10 Days to Go!

Claude Benham


We've waited for 290 days and now there's just 10 more days to go until the Columbia football season finally begins.

This is an exciting time for your faithful fan-blogger-color commentator, but it's also very busy.

After months of relatively little daily news to cover, suddenly we need to scramble give ample time to focus on in-depth team previews, the results of Patriot League and other non-conference opponent games, and try to get a handle on what's going on in training camp.

So bear with me...


CCSU Soars

While week one opponent Fordham was fumbling away the game at Rhode Island, week two foe Central Connecticut State was putting together an impressive 28-21 win over Lehigh in Bethlehem.

Lehigh's QB JB Clark was a miserable 7-for-29 with three interceptions. CCSU, which is considered a running team, saw it's starting QB Hunter Wanket was a stellar 15-of-19 with two TD passes and just one INT. The Blue Devil's star running back James Mallory had 117 yards on 31 carries.

Lehigh's running backs actually did well too... when they ran. Jaren Walker and Jay Campbell had just 12 carries between them, but they both averaged 4.6 yards per carry.

CCSU has a huge challenge coming up this weekend as they take on William and Mary in Williamsburg. The Tribe is coming off a huge win over FBS Virginia last weekend.


Day 10: Claude Benham '57

For the final 10 days of our offseason countdown, we'll look at some of the great quarterbacks in Columbia history.

I want to start with a player I have neglected to mention enough times on this blog over the years. Claude Benham was Coach Lou Little's last starting quarterback at Columbia, and he was one of the best.

Benham joined the Lion varsity in 1954 coming to New York City from southern Virginia. But it looked like a long shot that he would get into too many games at first. He was small, he was short, and Columbia's incumbent starting QB was Dick Carr '55. The same Dick Carr who made headlines in the 1953 season by playing EVERY play of that season for Columbia as a QB, defensive back and special teams player! That's all 60 minutes for all nine games for 540 minutes on the field in 1953. Carr was even featured on the cover of the NCAA record book for 1954.

But Coach Little saw something special in Benham, and gave him a chance to play right in the very first game of '54. His ability to run and throw the sneaky little jump pass made him a threat and by the end of the season, Benham was the starter and playing most of the games wire to wire as well.

The Lions were a mostly weak team during Benham's three years as a starter. But he was a great team leader and he passed for a hefty, (for those times), 10 scores in 1956 when he was eventually named as the first-ever All Ivy QB in that inaugural season for the league. Benham was also picked to a number of All America teams. The highlight of his career was probably the 26-20 upset win over Harvard that got a special mention in Time magazine.

But the story doesn't end there.

Benham became one of the greatest handball players of all time, even as he became a doctor and established his practice in the Norfolk, VA area.

Benham is now retired and living in Virginia Beach.



And One More Thing...

I can't help but notice that the number of Ivy players in the NFL is starting to shrink over the last couple of years. It seems like we are creeping back to the low levels we saw in the late 1970's and early 80's when Ivy participation in the pros fell to very low levels. But in those days, there were only 28 teams and they all had 45-man rosters. Today, there are 32 teams with 53-man rosters. That means there are 436 more players in the NFL than there were 25 years ago, and still not a significant uptick in Ivy players in the league.

Personally, I think the NFL is missing the boat on a few Ivy players who could help their squads. But these things can be cyclical, so we shall see.