Last Free Weekend

And so we commence the final weekend without Columbia football before the season finally begins.

While this also happens to be a week off for opening week opponent Fordham, our two other non-conference opponents will be busy.

Week two opponent Central Connecticut State, fresh off the big win at Lehigh last week gets set to take on William and Mary in Williamsburg. That's the same William and Mary that features former Columbia Head Coach Bob Shoop at defensive coordinator. The Tribe is coming off an even bigger win over in-state rival UVA last weekend. CCSU's two deep for the game is now available.

Week four foe Lafayette kicks off its season in Washington tomorrow against Georgetown. The Bulldogs scared the beejeebers out of Holy Cross in Worcester last weekend before falling to the Crusaders 20-7. As of now, I can't find the game notes from either the Lafayette or the Georgetown websites, so we're still kind of in the dark here.

**UPDATE**

Lafayette just posted their game notes. Read and study them now!


Day 8: Sid Luckman '39

Cliff Montgomery was Lou Little's first great Columbia QB, Claude Benham was his last, but his greatest of all his many years at Columbia was unquestionably Sid Luckman.

I have written a lot about Sid Luckman over the years on this blog. But last year's special seven-day observance of the 10th anniversary of his death was an ambitious effort to catalogue seven of his greatest games at CU.

I have republished those accounts below. They should tell you all you need to know and more.

Enjoy:






NFL star Luckman, under center, tutors the Columbia offense in 1947


Game of the Day, (Day 77)

October 4, 1936

Columbia 34 Maine 0


Sid Luckman '39 died 10 years ago today on July 5, 1998. He is arguably the best player in Columbia football history and certainly one of the 10 most important players in American football history. But he is undeniably the greatest Jewish football player of all-time.

Most of Luckman's greatness was established in the pro ranks with George Halas' great Chicago Bear teams of the 1940's where he led the team to four championships. But he was dominant at Columbia as well, prompting sportwriting legend Jimmy Cannon to note: "You had to be there to realize how great Sid was."

Technically, Sid Luckman's 10th Yahrzeit isn't really until July 14th, the secular date that corresponds to the actual Hebrew date of Luckman's death. And one also only sits shiva after one's actual death, not the anniversary of it.

But since I am trying to document 100 key Columbia games in the 100 days leading up to the start of the 2008 season, I thought it would be right to spend the next seven days sitting a virtual Shiva for Sid by documenting his seven greatest games at Columbia.

The backstory to today's game is that Luckman was a highly sought after football and baseball star at Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall High School. Luckily for Columbia, Luckman decided to head to Baker Field for the 1934 game against Navy that would turn out to be the Lions only loss of the season. Even more luckily, Luckman wasn't phased by seeing that loss and he was wowed enough by Coach Lou Little to eventually come to Columbia. Even though Columbia didn't offer Luckman a scholarship, Little made sure he was set up with a number of odd jobs to pay his tuition and other expenses.

Little also made sure the admissions office didn't impose the infamous Jewish quota that practically became an obsession at Columbia and many other elite schools beginning sometime in the late 1910's and early 1920's. The number of Jews at Columbia and most of the other Ivies had been growing steadily before that. Jews were also making their presence known on the Ivy football fields. Phil King was an All-American in the 1890’s at Princeton. Israel Levine played for Pennsylvania in 1905-1906 and Ralph Horween played for Harvard in 1916. But when the quota system kicked in, Luckman and a few others became notable exceptions to the rule.

Luckman came to Columbia at a time when the football program was at its peak. The 1933 team had won the Rose Bowl and the '34 squad went 7-1 with a win over Penn State. But as Sid entered CU as a freshman, the team was losing a step. The varsity in 1935 struggled to finish 4-4-1 and suddenly, Luckman was being asked as a sophomore to lead the team back to glory.

No one expected the Lions to have too much trouble in their 1936 opener at home against Maine. In fact, only 7,000 people showed up for what was expected to be a rout. It was, but what the folks who stayed home missed was a spectacular debut for Luckman on both offense and defense.

Maine took the opening kickoff and started to move. Maine's speedy Roderick Elliot picked up good yards on run after run and almost scored on a big-gained before Luckman made an open field tackle on the Columbia 32. Maine got as close at the Lions 24 before the drive fizzled.

The Luckman the runner took over. He smashed off gains of 7 and 17 yards before breaking free for a 38-yard TD run. On Columbia's next possession, Luckman set up another score with a 36-yard pass to the man who would become his favorite target, fellow sophomore John Siegal. John Hudasky scored the first of his two TD's on a seven yard run after that Siegal catch and it was 14-0. COlumbia wrapped up the scoring with a Luckman-to-Siegal 20-yard TD pass late in the third quarter.

The pundits saw this game as mostly a tune-up for a big match against Army, also slated for Baker Field the following week. But no one at Columbia could have been bored by Luckman's performance in his first varsity game.

They wouldn't be bored or disappointed by Luckman even once in the next three years.




Luckman on the cover of Life, October, 1938

Game of the Day (Day 76)

October 11, 1936

Army 27 Columbia 16

After his first start on the varsity turned out to be a 34-0 tune-up win over Maine, sophomore Sid Luckman moved from Baker Field to Yankee Stadium to face the perennial power Army in front of 38,000 fans, (the crowd would have been bigger, but bad weather kept many away.

Early in the first quarter, Luckman made a quick impact. He returned an Army punt 15yards to the Cadets 24 and on the next play he tossed a 24-yard TD pass to Hubert Schulze for a 6-0 lead.

With the score still 6-0 early in the 2nd quarter, Luckman picked off a Monk Meyer pass at the Army 44 and returned it to the 26. But the Lion drive fizzled at the Cadets five and then the momentum started to shift. Meyer put together a nice drive for a TD and after a missed extra point, the Cadets defense netted a safety for the 8-6 lead.

Army scored another TD on a jump-ball pass grabbed by the Cadets' basketball star Frank Kobes for the 15-6 lead. The Lions almost scored before the half, but Schulze wasn't able to hold on to a last second pass from Luckman near the end zone.

Columbia resumed fighting in the 3rd quarter, and Luckman scored a 12-yard TD run after going back and faking a pass. The extra point made it 15-13 Army.

Some more brilliant passing by Luckman set up a field goal by Schulze and the Lions had the lead back at 16-15 late in the 3rd quarter.

But the Cadets started an impressive drive before the quarter ended, and early in he 4th they finished it for a TD and the 19-15 lead after another missed PAT.

Luckman made a nice return on the ensuing kickoff, but Army blitzed him hard on the next play and intercepted his pass. Army's eventual TD put the game away, but there was new respect for the Lions and the brilliant Luckman after the exciting contest at the Stadium that day.

Who could have guessed that Luckman's next two meetings against Army would be even more exciting?




Sid was a great kicker too


Game of the Day (Day 75)

October 17, 1937

Columbia 26 Penn 6


The Lions finished the 1936 campaign at 5-3 and optimism was high on Morningside Heights heading into the '37 season. But the year turned out to be a big disappointment due to injuries and other snafus.

For Penn, 1937 was an in-between year. The Quakers were an impressive 7-1 in 1936, with wins over Michigan, Penn State and Navy. But the true glory years for Penn under the great Head Coach George Munger were a year away as he would not take over the team until 1938. The Quakers came in to the game 1-1 after a close win over Maryland and a big loss to Yale.

Everything was clicking the right way for the Lions in this week three win in front of 28,000 fans at Baker Field. And for Sid Luckman, it would be one of his best days ever in a Columbia uniform.

Luckman struck early and often. He hit Bob Taylor for a 58-yard TD pass to start things off and then found Art Radvilas for a 20-yard score minutes later to give Columbia the 13-0 lead.

The score stayed that way until late in the third, when Luckman went over from the one to make it 20-0.

Early in the fourth quarter, Luckman returned a Penn punt to the Quaker 28 and a few plays later the Lions had their final score of the day and a 26-0 lead. Penn scored a meaningless TD against the Columbia reserves.

Luckman finished the day 5-for-7 in passes for 117 yards and two touchdowns. He ran for 66 yards and touchdown and he returned punts for a total of 78 yards on the day.

But for the Lions, this was to be the last win in a 2-5-2 season. And Columbia would not defeat Penn again until 1960.



Sid Rocked the Bowl in 1938


Game of the Day (Day 74)

October 2, 1938

Columbia 27 Yale 14


Lou Little didn't have time to wait for his team to develop in 1938. The season began in murderous style with two road games against perennial powers Yale and Army. For Sid Luckman, 1938 was to be his senior season and he still had work to do.

Yale was coming off a brilliant 7-1-1 1937 campaign under the legendary coach Ducky Pond.

But it was Luckman who started the season in grand style with a stunning performance at Yale that left fans and newspaper reporters alike looking for new adjectives to describe just how great Luckman was. He did so well that even the Yale fans among the 35,000 spectators rose to applaud Luckman when he finally left the field a few minutes before the final gun. On offense, defense, and special teams, Luckman had dominated the Elis for 60 minutes.

It started with a 19-yard punt return by Luckman to the Yale 40 in the first quarter. Luckman accounted for 27 of those 40 yards himself, including the short run for the first TD of the game. Luckman did show he was human after all by missing the extra point and Yale scored a freak TD to take a 7-6 lead, but it was all Columbia after that.

Another 19-yard punt return by Luckman put the ball on the Eli 26. He hit John Siegal for a key nine yard gain and the Lion rushers took it from there for a TD. This time Sid nailed the PAT for the 13-7 lead.

But Luckman was just getting warmed up. Just before the half he hit Frank Stulgaitis for a 50-yard TD and the Lions were in control at 20-7.

In the fourth quarter, Luckman helped cap the scoring with a 40-yard bomb to the Yale 10 that set up a TD two plays later and the 27-14 win.

Luckman finished the day 10-of-17 passing for 146 yards and no interceptions. Remember, Luckman was always officially a halfback so his passes were all option passes executed without the kind of pass blocking a pocket QB gets nowadays.




Michie Stadium, like Baker Field, is nestled on the Hudson


Game of the Day (Day 73)

October 10, 1937

Army 21 Columbia 18

After the tough loss to the Cadets at Yankee Stadium in 1936, Sid Luckman and the Lions were looking for revenge when they travelled up the Hudson to take on Army at relatively tiny Michie Stadium before 20,000 fans.

And while they gave Coach Gar Davidson's Army squad all they could handle, the victory went to the Cadets as a final desperate Columbia drive fell short.

Luckman threw the ball an incredible, (for that time), 34 times, completing 18 of them for 202 yards. The first big completion was a 26-yard TD toss to John Siegal to make it 6-0. Columbia's Art Waldo missed the extra point and then Army went on an impressive march on the ground and a 66-yard TD drive to take a 7-6 lead.

The Lions answered with a 56-yard drive that ended with another TD pass from Luckman to Siegal, this time for 19 yards. Waldo missed the extra point and it was 12-7 Lions at the half.

The Cadets answered with another ground-intensive 66-yard drive, capped off by an 11 yard TD run by a Cadet actually named Woodrow Wilson.

Then Luckman tried to win the game on his own. He returned the ensuing kickoff for 80 yards and a touchdown and an 18-14 lead.

An impressive Columbia drive was foiled when Sid threw an interception at the Army 2 that was returned all the way back to the Lions 4. From there. Army scored the winning TD late in third quarter.

But Luckman wasn't giving up. He led the Lions to one more drive, fighting the Cadet defenders and the clock until he finally was picked off again at the Army one yard line.

New York Times reporter called Luckman's performance "simply astounding," and described the fans filing out of Michie Stadium as "utterly limp and exhausted."

Who could have known that the 1938 matchup between these two teams would be even more thrilling?




Yankee Stadium was busy hosting Game 4 of the World Series on Oct. 9

Game of the Day (Day 72)

October 9, 1938

Columbia 20 Army 18


Sid Luckman made the most of his final chance to defeat the mighty Cadets with a stunning come-from-behind performance in front of 25,000 fans at West Point. It wasn't only the fact that Columbia came back, it was the way Luckman and the Lions did it.

Why were the Lions on the road again? With the Yankees back in the World Series, (this time against the Cubs), the October matchup between the Lions and the Cadets was once again slated for relatively tiny Michie Stadium. Baker Field actually held about 32,000 to 35,000 back in those days, but for some reason they agreed to head up the Hudson yet again. The Yanks actually were in the midst of the World Series in 1936 and 1937 as well, and in those years the games were against the New York Giants, making the Polo Grounds unavailable as well. Getting the game in at the Stadium in 1936 just five days after the Yanks had wrapped up the series against the Giants in six games must have been a challenge to the grounds crew.

Less than three minutes into the game, good ol' Woodrow Wilson had done it again for Army. He faked a pass and then scored on a 48-yard run for a 6-0 lead. Minutes later it was 12-0 after Columbia fumbled the ball away on its own 10 and the Cadets quickly converted for another touchdown.

The Lions showed some life early in the second quarter, when they capped off a 65-yard drive with a Luckman TD pass to John Siegal and the score was now 12-6. But Army stormed back with a 67-yard drive and another TD for the 18-6 lead. The only downside, it seemed, was that like Columbia had a year before, the Cadets had missed all three of their PAT attempts. Just as it did in 1937, that would be a key to the game.

But Columbia had to come back first, and that didn't seem likely when Army stormed out of the gates and drove the ball down to the Lions 38 before Luckman intercepted a pass to end the threat.

Another interception in the fourth quarter gave Columbia the ball at the Cadet 42 and then Sid went to work. He marched the Lions straight down the field and hit the extra point after a one-yard TD run by Gerhard Seidel to make it 18-13.

Army responded with a 55-yard drive all the way to the Lion nine before the Cadets were forced to try a field goal that missed.

Columbia took over at the 20, but chances still seemed pretty slim for the Lions. In those days offenses were too one dimensional for teams to pull off long drives. Marches of 70 yards of more were extremely rare. But Sid Luckman was a multifaceted offense all on his own.

First, Luckman nailed Art Radvilas for a 27-yard pass before getting sacked for a 10-yard loss back to his 37. Luckman found Siegal for 18 yards and two plays later, he hit Radvilas for a 23 yard strike that ended up putting his receiver in the hospital after the Army defenders crashed in to him at their 19. Luckman then rushed the ball twice for a gain of four and then a loss of six before hitting Siegal again for 18 yards and a first down at the three. Seidel took it in from there and with five minutes left, the Lions had their first lead of the day.

After losing two straight heartbreakers in 1936 and 1937, the Lions would not be denied in 1938 and the 20-18 lead held up.

For Sid Luckman, it was to be his greatest victory in a Columbia uniform.

When people talk about Columbia-Army, they usually focus on the miracle Lion win in 1947 at Baker Field that ended the Cadets record unbeaten streak. But the 1938 game was no less impressive, especially since it came at West Point.




Sid Luckman at Chicago's Soldier Field


Game of the Day (Day 71)

November 25, 1938

Brown 37 Columbia 26


After Columbia's 1938 wins over Yale and Army, the Lions were 2-0 and raring for more. But it was not to be. Injuries started to affect the team, and Sid Luckman was not immune. Columbia went on a four-game losing streak before finally regrouping to rout Virginia 39-0 at Baker Field, (even though Luckman could not play in that game).

Two freak losses to Navy and Syracuse followed, leaving Luckman hoping to finish his college career in Providence on a high note against Brown.

The effort began well, as the Lions got an early turnover at the Brown 16 and Luckman ran it in a few plays later for the 7-0 lead. The Bears grabbed control of the game after that and ran off 37 unanswered points in what looked like it was going to be a total rout.

But Sid wasn't going to finish his collegiate career without a fight. First, launched a 65 yard TD pass to Jack Naylor for a one-play TD drive and a 37-14 score. Brown fumbled the ensuing kickoff away and two Luckman passes to John Siegal later, the second one for 10 yards and a TD, it was 37-20.

Naylor then intercepted a Brown pass and returned it to the 50 and Sid went to work for the final time. One running play was followed by a 26-yard pass from Luckman to Bob Stoltz and then he hit Siegal again for a 10-yard TD.

The frustrations of the 1938 season seemed to hit Luckman hard, as two weeks after his loss he announced his "retirement" from football. But George Halas and the Chicago Bears had different ideas. Halas successfully convinced Sid to change his mind, and by the time Luckman retired from pro football history he was hands down the greatest QB in NFL history.

And it all started at Columbia.