December 2008 is Fordham Rams Month at AGS - Read the fact a day!

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12/1

QUICK FACTS
Location: ........................................ Bronx, NY 10458
Founded: .................................................. ........... 1841
Enrollment (Undergraduate): ......................... 8,222
President: .......................... Joseph M. McShane, S.J.
Executive Director of Athletics: . Frank McLaughlin
Dir. of Athletic Administration: ...... Charlie Elwood
Nickname: .................................................. ....... Rams
School Colors: ............................. Maroon and White
Home Field/Capacity: ...... Jack Coffey Field (7,000)
Surface: .................................................. ..... FieldTurf
Affiliation: .....................................NCAA Div. I FCS
Conference: ......................................... Patriot League
Head Coach: .......................................... Tom Masella
Alma Mater/Year: .................................... Wagner ‘81
Type Offense: ............................................... Multiple
Type Defense: .................................................. ..... 3-4

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12/2

Fordham’s profile got huge boost when the Iron Major, Frank Cavanaugh, succeeded Gargan as head coach in 1927 and cultivated the first edition of the Seven Blocks of Granite. Those “Blocks” teams shut out 12 of 18 opponents in two seasons and only once did they allow more than seven points to be scored against them.

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12/3

SEVEN BLOCKS OF GRANITE

The Seven Blocks of Granite was a nickname given to the 1936 Fordham University football team's offensive line. The Seven Blocks of Granite were: Leo Paquin, Johnny Druze, Alex Wojciechowicz, Ed Franco, Al Babartsky, Natty Pierce, and Vince Lombardi. The nickname was also commonly used to referred to the Fordham lines of the 1929, 1930, and 1937 teams but it is the 1936 line which is today the best known of these lines.

In the 1930s, Fordham University was a college football power, as they were consistently a nationally ranked team. In 1936, school publicist Timothy Cohane needed a nickname to spur recognition of his Fordham Rams, who were undefeated halfway through the season and on the verge of possibly their best season ever. The strength of the Fordham team was its offensive line - seven men: center, two guards, two tackles and two ends. In his columns, American sportswriter Grantland Rice had already written "The Fordham Wall Still Stands" in honor of the team and its early season success, but a catchy nickname was still needed — something to rival Notre Dame's famous Four Horsemen. The year before Cohane tried using the "Seven Samsons" to highlight the squad's offensive linemen, but it never caught on. Following on that theme and remembering the caption from a newswire photo he'd seen several years before, Cohane tried the Seven Blocks of Granite.

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12/4

Fordham's Greg DeMarco and Matt Loucks Named First Team All-Patriot League for 2008.
Ryan Mehra, James Crockett and Justin Sarabeaz Named to Second Team.


Fordham senior defensive lineman Greg DeMarco (Hillsdale, N.Y./Bergen Catholic) and senior safety Matt Loucks (Port St. Lucie, Fla./South Fork) were honored today by the League's seven head coaches as each was named First Team All-Patriot League. Also receiving accolades from the League's coaches were senior defensive lineman Ryan Mehra (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood), junior linebacker James Crockett (Maple Heights, Ohio/St. Peter Chanel) and senior offensive lineman Justin Sarabaez (Nanuet, Mass./Holyoke) who were all named to the Second Team.

LINK (http://fordhamsports.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/112508aaa.html)

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12/5

The 1929 team produced one of three undefeated seasons in the school’s history (the first came in 1886), but it also tied two games, and those blemishes evidently cost the Rams a trip to the Rose Bowl, the only postseason game of any note at that time. Seven seasons later, in 1936, when the second version of the Seven Blocks of Granite were so dominant under head coach “Sleepy” Jim Crowley, a one-point loss to rival New York University in the season’s final game cost the Rams a trip to Pasadena again, making hollow the rallying cry of “From Rose Hill to the Rose Bowl.”

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12/6

Three Fordham alumni have been inducted into the National Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

The first Ram to be inducted was Alex Wojciechowicz ‘38, who was enshrined in 1968.

Wojciechowicz was a two-time All-American at Fordham and was the center of the famed “Seven Blocks of Granite”. He was the number-one draft choice of the Detroit Lions in 1938 and played eight years on both sides of the ball for the Lions before later playing with the Philadelphia Eagles.

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12/7

The second of the three Rams to join the Hall of Fame was Vince Lombardi ‘37, who was honored in 1971. He was also a member of the famous “Seven Blocks of Granite” at Fordham and went on to fame as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. Lombardi coached the Packers from 1959-67 and compiled an 89-29-4 career record along with five NFL titles and two Super Bowl crowns. He then coached the Washington Redskins in 1969 and led them to their first winning season in 14 years.

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12/8

The most recent of the three Hall of Fame inductees is the late Wellington Mara ‘37, inducted in 1997. Though he never played football at Fordham, he was a mainstay with the New York Giants.

Starting out as an Assistant to the President and Treasurer in 1937, Mara rose through the ranks to become President of the team in 1966. The Giants won 14 divisional titles and four NFL titles, including two Super Bowls, under Mara’s tenure.

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12/9

In 1932, Ed Danowski became the first Fordham player to earn All- American honors in consecutive years. There have been 54 members of the squad to receive All-American honors. The most recent Ram to do so was senior Ben Dato.

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12/10

In 1934 Tony Sarausky ran 62-yards for a touchdown to help the Rams defeat the University of Tennessee 13-12. The game is remembered in college football history as the "Sarausky Masterpiece" and is labeled as the "greatest game" in school history.

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12/11

Throughout the 1930s and early 1940s—until World War II interrupted the sport at Fordham from 1943 to 1945—a who’s who of college teams came to the Polo Grounds to play the Rams. They included Oregon State, Oregon, Alabama, West Virginia, Michigan State, SMU, Tennessee, Purdue, Boston College, Georgetown, Holy Cross, Vanderbilt, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tulane, Rice, Indiana, Arkansas, and, of course, the University of Pittsburgh, against whom Fordham played a record three consecutive scoreless ties, in 1935, 1936 and 1937.

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12/12

During the 1936 and 1937 seasons, the Rams posted a 12-1-3 record. Vince Lombardi was one of the Seven Blocks of Granite on the 1936 team—the dominating group of linemen who helped the Rams hold opposing teams scoreless eight times in two years.

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12/13

On September 30, 1939, Fordham participated in the world’s first televised football game, defeating Waynesburg College, 34-7.

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12/14

Fordham football’s golden era ended during World War II. The University reinstated the sport in 1946, after a three-year absence. An 8-1 record in 1950 was the highlight during this era. Citing sparse crowds and too much red ink. The sport was dropped after the 1954 season.

Ten years later, in 1964, a gutsy group of students revived the sport on a club level.

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12/15

Forham elevated her club team to NCAA Div III followed by a move to NCAA’s Division I-AA in 1990, as a member of the newly formed Patriot League. While adapting to the higher level of play the rams played games against Holy Cross in Limerick, Ireland, and in Hamilton, Bermuda. In the latter, Fordham beat the Crusaders for the first time since 1930.

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12/16

In 2001 the Rams posted a winning record at the I-AA level, this coming under Coach Dave Clawson. They followed that 7-4 season by winning the Patriot League championship in 2002 and advancing to the I-AA playoffs, where they stunned everyone outside Rose Hill by upsetting Altantic-10 champion Northeastern in the first round.

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12/17

Fordham’s home field is named after its legendary Director of Athletics, Jack Coffey. Coffey began his duties at Rose Hill as baseball coach and graduate manager of athletics in 1909, and remained at Rose Hill in one capacity or another until retiring in 1958. He amassed 817 wins as a baseball coach and became a popular answer to a baseball trivia question, since he is the only player to play with both Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb in the same season (1917 Red Sox and Tigers).

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12/18

Fordham is the only FCS institution to have played in at least two of the four major bowl games (Cotton, Orange, Sugar, Rose), competing in the 1941 Cotton Bowl and the 1942 Sugar Bowl. They are also one of just six FCS schools to have made more than one bowl appearance.

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12/19

The San Fransisco 49ers most prestigious award named after former Ram All-American Len Eshmont ('36-'39)

The Eshmont Award, the 49ers most prestigious annual honor, has been given each year to the Niner who best exemplifies the "inspirational and courageous play" of Len Eshmont. A player from the original 1946 Forty Niners' team, Eshmont coached at Navy and Virginia, following his playing days with the 49ers. He attended Fordham University from 1936-1939 and attained All-American honors.

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12/20

Fordham was the first school to have "The Ram" as a mascot. The name was derived from a cheer that the students used at an 1893 game v. Army "One Damn, Two Damn, Three Damn ... Fordham!" that the Jesuits didn't approve of and then was altered by the student body to change "damn" to "Ram".

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12/21

The 1936 the Seven Blocks of Granite were Paquin, Ed Franco, Nat Pierce, Alex Wojciechowicz, Al Babartsky, Johnny Druze and Vince Lombardi.

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12/22

The Fordham Rams were the ninth school in college football history to play 1,000 games.

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12/23

Fordham’s football program ranks fifth among programs currently playing at the FCS level for all time wins. Fordham trails only Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, and Princeton University.

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12/24

Founded in the late 1850’s, the Fordham Rose Hill Baseball Club of St. John’s College (the precursor to Fordham University, and of no connection at all to St. John’s University) played against St. Francis Xavier College in the first ever nine-man-team college baseball game on November 3, 1859.

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12/25

Fordham’s tremendous popularity in the 1930’s inspired National Football League owner Homer Marchman to name his fledging franchise after the “boys from the Bronx”, thus starting the history of the NFL Cleveland Rams. The Rams first moved to Los Angeles and now reside in St. Louis.

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12/26

The Victory Bell

Situated in front of the Rose Hill Gym is the Fordham Victory Bell, which is traditionally rung after every football victory. The bell was presented to the University by Admiral Chester Nimitz and blessed by his Eminence John Cardinal Spellman as a memorial to those who lost their lives during World War II. The bell was taken from the Aircraft Carrier Juyo, which saw action in the battles of Savo New Guinea and The Solomon Islands before being silenced by an aerial bomb at Saipan. It was first rung at Rose Hill by President Harry Truman on May 11, 1946.

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12/27

Former Ram back Warren Mulrey inspired the stiff-arming Heisman Trophy statuette. Mulrey played for Fordham from 1934-36 and served as the model for the famous trophy.

To create this trophy, a well known sculptor and National Academy Prize Winner, Rank Eliscu, was engaged. He set to work at once selecting Ed Smith, a leading player on the 1934 New York University football team, as his model. In due course, Eliscu prepared a rough clay model. It was approved by the DAC Committee and sent uptown to Jim Crowley (one of the legendary Four Horseman of Notre Dame), then Head Football Coach at Fordham, for his inspection. He showed the replica to his players who took various positions on the field to illustrate and verify the side step, the forward drive and the strong arm thrust of the right arm. Sculptor Eliscu closely observed these action sequences and modified his clay prototype to correspond. The result was a truly lifelike simulation of player action.

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12/28

Fordham University is an independent university in the Jesuit tradition. It was established in 1841 as St. John's College by the Right Rev. John Hughes, Coadjutor-Bishop (later Archbishop) of New York, on old Rose Hill Manor in the village of Fordham. The name Fordham is derived from the Anglo-Saxon words "ford" and "ham," meaning a wading place or ford by a settlement. Rose Hill is the name given to the site in 1787 by Robert Watts, a wealthy New York merchant, in honor of his family's ancestral home of the same name in Scotland. The College, which opened with a student body of six, was originally staffed by diocesan clergy. In 1846, the year the New York State Legislature granted the School a charter, Bishop Hughes recruited five Jesuits from St. Mary's College in Kentucky and other communities, and the Society of Jesus then assumed the administration of the College. The name was officially changed to Fordham University in 1907. In 1969 the board of trustees was reorganized to include a majority of non-clergy members.

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12/29

Rose Hill, the original campus, adjacent to Little Italy, the Bronx Zoo and the New York Botanical Garden, is situated on 85 acres in the Bronx.

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12/30

Real estate mogul and TV personality, Donald Trump, was a place kicker for two seasons with the Rams before transferring.

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12/31

POP QUIZ! (http://www.quizmoz.com/quizzes/Famous-University-and-College-Quizzes/f/Fordham-University-Facts-Quiz.asp)
Test your knowledge.