, was not simply about the Fordham line “being able to stop the Pittsburgh offense, but [about] something more permanent, something that wasn’t going to move. I think that resonated with the country.”

VIDEO: Watch the opening of Fordham Football: A Walk Through History. 

To purchase a DVD of the film, which is available for $50, call the Fordham athletics ticket office at 855-RAM-TIXS.

More than 21,000 descended on Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on Nov. 12 to cheer on their teams from Holy Cross and Fordham, as they fought for the Ram-Crusader Cup. The Rams made the most of their once-in-lifetime chance to play at the world famous venue, taking the cup after defeating the Crusaders, 54-14.

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, called the Ram-Crusader competition a “friendly rivalry,” and fans taking the subway to the stadium proved him right. On the uptown No. 4 train, groups of purple-clad Crusaders jovially jousted with maroon-clad Rams, as Bronx locals characteristically paid little attention to the commotion.

Father McShane said the last time Fordham Rams played Yankee Stadium was in 1946—and they lost. However, the team had won previously at the stadium during the University’s centennial year in 1941.

“And for us to be going at it with Holy Cross, a Jesuit sister school, is just great,” he said.

Philip Borough, S.J., president of Holy Cross, agreed. “Yankee Stadium! Every little boy and girl in America dreams of being here,” he said.

The two school presidents met before the game in the Steinbrenner Suite. Father McShane noted that Holy Cross would be celebrating its 175^th anniversary in two years, and proposed a rematch at the stadium in two years’ time. Father Borough said that with nearly 10,000 tickets sold to Holy Cross fans “that might be a good point.”

At a pregame celebration of nearly 300 Fordham alumni, unofficial reunions took place among small groups, over plates of hot dogs and hamburgers. Brian Quinn, FCRH ’01, who traveled from Dallas with his family, recalled his years on the football team, which he admitted “weren’t very good.” As he surveyed the stadium he joked, “This is a big upgrade since then.”

Nearby, Maureen Bateman, LAW ’68, and Warren Gregory, FCRH ’66, talked about the ties that bind Fordham’s schools.

“It comes from the philosophy classes,” Bateman said, adding that her son Daniel who majored in physics at Fordham College at Lincoln Center “still has the Fordham spirit.”

“It is Jesuit, and their philosophy is serving others,” said Gregory.

The Jesuit philosophy was on display in the stadium as well. Colleagues of Sheena De Loache, a student at the Graduate School of Social Service, donated their tickets so that she could take a group special needs adults to the game.

“They had a blast of a time,” De Loache said.

Elsewhere in the stands, John Hanley, LAW ’00, wore a jersey half purple and half maroon, with logos of both teams. His son John graduated from Holy Cross last spring and his son Thomas is a sophomore at the Gabelli School of Business. But as a Fordham alumnus, he wore maroon socks to “tip the balance a little bit.”

But in the end, it was about more than the game.

“To see these young men to play at Yankee Stadium is a big deal,” said Bob Daleo, chairman of Fordham’s board of trustees. “We’ve had players go on to the NFL, but most of these kids are here for an education that will change their lives. This experience is just icing on the cake.”

[doptg id=”64″]

TOUCHDOWN! Fourth quarter, 47-14, Rams winning #RCCup #GoRams #fordhamfootball

A photo posted by Fordham University (@fordhamuniversity) on Nov 12, 2016 at 2:39pm PST

Baisley, 83, remembers how, after moving from New York to Chicago in the late 60s, he’d even try to win over Midwesterners by mentioning that he knew Vince Lombardi, FCRH ‘37, the legendary Green Bay Packers coach (who during his time at Fordham tried unsuccessfully to convince Jim’s brother, a basketball player, to join the football team).

But when Fordham takes on Holy Cross for the Ram-Crusader Cup in a highly anticipated game at Yankee Stadium on Nov. 12, Baisley won’t be pulling for either team.

That’s because Baisley will have a grandson on both squads: Charlie, a sophomore offensive lineman at Fordham, and Jimmy, a senior offensive lineman at Holy Cross.

“Oh, it’s going to be absolutely wonderful,” says Baisley, who retired as general counsel for W.W. Grainger in 2000. “We used to go to all the Yankee baseball games. And so to have your grandkids playing in the game, it’s rewarding. You work hard and you try to educate your kids, and give them an opportunity to be good people. And I think they’re all good people.”

Baisley says he’s seen his grandsons, who were teammates in high school in Illinois, play against each other just once: Fordham’s 47-41 overtime win over Holy Cross last season. But he says it’s a thrill to see them suit up for opposing schools, especially since Charlie and Jimmy are both on their team’s offensive units.

“It might have been different if they were knocking heads against each other,” he says. “But that wasn’t happening.”

Baisley’s grandsons say they’re looking forward to the game as well.

“I’m really excited,” says Jimmy Murray. “This game has been on everyone in my family’s schedule for the last two years.” Indeed, Baisley says at least 50 family members will be on hand on Nov. 12.

Not surprisingly, his grandsons are trying to sway him to their schools’ side.

“I’ve been kind of leaving some Holy Cross gear around his house, and hoping that he picks up on the hints and is wearing more Holy Cross than Fordham,” says Jimmy Murray.

Charlie, meanwhile, plans to try and persuade his grandfather to pull for his alma mater. “I hope he ultimately roots for Fordham, but I’m sure he’s going to have a great time regardless of the score of the game,” he said.

But despite his family’s many Fordham connections—another grandson played golf at Fordham, and he has a granddaughter in high school who’s committed to play soccer for the Rams in 2017—Baisley says he’s not rooting for either team at Yankee Stadium.

To remain neutral on game day, he says “I may bring my Holy Cross hat and my Fordham hat, and wear them interchangeably.”

“I don’t care which team wins,” he says. “I think every kid on that field is a winner because they’re getting a Jesuit education.”

–Joe DeLessio, FCLC ’06

Since then, it has been the job of Anne Walsh, RSHM, to keep a watchful eye over all of the University’s student-athletes. Sister Anne’s official title is associate academic adviser for the athletics department.

But she’s far more than “just academics” to them, say the athletes.

“She lives in Walsh Hall, so night and day she’ll stop what she’s doing and do whatever it takes to help you out,” said rising senior Joe Pavlik. “She’s a true blessing for all student-athletes.”

“I got sick once and she emailed me saying, ‘I hope you’re feeling better,’” said rising senior Ben Hartman. “It was as simple as that. Not ‘make sure you stay on top of things,’ but just ‘feel better.’ That’s pretty uplifting.”

But make no mistake. Sister Anne can be a taskmaster.

“I’m not going to tell you what my GPA was in my freshman year, but it wasn’t what it should be,” said rising senior Manny Adeyeye. “And she really helped me out. “We’re all away from home … and want to do our own thing, but she’s like, ‘Alright, focus up!’ She got me the tutors I needed and steered me in the right direction.”

Sister Anne received her master’s from Fordham’s Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education in 1978. She studied in Rome and is a certified counselor in what she calls the “the everyday ups and downs of life.”

“I’m there for them and they can confide on me on any level—and I cherish that.”

A 6-foot-1-inch redhead known as Big Red, Winter had chalked up 112 wins, a school record, against just 34 losses, while also setting the Notre Dame record for most home runs in a season. Her proficiency as both pitcher and hitter had earned her a contract with the Akron Racers of the National Pro Fastpitch league.

But Winter’s success had a price. For months, she had played in pain and, soon after her collegiate career ended, an MRI revealed torn tissue near her right shoulder blade.

That May, she had surgery. Doctors told the 23-year-old that she wouldn’t know for a year whether she would ever again hurl a softball at game speed.

On the drive home to Southern California with her father, she busied herself by sending e-mails to colleges about working as a coach. Among the colleges was Fordham, whose softball squad she had admired while at Notre Dame.

“They won two A-10 championships and three of the past four,” said Winter, a San Diego native. “It was definitely a program I wanted to be a part of.”

She met with the team’s head coach, Bridget Orchard, in June and was named to the coaching staff soon after.

But Winter was also determined to return to the pitching circle as a player. She started rehab by stretching and throwing overhand. But following a setback, she reevaluated.

“This is great, but I don’t want to just throw overhand—I want to pitch (underhand),” she recalled thinking.

She created her own routine, lifting light weights, stretching, and eventually pitching. “I was supposed to be throwing full at nine to 12 months, but I was throwing at eight. It was kind of easier to do it on my own,” she said.

Before long, the scholar and athlete who had thrived in Southern California and the Midwest was in New York, embarking on one more role, that of mentor.

The move to the Bronx was appealing. “I kind of wanted a challenge, something that wasn’t extremely comfortable for me,” she said.

Winter was a strong candidate because of her success as a player, but Orchard saw her relative youth as an asset as well.

Being “straight out of school,” Winter “understood the student-athlete aspect of it,” Orchard said.

And, Orchard said, Winter’s pitching prowess would be of great benefit to the team during drills, once she had recovered from her injury.

“We don’t see anything as good in our conference,” Orchard said.

In September, Winter, who studied information technology management at Notre Dame, will begin graduate studies in information systems. She hopes to eventually apply technology to recruiting and to the collection of players’ statistics.

This summer, however, she is back with the Racers. Just over a year after her surgery, in the Racers’ second game of the summer season, Winter pitched three-hit shutout ball over four innings, striking out three and walking one, and earned the win against the PA Rebellion in her comeback to the pitching circle.

The Racers’ season runs until mid-August. She’ll take a short break before returning to Fordham, where the Rams hope to build on last season’s A-10 championship run.

For now, though, Winter is building on her own success.

“I couldn’t ask for anything more. Anything else that happens this summer is just icing on the cake for me,” she said. “I’m starting to establish where I want to be.”

-Rich Khavkine

That afternoon, NBC sent two iconoscope cameras (recently patented by RCA), an announcer, and a crew to Randall’s Island Stadium.

It would not have been strange for the 9,000 or so fans in attendance to see cameras on the sidelines. But these cameras were different. They sent a live signal to a relay station 10 miles from the stadium and then, by cable, to the top of the Empire State Building, where a large transmitter broadcast the game on W2XBS (now WNBC, Channel 4) to the lucky few New Yorkers who owned a TV in those days.

It’s estimated that approximately 500 people saw the broadcast, including some visitors to the NBC pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Bill Stern, one of the leading radio broadcasters of the day, handled the announcing duties and soon learned the difference between radio and television. Stern, who was used to spicing up his descriptions of plays for radio audiences, found he couldn’t do the same when viewers were able to see the play he was announcing. His TV broadcasting career was short-lived.

As for the action on the field, Fordham beat Waynesburg, 34-7. Later that fall, the NFL broadcast its first game on TV, when the Brooklyn Dodgers played the Philadelphia Eagles at Ebbets Field.

And on Feb. 28, 1940, Fordham made TV history again, playing in the first live TV broadcast of a college basketball game. That day, however, the Rams were unlucky. They lost to Pittsburgh at Madison Square Garden.

—Joe DiBari