With Little still at the helm, the Lions finished in the Top-20 in 1945 and again in 1947 thanks in part to transfers like Ventan "Vitty" Yablonski who came from Fordham and Bill Swiacki who came from Holy Cross. Their signature victory came against three-time defending national champs, Army in 1947. Trailing 20-7, Columbia's Gene "The Golden Greek" Rossides (a Sid Luckman disciple from Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall) used deep strikes to engineer two late drives. Swiacki made the catches and each drive finished with touchdown runs by halfback, Lou Kusserow. Fullback and kicker Yablonski also gained a key first down during the final push but more importantly, kicked home the deciding extra point. Later Swiacki, Kusserow and Yablonski all spent time in the NFL while Rossides entered the world of law, and later, under President Nixon, government.
While Columbia improved, Fordham's resumption of football saw them drop from region's first to region's worst. Even NYU beat the Rams in 1946. Vying for the title of most minor major the following season, the two played to a predictable tie in 1947. Eventually NYU regained their sole position at the bottom until mercifully dropping football in 1952. In 1973 they dropped out of The Bronx too. To some they were another victim of urban decay, to others, another perpetrator of White Flight. Either way, as NYU fully centered itself in Greenwich Village and, in time, became an elite institution, all other sports were relegated to D-III status.
Before that the Violet remained a roundball power throughout the 1950s and were nationally ranked as late as 1965. In the spring of 1969 their baseball team finished one game away from winning the College World Series and later that fall the Violet advanced to the Sweet 16 of the soccer championships. While the move out of their neoclassical, green campus put all sports on the backburner, football had never quite recovered from the loss of Chick Meehan in 1932. For Fordham, the school never quite recovered from the loss of twice not hiring Vince Lombardi.
Lombardi was added to the Maroon staff in 1948. Having previously coached the school's freshman team he had a better knowledge of the sophomore class (which included two future first team Catholic All-Americans in guard Tom Mareski and reciever Al Pfeifer) than even head coach, Ed Danowski. The assistant coach's relationship was even tighter with, QB Dick Doheny, and RB Larry "Run to Daylight" Higgins, whom Lombardi had earlier coached at St. Celia's High School in New Jersey. Lombardi brought talent back to the roster but also a power struggle to the sidelines as two Ram legends locked horns.
Although part of the famed Seven Blocks of Granite, four of whom later played in the NFL, Lombardi was its least celebrated member. Comparatively, Danowski was the former QB who captained Fordham to their 1933 victory over Alabama, the win which truly cemented Fordham's place as a national program. From there Big Ed went on to a long career with the football Giants where he led the league in passing and led the team to two NFL championships. Danowski's record as a player kept him safe even as his record as a coach had some media members calling for Lombardi to take over. The school sided with the humble head coach over the hotshot assistant. Lombardi left to later arguably become the most successful and inarguably the single most famous football coach the game has ever known. Danowski stayed to empty seats at the Polo Grounds. In fairness, he did orchestrate three straight winning seasons between 1949-1951. His strategic aerial assaults also had the Rams leading the country in passing yards in 1949, thanks to Doheny, and again in 1952, thanks to the quarterbacking platoon of Roger "The Rahjah" Franz and Vinnie Drake. Franz was the speedy, playmaking scrambler. Drake, one of the nation's first African Americans allowed to QB a major college team, was the big pocket flamethrower. But for all their yards, in an era where conflicts were still decided on the ground, overall results were only average.
Things completely fell apart with a fresh cast in 1954. Never more so than in a 75-7 debacle at Miami. The administration, rumored to be on the verge of bringing back Lombardi to fix the calamity, instead pulled the plug. Players like Chuck Zimmerman and Jimmy Reese, who'd go on to be starting quarterbacks at Syracuse and Minnesota respectively, left. What would become football's biggest name was never given the chance to return. Columbia remained as the city's only "major" team although by most accounts their 1954 group was even worse than Fordham's. In fact, following the Golden Greek's tenure, Columbia slipped into a stretch from 1948 to 1960 where they had only one winning season and four one win seasons. Included in that mix, their disastrous setback at Buffalo. Only in shocking their Ivy brethren by capturing the 1961 league crown while captained by future Apple board member and Intuit chairman, Bill Campbell, did the Lions again roar. Not that many outside the insulated bubble could hear them. Nevertheless, after more losing seasons, seven in a row headed into 1971, they almost did it again. Although falling short of another league crown, their 6-3 mark in 1971 relieved previous misery. It added drama too as their first seven contests were all decided by three points or less.
Thanks to the many last second wins, the '71 team was labeled the Cardiac Kids by reporters who still recalled the 1947 Army comeback. Not that the rest of the city, or even the student body, fresh off setting fires and occupying buildings during Vietnam era, seemed to care. Still, on the field, Columbia had a chance of adding to their light success. Instead, a siege of injuries brought them back to being the Same Ol' Lions. Before those injuries however, Columbia finally took on Fordham's startup. For at least a few diehards, New York finally got the showdown it should have gotten in 1932, 1942, or even 1952. Despite Pete Carlesimo's hopes of creating a series between the locals, one never materialized. Both took separate paths before reuniting in 1991.
For the Lions, that path meant slipping to the point of being one of the worst of all D-I teams of the 1970s. After the NCAA demoted the entire Ivy bubble into the I-AA subdivision, Columbia slipped further in becoming the single worst I-AA team of the 1980s. Only a ruthless 44 game losing streak managed to bring any media attention back to Baker Field's replacement, Wien Stadium. Early on in that streak long time NFL assistant, Jim Garrett, was hired to rectify the abysmal mess. Helping him, his three sons, John, Jason and Judd, each born a year apart and each holding NFL potential. John was already at Columbia. Jason and Judd transferred in from Princeton. After his first game, where a 17-0 halftime lead turned into a 49-17 loss to Harvard, Jim infamously laced into his team as "drug-addicted losers." The tirades continued, so did the losses. Garrett was fired after one winless season and later became a scout for the Dallas Cowboys. Jason and Judd transferred back to Princeton for the spring semester and took John with them. Each finished their respective careers as Ivy League stars. Each later got the chance to wear the Dallas Cowboy star during different stints with the club in the 1990s. Later still, they each worked for the Dallas organization that Jason currently coaches. For all of their later success, Columbia got the last laugh on the Garrett family. The Light Blue beat Princeton to finally end the 44 game losing streak in 1988. Despite Jason's 200+ yards in the air and Judd's 100+ yards on the ground, the Lions pulled out a 16-13 squeaker which ended with most of the 5,420 fans in attendance racing onto the field to pull down the goalposts. That night the campus was again occupied, this time by rabid football fans, as wild celebrations lasted into the wee hours of the morning. Local and national TV crews covered the drunken festivities although even that jubilation went south fast. Upon season's end, head coach Larry McElreavy resigned amidst rumors that he was showing up to practices drunk.
For the Rams, the path towards a 1991 rematch was taken mostly in obscurity. Following the Columbia game they returned to being a mediocre group in the lowest of all NCAA divisions. Carlesimo couldn't elevate the program. Worse yet, the basketball power he had imagined collapsed shortly after the acrimonious departure of Digger Phelps. Things were even more hostile amongst administrators who, during "The Bronx Is Burning" days, threatened to follow NYU out of the widely neglected ghetto. Carlesimo didn't survive the multiple levels of chaos and was replaced by Dave Rice who had previously replaced Loucks as football coach. Despite allegations of playing fast and loose with their "student athletes" in the late 1970s, Fordham did briefly prosper. Rice saw an opportunity to jump up to the I-AA level, or at least to the Division-II ranks, after a 1978 win over Davidson. The school, almost as cash-poor as the crumbling city itself, couldn't afford either venture. It would take another decade, and coincidentally, two more wins over Davidson, as well as back-to-back trips into the D-III postseason before the Maroon was finally ready for promotion in 1989.
Fordham joined the Patriot League (then known as the Colonial League) to ironically replace Davidson, who chose to downsize their program after briefly filling in to replace William & Mary, who backed out of the loop upon its creation in 1986. Even William & Mary was only beckoned into the northeastern-based firm because Rutgers had already fully transitioned itself into a D-I program in 1978. But despite not being the Patsies' first choice, after a 34 year absence, Fordham was finally a partner on the main stage. Or to be more exact, like one of the backup singers, Fordham was a partner on an often overlooked section of the main stage. Still, Frank McLaughlin, Dave Rice's successor, got a new administration to do what Rice couldn't in 1978 and what Carlesimo had only dreamed of in 1972. A dream which began with simply getting on the field with Columbia. Despite the mismatch, getting back on the pages of New York's biggest tabloid (even as a punchline), getting covered by a commercial radio station (even on tape delay), getting on cable TV (even if very few understood what cable was), showed that there was potential for what the CUMB suggested, a second "big time" college football team. Since joining the I-AA slate Fordham has seen its shares of ups and (mostly) downs but, early on at least, the move finally put them on equal footing with Columbia.
As I-AA equals, both were equally horrific, the two locals did square off again in 1991. Fordham took that tussle and, despite losing every other game that year, could at least claim to be the city's best for the first time in 40 years. But even that minor claim was fleeting as under coach Ray Tellier, Columbia revamped things. With the help of future NFL All-Pro Marcellus Wiley, the 1994 Lions earned their first winning season in 23 years. The 1996 squad finished 2nd in league play and, after a 6-0 start, was even featured on ESPN. After Wiley's graduation things slipped back to an era of mediocrity but Colmbia was still good enough to sweep their next five encounters with Fordham leading to their 2001 matchup.
The murderous attacks of 9/11 postponed that game although the two schools stood together refusing to cancel things outright. Instead, the affair was eventually rescheduled for Thanksgiving morning. The following year the Liberty Cup was born to honor the memories of the 3,000 killed which included 43 Columbia and 39 Fordham alumni. Also included amongst the fallen, former Rams fullback, Nick Brandemarti, and former Rams quarterback, Kevin Szocik.
But even the 9/11 tribute did little to garner I-AA interest for most New Yorkers. In fact, the most memorable part of the game involved the CUMB's halftime show which featured a joke about Fordham "going down like alter boys." Columbia's administration apologized, the CUMB did not. On the field the schools split wins for an 8 year spell until Fordham decided to add athletic scholarships before the 2010 season. It's been all Maroon ever since. The introduction of scholarship talent to Fordham coincided with Columbia's worst spell since the 1980s. The mismatches were predictable and after two particular thumpings in 2013 and 2014 where Fordham won by a combined score of 101-14, Columbia threw in the towel. They asked out of the series which even 9/11 couldn't stop. The 2015 Liberty Cup marked the end of a rivalry that should have started in the 1930s. With history on its side, including the presence of future NFL All-Pros like Danowski and Swiacki, as well as future NFL Hall of Famers like Luckman and the greatest of all Granite Blocks, Alex Wojciechowicz, it could have become a part of the city's rich sporting tradition. Instead, the 2015 encounter, like the 1972 one, was played almost exclusively for students and alums by teams headed down separate paths.
Thanks to exponentially superior talent, Fordham again prevailed in 2015 although "only" by a 44-24 margin. A homecoming crowd of over 8,000 fans surprisingly (or not considering the rivalry's poor background) proved to be the largest ever to come out for a Columbia-Fordham contest. The rivalry's last chapter was also the opening stanza for Columbia's new coach and old skipper, Al Bagnoli. Brought in from Penn as a savior, it only took one game for Bagnoli to breathe some life into a dying program. On campus there were already rumbles of dropping football which never gained the lovable losers moniker of years past. Of course, for those in the know, eliminating the program was never an option for any Ivy League member. Not with the vast political pull and massive multibillion dollar endowments that each Ancient Eight banks. That said, in a way, the entire league is currently dropping itself. A recent break of alliances with the Ivy-Lights after they all (minus newer football addition, Georgetown) chose to join Fordham in adding football scholarships in 2013 has left the exclusive Ivy bubble smaller than ever. In fairness, some rivalries, like Cornell-Colgate or Harvard-Holy Cross, will in all likelihood last forever. Others, like Penn-Lafayette, are already on hiatus. Others still, like Columbia-Fordham, never really came about at the right time to begin with.
After the final Liberty Cup game ever, Columbia's losing streak reached 22. Although halfway to tying the infamous 44 game streak, the combination of Bagnoli and weaker future schedules should keep things from ever approaching "drug-addicted losers" levels of futility. But can Bagnoli avoid all levels of futility? Can he establish the type of winner he helped build during his 25 years heading Penn? If so, how long will it take?
As for Fordham, the future is a bit murky too. Coach Joe Moorhead has done much more than use athletic scholarships and his own brilliant technician skills to create a nice, little team. Aiming for a third straight I-AA playoffs appearance, he's instead created the foundation for another Beast of the East. Well, for I-AA (now known as "FCS" as opposed to D-I's current "FBS" label) standards. Wins over Temple in 2013 and Army this season have indeed inched the Rams closer to the "big time."
Of course "big time" will never equal Fordham and Columbia's definition during the 1930s. But Fordham is already playing at a comparable level to where Columbia was in 1972. Still, questions swirl about how long Moorhead, a former Rams quarterback who played at a time when Fordham was mired in their own 14 game losing streak, sticks around. Will he stay long enough to build the I-AA facsimile of what Lombardi once envisioned? If he leaves will Fordham go back to the losing accustomed to before Moorhead's arrival? Or, has the addition of scholarships helped change the culture for good at Rose Hill? We'll see how long Fordham can stay at the top. We already know its been a long journey for the Rams, and as Pete Carlesimo would say, one which started with the Lions-Christians clash of 1972.*
UPDATE - October 10th, 2015: Congratulations to Columbia on snapping their 24 game losing streak! The Light Blue proved too much for Wagner while easing to a 26-3 victory. No national or local TV crews were on hand but the 3,211 fans in attendance did witness a Lions win for the first time since what seems like the Cheney presidency. Coincidentally, Wagner has taken NYU's old role as the city's third team. Again, on the I-AA/FCS level at least. Despite lacking in history since moving up from the Division-III ranks in 1993, they, like Baldwin Wallace, once were a Division-III power. As a D-III they too once won a national championship and also once shutout SUNY-Buffalo. Still, even while rebuilding, let's hope for some stronger competition going forward. From dropping Army off the schedule in the '50s, to dropping Rutgers in the '70s, to dropping Fordham now, there isn't much deeper for the Lions to dig below Wagner. Baldwin Wallace is still out there but let's hope Columbia instead punches up to get back on the field with Fordham and bring some Liberty back to the city!
UPDATE - March 3rd, 2016: Despite being bounced out of the first round of the 2015 FCS playoffs, Fordham finished the season ranked first in the Northeast according to the ECAC. The job of staying on top now falls on Andrew Breiner following Joe Moorhead's departure to Penn State. Below, the ECAC's announcement:
