Hall of Fame Recommendations
Columbia is asking for nominations as it prepares to name new members to its athletics Hall of Fame. The deadline is March 17.
Here's a look at the inaugural members of the hall of fame.
I don't want to deluge people with a long list, but I have a few football suggestions, (and if any of you agree please feel free to nominate them as well).
Heritage Era
Eugene Rossides, class of 1949
I had the pleasure of interviewing Rossides at halftime of the Yale game last fall and it was great to hear how sharp he is in every way. Rossides was the QB for some of the greatest Columbia teams of all time, including the 1947 team that stunned Army.
Modern Era
Marty Domres, class of 1969
Domres dominated a good portion of the passing record book for more than a decade. He went on to a solid NFL career. He also made for a great halftime interview that we did during the Penn game last season.
Des Werthman, class of 1993
Longtime readers of this blog know about my longstanding admiration for Des.
Jonathan Reese, class of 2002
Holds the all-time rushing record and he did it in tough circumstances on teams that never won more than 4 games in a season.
And while I'm at it, I have two basketball nominations as well.
Modern Era
Buck Jenkins, class of 1993
An electric player in every way. I saw him play during my own undergrad year and never forgot him.
Coach
Jack Rohan
Next to Lou Little, Jack Rohan was the greatest coach in Columbia athletics history. In addition to basketball, he even led the golf team for years.
posted by Jake @ 8:38:00 PM
14 comments
14 Comments:
Reggio, Lewis and Upperco could all be nominated to for football. Of those three, Upperco was best athlete and probably has more catches then any TE in CU history. He would regularly catch 10-11 balls a game. Also should have made the raiders if he hadn't blown out his knee in camp...
What about Rory Wilfork?
Columbia's 1961 Ivy League Championship Football Team captained by Bill Campbell is an obvious nominee for Columbia Hall of Fame in the "Team" category, and a number of outstanding players on the Championship Team, including Bob Asack, Lee Black, Bill Campbell, Tom Haggerty, Ed Little, Tom Vassell and Russ Warren, deserve consideration as individual nominees for the Columbia Hall of Fame.
Irvin S. Faust (and I'm only half-kidding) for writing the single best distillation of the joys and pains that comprise a Columbia football fan, in his famous story (the title story of his first book), "Roar Lion Roar."
And if anyone posting here hasn't read it, send me a postal address and I'll mail you a copy before you scoff mistakenly.
Yes to Upperco, too, who seems a very nice guy in person.
rs
Oh, and Irv DeKoff, who during the 60's was both a very accessible (and personally concerned and witty) assisant dean and the coach of many of Columbia's finest fencing teams.
rs
Irv DeKoff shouldn't even be discussed. He was the premiere fencing coach of his era (any?) and a first-class individual.
I'd suggest another nominee: s Nyles "B" Ayres (okay, we were classmates). B managed to win championships in two weapons (epee, foil), almost unprecedented, learning one while in college under Irv's tutelage.
The current Lions continued the tradition winning the IFA and Ivy tournaments recently.
Jake, we need some hard news. Who are our running back recruits? It's public knowledge at the other Ivies and we don't even have a clue. Doesn't CU understand that many of us are aging alums who could be killed by the suspense? Do you think you could find us a hint? Something! Anything?!
Maybe the running backs are already on our list in the person of Nico Papas and A.J. Maddox. I know that the conventional wisdom on this Board is that Papas will play fullback and Maddox will be a wide receiver or a defensive back. However, I certainly can see the coaches using these two outstanding recruits as running backs, if there are no other rbs in the incoming class. At the very least, the powerful 235 lb. Papas will be difficult to stop on short yardage situations. As for Maddox, on film, he looks capable of being the breakaway runner Columbia needs.
Wade Fletcher and Mike Cavanagh
Fletcher is a stretch as he was a transfer and only started two years I think. Certainly was a dominant TE in the league but having seen both he and Upperco play, Upperco was far more dominant, especially after the catch. And I agree with the poster who said Domres should be next qb in after Witkowski.
Fletcher had one great year; he was injured his senior year and not much of a factor.
Remember everyone, you can nominate whomever you want, and I don't think there's a cap on the number of people you can nominate. So go for it!
I second Rory Wilfork - he should not be left off this list, period. It would be great to see Rory in the CU HOF...his CU football career definitely should be considered for this honor.
How does Mike Telep compare to Upperco. I recall him being substantially better than Fletcher.
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