Fordham Rams
Encyclopedia
The 22 Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...

 varsity
Varsity team
In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...

 sports teams are known as the Fordham Rams. Their colors are maroon
Maroon (color)
Maroon is a dark red color.-Etymology:Maroon is derived from French marron .The first recorded use of maroon as a color name in English was in 1789.-Maroon :...

 and white
White
White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...

. The Fordham Rams are members of NCAA Division I and compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference for all sports except football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

. In football, the Rams play in the Patriot League
Patriot League
The Patriot League is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I) for a number of sports; in football, it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision...

 of NCAA Division 1 Football Championship Subdivision. The University also supports a number of club sports, and a significant intramural sports program. The University's athletic booster clubs include the Sixth Man Club for basketball and the Twelfth Man Club for football, as well as the Afterguard for sailing.

Fordham University sports, though not part of the Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...

, has nevertheless been credited with inspiring the term by comparison. The first usage of "Ivy" in reference to a group of colleges is from sportswriter Stanley Woodward (1895–1965). In an article that appeared in the New York Tribune
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...

on October 14, 1933, Woodward, referencing football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

, wrote

According to the book "Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins"(1988), author William Morris writes that Stanley Woodward actually took the term from fellow New York Tribune
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...

sportswriter Caswell Adams. Morris writes that during the 1930s, the Fordham University football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 team was running roughshod over all its opponents. One day in the sports room at the Tribune, the merits of Fordham's football team was being compared to Princeton
Princeton Tigers
The Princeton Tigers are the athletic teams of Princeton University. The school sponsors 31 varsity sports. The school has won several NCAA national championships, including one in men's fencing, six in men's lacrosse, three in women's lacrosse, and eight in men's golf...

 and Columbia
Columbia Lions
The Columbia University Lions are the collective athletic teams and their members from Columbia University, an Ivy League institution in New York City, United States. The current director of athletics is M...

. Adams remarked disparagingly of the latter two, saying they were "only Ivy League." Woodward, the sports editor of the Tribune, picked up the term and printed it the next day.

Baseball

Founded in the late 1850s, 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
St. John's University (New York City)
St. John's University is a private, Roman Catholic, coeducational university located in New York City, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission in 1870, the school was originally located in the borough of Brooklyn in the neighborhood of Bedford–Stuyvesant...

) played against St. Francis Xavier College in the first ever nine-man-team college baseball
College baseball
College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. Compared to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a less significant contribution to cultivating professional players, as the minor leagues primarily...

 game on November 3, 1859. Fordham is the all time NCAA leader in wins.

There have been 56 major leaguers
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 who have played for Fordham, including All-Star
Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual baseball game between players from the National League and the American League, currently selected by a combination of fans, players, coaches, and managers...

 pitcher Pete Harnisch
Pete Harnisch
Peter Thomas Harnisch is a former Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher.-Baltimore Orioles:Harnisch studied accounting, and was a star pitcher at Fordham University, compiling a 21-3 college record, 2.29 earned run average and 213 strikeouts in 204 innings pitched...

 and Baseball Hall of Famer Frankie Frisch
Frankie Frisch
Francis “Frankie” Frisch , nicknamed the "Fordham Flash" or "The Old Flash", was a German American Major League Baseball player of the early twentieth century....

. Frisch, a star athlete in four different sports at Fordham, was known as the "Fordham Flash". Steve Bellán
Steve Bellán
Estevan Enrique "Steve" Bellán , also known as Esteban, was a Cuban professional baseball player who played as a third baseman for six seasons in the United States , three in the National Association of Base Ball Players from 1868 to , and three in the National Association of Professional Base...

, first Latin American to play Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

, started his career as a player at St. John's College.

The team plays home games at Houlihan Park at Jack Coffey Field
Houlihan Park at Jack Coffey Field
Jim Houlihan Park at Jack Coffey Field, or simply Houlihan Park, is a baseball field located on the campus of Fordham University in New York, New York, USA. It is the home field of the Fordham Rams baseball team of the Division I Atlantic 10 Conference...

. Jack Coffey Field
Coffey Field
Jack Coffey Field is a 7,000-seat multi-purpose stadium in The Bronx, New York. It is home to the Fordham University Rams football team. The facility opened in 1930. The field is named for former Fordham baseball coach Jack Coffey. The facility also includes Houlihan Park, home of the Fordham...

, a multisport facility, is named after Jack Coffey, former athletic director
Athletic director
An athletic director is an administrator at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic programs...

 and baseball coach at the University. He amassed 817 wins as a baseball coach. Coffey is the only player to play with both Ty Cobb
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia...

 and Babe Ruth
Babe Ruth
George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...

 in the same season (1918 Detroit Tigers
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...

 and Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...

). The baseball portion of the field was renamed "Houlihan Park" after renovations completed in 2005.

Basketball

Fordham basketball teams (men and women) have been members of the MAAC
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. MAAC teams compete in the NCAA's Division I. Most of the members are Catholic or formerly Catholic institutions; the only exception is the private but secular Rider...

 (1981-82 through 1989-90), Patriot League
Patriot League
The Patriot League is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I) for a number of sports; in football, it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision...

 (1990-91 through 1994-95), and the Atlantic 10 Conference (1995-96 through present). It has been well documented by ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 that at one point during the 08-09 season, John Demarzo had a strong craving/need for 30.

Men

Fordham began competing in men's basketball in 1902. They played their first game in Rose Hill Gymnasium in 1925 (defeating Boston College
Boston College Eagles men's basketball
The Boston College Eagles are a Division I college basketball program that represents Boston College in Chestnut Hill, MA. The team has competed in the ACC since 2005, having previously played in the Big East. Home games have been played at the Conte Forum since 1988, having previously been played...

, 46-16). On February 28, 1940, Fordham hosted the University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball
Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball is the NCAA Division I intercollegiate men's basketball program of the University of Pittsburgh, often referred to as "Pitt", located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Pitt men's basketball team competes in the Big East Conference and plays their home games in...

 at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden (1925)
Madison Square Garden was an indoor arena in New York City, the third of that name. It was built in 1925 and closed in 1968, and was located on Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets in Manhattan on the site of the city's trolley car barns. It was the first Garden that was not located near...

 in the first ever televised basketball game. Pitt won, 57-37. The game was televised by NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

.

The Fordham men have won three Patriot League
Patriot League
The Patriot League is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I) for a number of sports; in football, it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision...

 regular season conference titles (1991, 1992, 1994) and two Patriot League Tournament Championships (1991 and 1992).

Fordham has participated in four NCAA Tournaments
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...

 (1953
1953 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1953 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 22 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 10, 1953, and ended with the championship game on March 18 in Kansas City, Missouri...

, 1954
1954 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1954 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 24 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 8, 1954, and ended with the championship game on March 20 in Kansas City, Missouri...

, 1971
1971 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1971 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 13, 1971, and ended with the championship game on March 27 in Houston, Texas...

, 1992
1992 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1992 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 19, 1992, and ended with the championship game on April 6 in Minneapolis, Minnesota...

), and sixteen NITs
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitation Tournament is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. There are two NIT events each season. The first, played in November and known as the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off , was founded in 1985...

 (1943
1943 National Invitation Tournament
The 1943 National Invitation Tournament was the 1943 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition.-Selected teams:Below is a list of the 8 teams selected for the tournament.-Brackets/Results:Below is the tournament bracket....

, 1958
1958 National Invitation Tournament
The 1958 National Invitation Tournament was the 1958 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition.-Selected teams:Below is a list of the 12 teams selected for the tournament.-Brackets/Results:Below is the tournament bracket....

, 1959
1959 National Invitation Tournament
The 1959 National Invitation Tournament was the 1959 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition.-Selected teams:Below is a list of the 12 teams selected for the tournament.-Brackets/Results:Below is the tournament bracket....

, 1963
1963 National Invitation Tournament
The 1963 National Invitation Tournament was the 1963 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition.-Selected teams:Below is a list of the 12 teams selected for the tournament.-Brackets/Results:Below is the tournament bracket....

, 1965
1965 National Invitation Tournament
The 1965 National Invitation Tournament was the 1965 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition.-Selected teams:Below is a list of the 14 teams selected for the tournament.-Brackets/Results:Below is the tournament bracket....

, 1968
1968 National Invitation Tournament
The 1968 National Invitation Tournament was the 1968 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition.-Selected teams:Below is a list of the 16 teams selected for the tournament.-Brackets/Results:Below is the tournament bracket....

, 1969
1969 National Invitation Tournament
The 1969 National Invitation Tournament was the 1969 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition.-Selected teams:Below is a list of the 16 teams selected for the tournament.-Brackets/Results:Below is the tournament bracket....

, 1972
1972 National Invitation Tournament
The 1972 National Invitation Tournament was the 1972 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition.-Selected teams:Below is a list of the 16 teams selected for the tournament.-Brackets/Results:Below is the tournament bracket....

, 1981
1981 National Invitation Tournament
-Semifinals & Finals:*Third Place - Purdue 75, West Virginia 72...

, 1982
1982 National Invitation Tournament
-Semifinals & Finals:...

, 1983
1983 National Invitation Tournament
-Semifinals & Finals:...

, 1984
1984 National Invitation Tournament
-Semifinals & Finals:*Third Place - Virginia Tech 71, Southwestern Louisiana 70...

, 1985
1985 National Invitation Tournament
-Semifinals & Finals:*Third Place - Tennessee 100, Louisville 84...

, 1988
1988 National Invitation Tournament
-Semifinals & Finals:*Third Place - Colorado State 58, Boston College 57...

, 1990
1990 National Invitation Tournament
-Semifinals & Finals:*Third Place - Penn State 83, New Mexico 81...

, 1991
1991 National Invitation Tournament
-Semifinals & Finals:*Third Place - Colorado 98, Massachusetts 91...

). Though Fordham won the 1991 Patriot League Tournament, the NCAA did not grant the Patriot League an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament
1991 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1991 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 14, 1991, and ended with the championship game on April 1 in Indianapolis, Indiana...

 that year. Instead, Fordham played in one of three "play-in games", but lost, and was not considered to have reached the NCAA Tournament.

In the 2009-10 season, Fordham went 0-16 in the A-10 conference season (2-26 overall), becoming the first team to go winless in an A-10 conference season since St. Bonaventure
St. Bonaventure University
St. Bonaventure University is a private, Franciscan Catholic university, located in Allegany, Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. It has roughly 2,400 undergraduate and graduate students....

 in 1992-93. That winless streak, which started during the 2008-09 season, ended on the 2010-11 season's final game, snapping the streak at 41.

Through the end of the 2010-11 season, the program's cumulative record is 1444 wins and 1237 losses (.539 win percentage).

Women

Women's basketball at Fordham began as a club team in 1963-64. They became an NCAA competitive team in 1970-71. The Rams won the Patriot League Championship in 1992 and 1994. They played in the 1994 NCAA Tournament
1994 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament
The 1994 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament featured 64 teams for the first time ever. The Final Four consisted of North Carolina, Purdue, Louisiana Tech, and Alabama, with North Carolina defeating Louisiana Tech 60-59 to win its first NCAA title on a 3 point shot by Charlotte Smith as...

.

Cross-Country

The Fordham Rams Cross-Country team, which competes in the Atlantic 10 Conference, won the IC4A
IC4A
IC4A or ICAAAA is an annual men's competition held at different colleges every year....

 2006 Championships at Van Cortlandt Park
Van Cortlandt Park
Van Cortlandt Park is a park located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the fourth largest park in New York City, behind Pelham Bay Park, Flushing Meadows Park and Staten Island Greenbelt....

. It was the team's first IC4A Championship in almost twenty years.

Football

First recognized as a sport at St. John's College in 1882, Fordham in its hey-day has played before sellout crowds at the Polo Grounds
Polo Grounds
The Polo Grounds was the name given to four different stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used by many professional teams in both baseball and American football from 1880 until 1963...

 and Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium was a stadium located in The Bronx in New York City, New York. It was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. The stadium hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. It was also the former home of the New York...

. In the mid-1930s, Fordham boasted what might have been the greatest offensive and defensive line in college history—the "Seven Blocks of Granite
Seven Blocks of Granite
The Seven Blocks of Granite was a nickname given to the Fordham University football team's offensive line under head coach "Sleepy" Jim Crowley and line coach Frank Leahy. The most famous Seven Blocks of Granite were: Leo Paquin, Johnny Druze, Alex Wojciechowicz, Ed Franco, Al Babartsky, Natty...

". Tackle Ed Franco
Ed Franco
Edmondo Guido Armando Franco was a professional American football player. He earned fame as one of the legendary Seven Blocks of Granite and played professionally for the Boston Yanks...

 was a consensus All-American. So was center Alex Wojciechowicz
Alex Wojciechowicz
Alexander Francis Wojciechowicz was a professional American football player in the National Football League. He was an NFL Hall of Famer as an offensive lineman and linebacker for the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles....

 who later became an All-Pro with Detroit and Philadelphia. Guard Vince Lombardi
Vince Lombardi
Vincent Thomas "Vince" Lombardi was an American football coach. He is best known as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s, where he led the team to three straight league championships and five in seven years, including winning the first two Super Bowls following the 1966 and...

 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.http://footballresearch.com/articles/frpage.cfm?topic=bronx The Cleveland Rams later moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 and then to St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

, and are now known as the St. Louis Rams
St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...

.

On September 30, 1939, Fordham participated in the world's first televised American football game
1939 Waynesburg vs. Fordham football game
The 1939 Waynesburg vs. Fordham football game was a college football game between the and the played on September 30, 1939. The game was played at Triborough Stadium on New York City's Randall's Island. Fordham won the game by a score of 34 to 7...

. In front of the sport's first live TV audience, the Rams defeated Waynesburg College, 34-7. The following week they lost the second ever televised game to the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....

, 7-6. It was not for another month that a professional NFL game was televised.

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 what is now the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision in 1989.

With 722 all-time wins at the close of the 2005 season, Fordham's football program ranks 15th among Division I programs on the all-time NCAA wins list, and fifth among programs currently playing in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, trailing only Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

, Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, and Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 (putting the Rams in first among non-Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...

 schools in the FCS standings).

Fordham was invited to play in the 1942 Rose Bowl
Rose Bowl Game
The Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...

, but declined the invitation because it had previously accepted a berth in the 1942 Sugar Bowl
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sugar Bowl has been played annually since January 1, 1935, and celebrated its 75th anniversary on January 2, 2009...

. The Rams, who defeated the University of Missouri
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...

 by a 2-0 score, were the 1942 Sugar Bowl
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sugar Bowl has been played annually since January 1, 1935, and celebrated its 75th anniversary on January 2, 2009...

 champions. The Rams also played in the 1941 Cotton Bowl Classic but lost, 13-12, to Texas A&M
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...

. At least one source lists Fordham as the 1929 National Football Champions. http://www.phys.utk.edu/sorensen/cfr/cfr/Output/1929/CF_1929_Ranking_Best.html

Since 2002, Fordham has played Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 for The Liberty Cup
The Liberty Cup
The Liberty Cup is awarded annually to the winner of the college football game between Columbia University and Fordham University, the oldest remaining and two of the only three National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I football programs in New York City...

. The trophy was dedicated after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 forced the postponement of the first annual meeting between New York City's two Division I football programs. In 2009 the university announced that it will be offering scholarships for football for the first time since 1954. This makes the Rams ineligible to compete for the Patriot League championship, but simultaneously allows them to schedule games with Football Bowl Subdivision teams such as the Army Black Knights
Army Black Knights
Army Black Knights is the name of the athletics teams of the United States Military Academy. They participate in NCAA Division I-A as a non-football member of the Patriot League, a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision independent school, and a member of Atlantic Hockey, the Collegiate Sprint...

 and the Navy Midshipmen
Navy Midshipmen
The United States Naval Academy sponsors 30 varsity-sports teams and 12 club-sports teams . Both men's and women's teams are called Navy Midshipmen or "Mids"...

 (which are members of the Patriot League outside football), both immediately scheduled. In addition, the Rams are still eligible for an at-large bid for the Championship Subdivision play-offs.

Milestones



  • Patriot League
    Patriot League
    The Patriot League is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I) for a number of sports; in football, it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision...

     Champions: 2002, 2007
  • NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs: 2002 (Quarterfinal Loss), 2007 (First Round Loss)
  • Division III Playoffs: 1987 (Quarterfinal Loss)
  • Liberty Cup
    The Liberty Cup
    The Liberty Cup is awarded annually to the winner of the college football game between Columbia University and Fordham University, the oldest remaining and two of the only three National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I football programs in New York City...

     Winners: 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011
  • Wins: 722 at the end of 2005 season, 15th most wins in NCAA, 5th most wins in Division I Football Championship Subdivision

Current players in professional football

  • Javarus Dudley
    Javarus Dudley
    Javarus Dudley is an American football wide receiver for the New Orleans Voodoo of the Arena Football League. He was a former player for the Orlando Predators for two years. He attended Fordham University....

    , WR, Orlando Predators
    Orlando Predators
    The Orlando Predators are an Arena Football League team based in Orlando, Florida that was founded in 1991. Their playoff streak is currently 19 seasons in a row, as of the season, becoming the ArenaBowl champions in 1998 and 2000...

  • Kevin Eakin, QB, Team Alabama
  • Aki Jones
    Aki Jones
    Aki Jones is an American football player, who played in National Football League for Washington Redskins in 2005 season. He signed a 3 year contract to the Washington Redskins as an Undrafted Free Agent at the end of the 2005 NFL Draft.-Christ the King Regional High School:Jones initially attended...

    , DL, New York Dragons
    New York Dragons
    The New York Dragons were an Arena Football League team based in the New York metropolitan area. The team was founded in as the original incarnation of the Iowa Barnstormers, and relocated to New York in . They played in New York until 2008, when the league folded...

  • Tad Kornegay
    Tad Kornegay
    Tad Kornegay is an American Canadian football player for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League. Previously, Kornegay joined the Saskatchewan Roughriders just prior to the start of the 2007 regular season on June 24, 2007 via a trade with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. In 2011, Kornegay was traded...

    , DB, Saskatchewan Roughriders
    Saskatchewan Roughriders
    The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a Canadian Football League team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. They were founded in 1910. They play their home games at 2940 10th Avenue in Regina, which has been the team's home base for its entire history, even prior to the construction of Mosaic Stadium at Taylor...

  • Cary Williams
    Cary Williams
    Cary Eric Williams is an American football cornerback for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at Washburn.-Early years:Williams is the son of Calvin and Trina Golson...

    ,CB, Baltimore Ravens
    Baltimore Ravens
    The Baltimore Ravens are a professional football franchise based in Baltimore, Maryland.The Baltimore Ravens are officially a quasi-expansion franchise, having originated in 1995 with the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced his...

  • John Skelton
    John Skelton (American football)
    -2010 season:Skelton was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the fifth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He was signed on July 14. After Matt Leinart was released, he was named the 3rd-string quarterback for the Cardinals....

    , QB, Arizona Cardinals
    Arizona Cardinals
    The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

  • Andrew Tyshovnytsky, OL, Indianapolis Colts
    Indianapolis Colts
    The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....


Swimming & Diving

Fordham's Women's Swimming and Diving team was the first women's team to win an A10 championship. The men's swimming and diving team has also been successful in recent years.

Track and field

Johnny Gibson
Johnny Gibson
John A. Gibson was a runner and Olympic athlete.Gibson was born in New York City in 1905, but lived most of his life in Bloomfield, New Jersey. He was the head coach of men's track and field at Seton Hall University from 1945 to 1972. Gibson was a 1928 graduate of Fordham University, where he held...

, a 1928 graduate of Fordham, broke the 440yrd Hurdles World Record while at the school and made the 1928 Olympic team in the same event. Gibson is known as a great contributor to the world of track and field as a founding member of the New Jersey Track and Field Officials Association and head coach of men's track and field at Seton Hall University from 1945 to 1972. Sam Perry set the World Record for the 60 yard dash indoors at the Milrose Games in 1965.

Tom Courtney
Tom Courtney
Thomas William Courtney is a former American athlete, winner of two gold medals at the 1956 Summer Olympics....

 won Olympic Gold in the 800m run at the 1956 Games. While at Fordham Courtney had anchored the 2 Mile Relay that broke the World Record in 1954.

Fordham track has had a resurgence in the past two decades with an All-Americans and numerous conference champions. Barry Cantrell earned all-American honors in the high jump in 1998. There have been several Atlantic 10 Conference champions including the jumping events, hammer throw. and the intermediate hurdles.

In 2008, the men's Track and Field team won the Outdoor Metropolitan Championship. The title was the first ever Metropolitan Athletic Conference team title captured by the Rams in the school's history. In the 2009 Outdoor Season the Rams defended their title, while the Women's squad captured second in the team scoring.

Clubs

Crew
Men's crew
College rowing (United States)
Rowing is one of the oldest intercollegiate sports in the United States. However, rowers comprise only 2.2% of total college athletes. This may be in part because of the status of rowing as an amateur sport and because not all universities have access to suitable bodies of water. In the 2002-03...

 has been a club sport at Fordham since 1915, when John Mulcahy
John Mulcahy
John Joseph Francis Mulcahy was the winner of the 1904 Olympic double scull event with his partner William Varley. The duo also won the silver medal in the pair without coxswain event...

 (an alumnus and Olympic Gold medalist in the sport) helped found it there. Fordham Crew has since been quite successful, winning several national championships. The team is a member of the Dad Vail affiliation, making the Dad Vail Regatta
Dad Vail Regatta
The Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta is the largest regular intercollegiate rowing event in the USA, drawing over a hundred colleges and universities from North America. The event has been held annually on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1953. Briefly in late 2009, it was planned...

 the focus of its spring racing season. Exceptional crews have competed at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association
Intercollegiate Rowing Association
The Intercollegiate Rowing Association runs the IRA Championship Regatta, which is considered to be the United States collegiate national championship of rowing. Since 1995, it has been held on the Cooper River in Pennsauken, New Jersey, and includes both men's and women's events for sweep boats...

 (IRA) National Championships, Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta is a rowing event held every year on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. The Royal Regatta is sometimes referred to as Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage...

, and the San Diego Crew Classic. The team is divided into novice and varsity squads. Fordham Athletics also sponsors a women's varsity team.

Fordham Crew trains on the Harlem River
Harlem River
The Harlem River is a navigable tidal strait in New York City, USA that flows 8 miles between the Hudson River and the East River, separating the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx...

. For many years the university maintained the last remaining boathouse
Boathouse
A boathouse is a building especially designed for the storage of boats, normally smaller craft for sports or leisure use. These are typically located on open water, such as on a river. Often the boats stored are rowing boats...

 on "sculler
Racing shell
In watercraft, a racing shell is an extremely narrow, and often disproportionately long, rowing boat specifically designed for racing or exercise. It is outfitted with long oars, outriggers to hold the oarlocks away from the boat, and sliding seats...

's row" off the river in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

, along Sherman Creek
Sherman Creek, New York
Sherman Creek Inlet is a small body of water in the New York City borough of Manhattan, New York, named for a family that settled there in 1807. It was once the site of a number of boathouses along "sculler's row", hosting numerous racing shell clubs. The last, belonging to Fordham University,...

, until it was destroyed by suspected arson in 1978. It has yet to be replaced. Currently, the club shares space at the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse near Sherman Creek, the first community boathouse built in Manhattan in over 100 years.
Since 1989, Fordham has medaled every year at the Dad Vail and other major collegiate regattas. During that period the team has had 9 undefeated seasons and 13 national championships: eight at the Dad Vail, three at the Eastern College Athletic Conference
Eastern College Athletic Conference
The Eastern College Athletic Conference is a college athletic conference comprising schools that compete in 21 sports . It has 317 member institutions in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, ranging in location from Maine to North Carolina and west to Illinois...

 National Invitational Collegiate Regatta, one at the Division-I National Championships, and one at the IRA Championship. Fordham was the 2007 Dad Vail Champions in Men's Varsity Lightweight 4+ and the 2008 Dad Vail Champions in Men's Varsity Lightweight 8+.

Hockey
The University supports hockey as a club sport. The team was created in the 1967-68 season playing and winning one game versus cross-town rival Manhattan College. The "Maroon Six" as they were known then, began playing a full slate of games during the 1970-71 season. The team joined the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Hockey League, in the fall of 1970 and began playing such teams as Columbia, Fairfield and St. Johns. Since then the team has held the longest tenure in its current league the Metropolitan Collegiate Hockey Conference (MCHC) after the MIHL changed its name during the 1974-75 season. In 2010, the Rams captured their second league championship, the teams first was in 2005-06. In 2011, the team lost in the Championship game to longtime rival Wagner College. The team has had 8 consecutive winning seasons, the longest in team history, and has qualified for the post season play every year for the last 11 seasons. The team also is a member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association
American Collegiate Hockey Association
The American Collegiate Hockey Association is the national governing body of non-varsity college ice hockey in the U.S. The organization provides structure, regulations, promotes the quality of play, sponsors National Awards and National Tournaments....

 (ACHA) which ranks club teams on a national basis.

Lacrosse
Founded in 1970, the Lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...

 program has grown tremendously. After years as the top independent lacrosse team in the New York metropolitan area
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also known as Greater New York, or the Tri-State area, is the region that composes of New York City and the surrounding region...

, the team has been accepted to be a member of the National College Lacrosse League. The Rams currently compete in the NY Metro Division.

Men's Rugby
The University supports men's rugby as a club sport. They play in the Metropolitan New York Rugby Union
Metropolitan New York Rugby Union
The Metropolitan New York Rugby Football Union governs more than 80 men's and women's clubs, college, high-school, and youth rugby union teams in the Greater New York metropolitan area, which covers parts of the states of Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. It is a member union of USA Rugby and...

, a member of USA Rugby
USA Rugby
USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. It is divided into seven territorial Unions: Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, Pacific Coast, Southern California, South, and West...

, and field within it Division I 'A' and 'B' side rugby squads. The Rose Hill Campus is host every spring to the "Irish-Italian" men's rugby game, a staple of Fordham's Spring Weekend festival.
The men's team won the Metropolitan New York Rugby Union
Metropolitan New York Rugby Union
The Metropolitan New York Rugby Football Union governs more than 80 men's and women's clubs, college, high-school, and youth rugby union teams in the Greater New York metropolitan area, which covers parts of the states of Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. It is a member union of USA Rugby and...

 (METNY) D-1 conference championship in 2003, 2004 and 2009 and made it to the first round of the national tournament in 2004, and also made an appearance in the second round of the national tournament in the fall of 2009. In the spring of 2009 Fordham Rugby were crowned champions of the annual Cherry Blossoms Tournament held in Washington DC.

Women's Rugby
The women's team is a three time champion of the Big Apple Classic, which is hosted on Randall's Island
Randall's Island
Randall's Island is situated in the East River in New York City, part of the borough of Manhattan. It is separated from Manhattan island on the west by the river's main channel, from Queens on the east by the Hell Gate, and from the Bronx on the north by the Bronx Kill. It is joined to Wards...

, NY. They were also east coast champions in the spring of 2005.

Sailing
Fordham is a Regular member of the Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association
Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association
Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association organizes and regulates intercollegiate sailing in Ontario, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, the eastern part of West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Hundreds of sailors participate from 43 colleges and...

 (MAISA), one of seven regional conferences of the Intercollegiate Sailing Association
Intercollegiate Sailing Association
The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association is a volunteer organization that serves as the governing authority for all sailing competition at colleges and universities throughout the United States and in some parts of Canada.-History:...

 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. Fordham placed 10th among all teams and 2nd among all club teams, in 2007. Fordham's home port is Morris Yacht & Beach Club, overlooking Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...

 and Eastchester Bay
Eastchester Bay
Eastchester Bay is a protected body of water between City Island and the mainland Bronx, New York. Technically, it is a sound, not a bay, since it is open to larger bodies of water at both ends. The northern end connects via a narrow channel to Pelham Bay...

 on City Island
City Island, Bronx
City Island is a small island approximately 1.5 mi long by .5 mi wide. At one time attached to the town of Pelham, Westchester County, it is now part of the New York City borough of the Bronx. As of the 2000 census the island had a population of 4,520. Its land area is 1.023 km²...

, a few miles from the Rose Hill campus.
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