WikiCU - User contributions [en]

Liberty Cup

2009-09-20T14:44:13Z

DamnRam:

[[Image:LibertyCup.jpg|thumb|240px|The Liberty Cup]]

===Liberty Cup ===

The annual Liberty Cup football game with crosstown rival [[Fordham University]]. This tradition was begun in 2002 to commemorate the 9/11 terrorist attack which killed significant numbers of alumni from both schools.

The Liberty Cup series is currently tied up 4-4:
<UL>
<LI>2009 Columbia 40, Fordham 28</LI>
<LI>2008 Fordham 29, Columbia 22</LI>
<LI>2007 Fordham 27, Columbia 10</LI>
<LI>2006 Columbia 37, Fordham 7</LI>
<LI>2005 Columbia 23, Fordham 17</LI>
<LI>2004 Fordham 17, Columbia 14</LI>
<LI>2003 Fordham 37, Columbia 30</LI>
<LI>2002 Columbia 13, Fordham 11</LI>
</UL>

[[Category:Athletics]]
[[Category:Athletics awards]]

Football Team

2009-09-20T14:42:18Z

DamnRam: /* Liberty Cup */

Columbia's '''football''' team is well-known for its dismal performance in recent decades. However, since the arrival of coach [[Norries Wilson]], things have been looking better.

The football team is the most important sporting component of Columbia's membership in the [[Ivy League]].

==Facilities==

The team plays its home games at the beautiful, bucolic, bilateral, urbane, multicultural, eleemosynary, yet still iconoclastic [[Lawrence A. Wien Stadium]] at [[Baker Field]] on 218th Street in the [[Inwood]] section of [[Manhattan]].

==History==
[[Image:Columbiaharvard.jpg|thumb|Early football game between Columbia and [[Harvard]]. Characteristically, Harvard is winning.]]
[[Image:Yalevcolumbia.jpg|thumb|Early Columbia-[[Yale]] game.]]

===Early history===
Columbia's college football team was formed in [[1870]]. They played against [[Yale]] in [[1872]] in one of the first ever intercollegiate football games. However, [[University President]] [[Nicholas Murray Butler]] banned the sport from [[1905]] to [[1915]], claiming it was too rowdy.

===First half of 20th century===
During the first half of the 20th century, the Lions enjoyed consistent success on the gridiron. Between at least [[1934]] and [[1947]], the team was coached by [[:w:Lou Little|Lou Little]]. In [[1934]], the team won the [[:w:Rose Bowl|Rose Bowl]] against [[Stanford University|Stanford]], in what was the precursor to the national championship. In [[1947]], the squad won a match agaisnt the cadets of [[Army]], who were the defending national champions and hadn't lost a game in four years. They then won 32 consecutive games, one of the most stunning winning streaks of the century. Famous players included Luckman, an All-American quarterback who went on to lead the Chicago Bears to four [[:w:NFL|NFL]] championships in the 1940s.

At some period during this project, the football team was even involved with the [[Manhattan Project]], employed to carry uranium on their strong backs.

===1960s to 1990s===
In [[1961]], the team shared their only [[Ivy League]] title with [[Harvard University|Harvard]]. However, since then, the football team has enjoyed just three winning seasons: 6-3 in 1971, 5-4-1 in 1994, and 8-2 in 1996. In the 1980s, the team experienced a record 44-game [[losing streak]]. The jubilation that ensued upon the end of this nightmare was possibly the largest outbreak of [[school spirit]] ever seen at Columbia.

These losses are attributed to several reasons. First, the practice facilities at Baker Athletics Complex are far away from the main [[Morningside Heights campus|campus]] in [[Morningside Heights]]. Second, there is weak support because the student body is more often interested in all the other diversions in [[Manhattan]]. And third, coaches find it hard to recruit potential football players given Columbia's lack of a winning tradition.

==Recent history==

===Liberty Cup and Fordham University===

''Main article: [[Liberty Cup]]''

A recent addition to Columbia's storied football history is the annual Liberty Cup game with crosstown rival [[Fordham University]]. This tradition was begun in 2002 to commemorate the 9/11 terrorist attack which killed significant numbers of alumni from both schools. Columbia and Fordham are the only two I-AA schools in NYC, and Fordham is an associate football member of the Patriot League.

The Liberty Cup series is currently tied up 4-4:
<UL>
<LI>2009 Columbia 40, Fordham 28</LI>
<LI>2008 Fordham 29, Columbia 22</LI>
<LI>2007 Fordham 27, Columbia 10</LI>
<LI>2006 Columbia 37, Fordham 7</LI>
<LI>2005 Columbia 23, Fordham 17</LI>
<LI>2004 Fordham 17, Columbia 14</LI>
<LI>2003 Fordham 37, Columbia 30</LI>
<LI>2002 Columbia 13, Fordham 11</LI>
</UL>

Columbia's record against Fordham is now 12-6, which includes a Columbia victory in the first game played between the two schools in 1890.

===Bakergate===
In [[2005]], the athletics administration tried to ban alcohol at football games in a [[:Category:Scandals|scandal]] that became known as [[Bakergate]]. This proved unwise and unsuccessful. (Some say they reintroduced limited alcohol consumption because no one could rationally cheer for Columbia while sober!)

===Recent upturn under Norries Wilson===
In [[2005]], Columbia fired the old coach and hired [[Norries Wilson]] as his replacement. Wilson had been a runner-up for national assistant coach of the year while at the University of Connecticut in 2004. He is the latest head coach brought in to try to turn the program around. In his first season, the squad had vastly improved and notched a 5-5 campaign, with two victories to close out the year against Cornell and at defending Ivy-Champ Brown. This was the program's first .500-or-better season in 10 years. Wilson, along with his staff, have restored pride in the Columbia football program and, by all indications, have the proverbial ship pointed in the right direction.

Columbia has had five graduates on NFL rosters in the last year – more than any other Ivy school. They are: Marcellus Wiley '97, Steve Cargile '04, Jeff Otis '05, Wade Fletcher '05 and Michael Quarshie '05.

== Notable players ==
*[[Bill Campbell]]
*[[Brian Dennehy]]
*[[Marty Domres]]
*[[William Joseph Donovan]]
*[[Stuyvesant Fish]]
*[[Matthew Fox]]
*[[Paul Governali]]
*[[Jack Kerouac]]
*[[Sid Luckman]]
*[[Johnathan Reese]]
*[[Archie Roberts]]
*[[Gene Rossides]]
*[[Bill Swiacki]]
*[[Russell Warren]]
*[[Marcellus Wiley]]
*[[John Witkowski]]

== Trivia ==

* An early Columbia-[[Princeton]] game was the first live televised sporting event.
* Football players sometimes come back to speak at [[Columbia College]] [[Class Day]].

== External links ==

* [http://www.gocolumbialions.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9600&KEY=&SPID=3885&SPSID=43660 Columbia Football]
* [http://roarlions.blogspot.com/ Roar Lions Roar: a Columbia football blog with far better coverage than Spec]

[[Category:Varsity sports]]

Football Team

2009-09-14T14:02:23Z

DamnRam: /* Liberty Cup */

Columbia's '''football''' team is well-known for its dismal performance in recent decades. However, since the arrival of coach [[Norries Wilson]], things have been looking better.

The football team is the most important sporting component of Columbia's membership in the [[Ivy League]].

==Facilities==

The team plays its home games at the beautiful, bucolic, bilateral, urbane, multicultural, eleemosynary, yet still iconoclastic [[Lawrence A. Wien Stadium]] at [[Baker Field]] on 218th Street in the [[Inwood]] section of [[Manhattan]].

==History==
[[Image:Columbiaharvard.jpg|thumb|Early football game between Columbia and [[Harvard]]. Characteristically, Harvard is winning.]]
[[Image:Yalevcolumbia.jpg|thumb|Early Columbia-[[Yale]] game.]]

===Early history===
Columbia's college football team was formed in [[1870]]. They played against [[Yale]] in [[1872]] in one of the first ever intercollegiate football games. However, [[University President]] [[Nicholas Murray Butler]] banned the sport from [[1905]] to [[1915]], claiming it was too rowdy.

===First half of 20th century===
During the first half of the 20th century, the Lions enjoyed consistent success on the gridiron. Between at least [[1934]] and [[1947]], the team was coached by [[:w:Lou Little|Lou Little]]. In [[1934]], the team won the [[:w:Rose Bowl|Rose Bowl]] against [[Stanford University|Stanford]], in what was the precursor to the national championship. In [[1947]], the squad won a match agaisnt the cadets of [[Army]], who were the defending national champions and hadn't lost a game in four years. They then won 32 consecutive games, one of the most stunning winning streaks of the century. Famous players included Luckman, an All-American quarterback who went on to lead the Chicago Bears to four [[:w:NFL|NFL]] championships in the 1940s.

At some period during this project, the football team was even involved with the [[Manhattan Project]], employed to carry uranium on their strong backs.

===1960s to 1990s===
In [[1961]], the team shared their only [[Ivy League]] title with [[Harvard University|Harvard]]. However, since then, the football team has enjoyed just three winning seasons: 6-3 in 1971, 5-4-1 in 1994, and 8-2 in 1996. In the 1980s, the team experienced a record 44-game [[losing streak]]. The jubilation that ensued upon the end of this nightmare was possibly the largest outbreak of [[school spirit]] ever seen at Columbia.

These losses are attributed to several reasons. First, the practice facilities at Baker Athletics Complex are far away from the main [[Morningside Heights campus|campus]] in [[Morningside Heights]]. Second, there is weak support because the student body is more often interested in all the other diversions in [[Manhattan]]. And third, coaches find it hard to recruit potential football players given Columbia's lack of a winning tradition.

==Recent history==

===Liberty Cup===
A bright spot in Columbia football history until recently has been the Liberty Cup. Dedicated in 2002, the annual competition with crosstown rival [[Fordham University]] has proved popular among students at both schools, the only Division I-AA programs in New York. Fordham is an associate member of the Patriot League for football only and currently leads the series 4-3:

<UL>
<LI>2008 Fordham 29, Columbia 22</LI>
<LI>2007 Fordham 27, Columbia 10</LI>
<LI>2006 Columbia 37, Fordham 7</LI>
<LI>2005 Columbia 23, Fordham 17</LI>
<LI>2004 Fordham 17, Columbia 14</LI>
<LI>2003 Fordham 37, Columbia 30</LI>
<LI>2002 Columbia 13, Fordham 11</LI>
</UL>

===Bakergate===
In [[2005]], the athletics administration tried to ban alcohol at football games in a [[:Category:Scandals|scandal]] that became known as [[Bakergate]]. This proved unwise and unsuccessful. (Some say they reintroduced limited alcohol consumption because no one could rationally cheer for Columbia while sober!)

===Recent upturn under Norries Wilson===
In [[2005]], Columbia fired the old coach and hired [[Norries Wilson]] as his replacement. Wilson had been a runner-up for national assistant coach of the year while at the University of Connecticut in 2004. He is the latest head coach brought in to try to turn the program around. In his first season, the squad had vastly improved and notched a 5-5 campaign, with two victories to close out the year against Cornell and at defending Ivy-Champ Brown. This was the program's first .500-or-better season in 10 years. Wilson, along with his staff, have restored pride in the Columbia football program and, by all indications, have the proverbial ship pointed in the right direction.

Columbia has had five graduates on NFL rosters in the last year – more than any other Ivy school. They are: Marcellus Wiley '97, Steve Cargile '04, Jeff Otis '05, Wade Fletcher '05 and Michael Quarshie '05.

== Notable players ==
*[[Bill Campbell]]
*[[Brian Dennehy]]
*[[Marty Domres]]
*[[William Joseph Donovan]]
*[[Stuyvesant Fish]]
*[[Matthew Fox]]
*[[Paul Governali]]
*[[Jack Kerouac]]
*[[Sid Luckman]]
*[[Johnathan Reese]]
*[[Archie Roberts]]
*[[Gene Rossides]]
*[[Bill Swiacki]]
*[[Russell Warren]]
*[[Marcellus Wiley]]
*[[John Witkowski]]

== Trivia ==

* An early Columbia-[[Princeton]] game was the first live televised sporting event.
* Football players sometimes come back to speak at [[Columbia College]] [[Class Day]].

== External links ==

* [http://www.gocolumbialions.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9600&KEY=&SPID=3885&SPSID=43660 Columbia Football]
* [http://roarlions.blogspot.com/ Roar Lions Roar: a Columbia football blog with far better coverage than Spec]

[[Category:Varsity sports]]

Football Team

2009-09-14T14:01:39Z

DamnRam: /* Liberty Cup */

Columbia's '''football''' team is well-known for its dismal performance in recent decades. However, since the arrival of coach [[Norries Wilson]], things have been looking better.

The football team is the most important sporting component of Columbia's membership in the [[Ivy League]].

==Facilities==

The team plays its home games at the beautiful, bucolic, bilateral, urbane, multicultural, eleemosynary, yet still iconoclastic [[Lawrence A. Wien Stadium]] at [[Baker Field]] on 218th Street in the [[Inwood]] section of [[Manhattan]].

==History==
[[Image:Columbiaharvard.jpg|thumb|Early football game between Columbia and [[Harvard]]. Characteristically, Harvard is winning.]]
[[Image:Yalevcolumbia.jpg|thumb|Early Columbia-[[Yale]] game.]]

===Early history===
Columbia's college football team was formed in [[1870]]. They played against [[Yale]] in [[1872]] in one of the first ever intercollegiate football games. However, [[University President]] [[Nicholas Murray Butler]] banned the sport from [[1905]] to [[1915]], claiming it was too rowdy.

===First half of 20th century===
During the first half of the 20th century, the Lions enjoyed consistent success on the gridiron. Between at least [[1934]] and [[1947]], the team was coached by [[:w:Lou Little|Lou Little]]. In [[1934]], the team won the [[:w:Rose Bowl|Rose Bowl]] against [[Stanford University|Stanford]], in what was the precursor to the national championship. In [[1947]], the squad won a match agaisnt the cadets of [[Army]], who were the defending national champions and hadn't lost a game in four years. They then won 32 consecutive games, one of the most stunning winning streaks of the century. Famous players included Luckman, an All-American quarterback who went on to lead the Chicago Bears to four [[:w:NFL|NFL]] championships in the 1940s.

At some period during this project, the football team was even involved with the [[Manhattan Project]], employed to carry uranium on their strong backs.

===1960s to 1990s===
In [[1961]], the team shared their only [[Ivy League]] title with [[Harvard University|Harvard]]. However, since then, the football team has enjoyed just three winning seasons: 6-3 in 1971, 5-4-1 in 1994, and 8-2 in 1996. In the 1980s, the team experienced a record 44-game [[losing streak]]. The jubilation that ensued upon the end of this nightmare was possibly the largest outbreak of [[school spirit]] ever seen at Columbia.

These losses are attributed to several reasons. First, the practice facilities at Baker Athletics Complex are far away from the main [[Morningside Heights campus|campus]] in [[Morningside Heights]]. Second, there is weak support because the student body is more often interested in all the other diversions in [[Manhattan]]. And third, coaches find it hard to recruit potential football players given Columbia's lack of a winning tradition.

==Recent history==

===Liberty Cup===
A bright spot in Columbia football history until recently has been the Liberty Cup. Dedicated in 2002, the annual competition with crosstown rival [[Fordham University]] has proved popular among students at both schools, the only Division I-AA programs in New York. Fordham is an associate member of the Patriot League for football only and currently leads the series 4-3:

<UL>
<LI>2008 Fordham 29, Columbia 22</LI)
<LI>2007 Fordham 27, Columbia 10</LI)
<LI>2006 Columbia 37, Fordham 7</LI)
<LI>2005 Columbia 23, Fordham 17</LI)
<LI>2004 Fordham 17, Columbia 14</LI)
<LI>2003 Fordham 37, Columbia 30</LI)
<LI>2002 Columbia 13, Fordham 11</LI)
</UL>

===Bakergate===
In [[2005]], the athletics administration tried to ban alcohol at football games in a [[:Category:Scandals|scandal]] that became known as [[Bakergate]]. This proved unwise and unsuccessful. (Some say they reintroduced limited alcohol consumption because no one could rationally cheer for Columbia while sober!)

===Recent upturn under Norries Wilson===
In [[2005]], Columbia fired the old coach and hired [[Norries Wilson]] as his replacement. Wilson had been a runner-up for national assistant coach of the year while at the University of Connecticut in 2004. He is the latest head coach brought in to try to turn the program around. In his first season, the squad had vastly improved and notched a 5-5 campaign, with two victories to close out the year against Cornell and at defending Ivy-Champ Brown. This was the program's first .500-or-better season in 10 years. Wilson, along with his staff, have restored pride in the Columbia football program and, by all indications, have the proverbial ship pointed in the right direction.

Columbia has had five graduates on NFL rosters in the last year – more than any other Ivy school. They are: Marcellus Wiley '97, Steve Cargile '04, Jeff Otis '05, Wade Fletcher '05 and Michael Quarshie '05.

== Notable players ==
*[[Bill Campbell]]
*[[Brian Dennehy]]
*[[Marty Domres]]
*[[William Joseph Donovan]]
*[[Stuyvesant Fish]]
*[[Matthew Fox]]
*[[Paul Governali]]
*[[Jack Kerouac]]
*[[Sid Luckman]]
*[[Johnathan Reese]]
*[[Archie Roberts]]
*[[Gene Rossides]]
*[[Bill Swiacki]]
*[[Russell Warren]]
*[[Marcellus Wiley]]
*[[John Witkowski]]

== Trivia ==

* An early Columbia-[[Princeton]] game was the first live televised sporting event.
* Football players sometimes come back to speak at [[Columbia College]] [[Class Day]].

== External links ==

* [http://www.gocolumbialions.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9600&KEY=&SPID=3885&SPSID=43660 Columbia Football]
* [http://roarlions.blogspot.com/ Roar Lions Roar: a Columbia football blog with far better coverage than Spec]

[[Category:Varsity sports]]

Football Team

2009-09-14T14:00:03Z

DamnRam: /* Liberty Cup */

Columbia's '''football''' team is well-known for its dismal performance in recent decades. However, since the arrival of coach [[Norries Wilson]], things have been looking better.

The football team is the most important sporting component of Columbia's membership in the [[Ivy League]].

==Facilities==

The team plays its home games at the beautiful, bucolic, bilateral, urbane, multicultural, eleemosynary, yet still iconoclastic [[Lawrence A. Wien Stadium]] at [[Baker Field]] on 218th Street in the [[Inwood]] section of [[Manhattan]].

==History==
[[Image:Columbiaharvard.jpg|thumb|Early football game between Columbia and [[Harvard]]. Characteristically, Harvard is winning.]]
[[Image:Yalevcolumbia.jpg|thumb|Early Columbia-[[Yale]] game.]]

===Early history===
Columbia's college football team was formed in [[1870]]. They played against [[Yale]] in [[1872]] in one of the first ever intercollegiate football games. However, [[University President]] [[Nicholas Murray Butler]] banned the sport from [[1905]] to [[1915]], claiming it was too rowdy.

===First half of 20th century===
During the first half of the 20th century, the Lions enjoyed consistent success on the gridiron. Between at least [[1934]] and [[1947]], the team was coached by [[:w:Lou Little|Lou Little]]. In [[1934]], the team won the [[:w:Rose Bowl|Rose Bowl]] against [[Stanford University|Stanford]], in what was the precursor to the national championship. In [[1947]], the squad won a match agaisnt the cadets of [[Army]], who were the defending national champions and hadn't lost a game in four years. They then won 32 consecutive games, one of the most stunning winning streaks of the century. Famous players included Luckman, an All-American quarterback who went on to lead the Chicago Bears to four [[:w:NFL|NFL]] championships in the 1940s.

At some period during this project, the football team was even involved with the [[Manhattan Project]], employed to carry uranium on their strong backs.

===1960s to 1990s===
In [[1961]], the team shared their only [[Ivy League]] title with [[Harvard University|Harvard]]. However, since then, the football team has enjoyed just three winning seasons: 6-3 in 1971, 5-4-1 in 1994, and 8-2 in 1996. In the 1980s, the team experienced a record 44-game [[losing streak]]. The jubilation that ensued upon the end of this nightmare was possibly the largest outbreak of [[school spirit]] ever seen at Columbia.

These losses are attributed to several reasons. First, the practice facilities at Baker Athletics Complex are far away from the main [[Morningside Heights campus|campus]] in [[Morningside Heights]]. Second, there is weak support because the student body is more often interested in all the other diversions in [[Manhattan]]. And third, coaches find it hard to recruit potential football players given Columbia's lack of a winning tradition.

==Recent history==

===Liberty Cup===
A bright spot in Columbia football history until recently has been the Liberty Cup. Dedicated in 2002, the annual competition with crosstown rival [[Fordham University]] has proved popular among students at both schools, the only Division I-AA programs in New York. Fordham is an associate member of the Patriot League and currently leads the series 4-3:

<UL>
<LI>2008 Fordham 29, Columbia 22</LI)
<LI>2007 Fordham 27, Columbia 10</LI)
<LI>2006 Columbia 37, Fordham 7</LI)
<LI>2005 Columbia 23, Fordham 17</LI)
<LI>2004 Fordham 17, Columbia 14</LI)
<LI>2003 Fordham 37, Columbia 30</LI)
<LI>2002 Columbia 13, Fordham 11</LI)
</UL>

===Bakergate===
In [[2005]], the athletics administration tried to ban alcohol at football games in a [[:Category:Scandals|scandal]] that became known as [[Bakergate]]. This proved unwise and unsuccessful. (Some say they reintroduced limited alcohol consumption because no one could rationally cheer for Columbia while sober!)

===Recent upturn under Norries Wilson===
In [[2005]], Columbia fired the old coach and hired [[Norries Wilson]] as his replacement. Wilson had been a runner-up for national assistant coach of the year while at the University of Connecticut in 2004. He is the latest head coach brought in to try to turn the program around. In his first season, the squad had vastly improved and notched a 5-5 campaign, with two victories to close out the year against Cornell and at defending Ivy-Champ Brown. This was the program's first .500-or-better season in 10 years. Wilson, along with his staff, have restored pride in the Columbia football program and, by all indications, have the proverbial ship pointed in the right direction.

Columbia has had five graduates on NFL rosters in the last year – more than any other Ivy school. They are: Marcellus Wiley '97, Steve Cargile '04, Jeff Otis '05, Wade Fletcher '05 and Michael Quarshie '05.

== Notable players ==
*[[Bill Campbell]]
*[[Brian Dennehy]]
*[[Marty Domres]]
*[[William Joseph Donovan]]
*[[Stuyvesant Fish]]
*[[Matthew Fox]]
*[[Paul Governali]]
*[[Jack Kerouac]]
*[[Sid Luckman]]
*[[Johnathan Reese]]
*[[Archie Roberts]]
*[[Gene Rossides]]
*[[Bill Swiacki]]
*[[Russell Warren]]
*[[Marcellus Wiley]]
*[[John Witkowski]]

== Trivia ==

* An early Columbia-[[Princeton]] game was the first live televised sporting event.
* Football players sometimes come back to speak at [[Columbia College]] [[Class Day]].

== External links ==

* [http://www.gocolumbialions.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9600&KEY=&SPID=3885&SPSID=43660 Columbia Football]
* [http://roarlions.blogspot.com/ Roar Lions Roar: a Columbia football blog with far better coverage than Spec]

[[Category:Varsity sports]]

Football Team

2009-09-14T13:58:53Z

DamnRam: /* Liberty Cup */

Columbia's '''football''' team is well-known for its dismal performance in recent decades. However, since the arrival of coach [[Norries Wilson]], things have been looking better.

The football team is the most important sporting component of Columbia's membership in the [[Ivy League]].

==Facilities==

The team plays its home games at the beautiful, bucolic, bilateral, urbane, multicultural, eleemosynary, yet still iconoclastic [[Lawrence A. Wien Stadium]] at [[Baker Field]] on 218th Street in the [[Inwood]] section of [[Manhattan]].

==History==
[[Image:Columbiaharvard.jpg|thumb|Early football game between Columbia and [[Harvard]]. Characteristically, Harvard is winning.]]
[[Image:Yalevcolumbia.jpg|thumb|Early Columbia-[[Yale]] game.]]

===Early history===
Columbia's college football team was formed in [[1870]]. They played against [[Yale]] in [[1872]] in one of the first ever intercollegiate football games. However, [[University President]] [[Nicholas Murray Butler]] banned the sport from [[1905]] to [[1915]], claiming it was too rowdy.

===First half of 20th century===
During the first half of the 20th century, the Lions enjoyed consistent success on the gridiron. Between at least [[1934]] and [[1947]], the team was coached by [[:w:Lou Little|Lou Little]]. In [[1934]], the team won the [[:w:Rose Bowl|Rose Bowl]] against [[Stanford University|Stanford]], in what was the precursor to the national championship. In [[1947]], the squad won a match agaisnt the cadets of [[Army]], who were the defending national champions and hadn't lost a game in four years. They then won 32 consecutive games, one of the most stunning winning streaks of the century. Famous players included Luckman, an All-American quarterback who went on to lead the Chicago Bears to four [[:w:NFL|NFL]] championships in the 1940s.

At some period during this project, the football team was even involved with the [[Manhattan Project]], employed to carry uranium on their strong backs.

===1960s to 1990s===
In [[1961]], the team shared their only [[Ivy League]] title with [[Harvard University|Harvard]]. However, since then, the football team has enjoyed just three winning seasons: 6-3 in 1971, 5-4-1 in 1994, and 8-2 in 1996. In the 1980s, the team experienced a record 44-game [[losing streak]]. The jubilation that ensued upon the end of this nightmare was possibly the largest outbreak of [[school spirit]] ever seen at Columbia.

These losses are attributed to several reasons. First, the practice facilities at Baker Athletics Complex are far away from the main [[Morningside Heights campus|campus]] in [[Morningside Heights]]. Second, there is weak support because the student body is more often interested in all the other diversions in [[Manhattan]]. And third, coaches find it hard to recruit potential football players given Columbia's lack of a winning tradition.

==Recent history==

===Liberty Cup===
A bright spot in Columbia football history until recently has been the Liberty Cup. Dedicated in 2002, the annual competition with crosstown rival [[Fordham University]] has proved popular among students at both schools, the only Division I-AA programs in New York. Fordham is an associate member of the Patriot League and currently leads the series 4-3:

2008 Fordham 29, Columbia 22
2007 Fordham 27, Columbia 10
2006 Columbia 37, Fordham 7
2005 Columbia 23, Fordham 17
2004 Fordham 17, Columbia 14
2003 Fordham 37, Columbia 30
2002 Columbia 13, Fordham 11

===Bakergate===
In [[2005]], the athletics administration tried to ban alcohol at football games in a [[:Category:Scandals|scandal]] that became known as [[Bakergate]]. This proved unwise and unsuccessful. (Some say they reintroduced limited alcohol consumption because no one could rationally cheer for Columbia while sober!)

===Recent upturn under Norries Wilson===
In [[2005]], Columbia fired the old coach and hired [[Norries Wilson]] as his replacement. Wilson had been a runner-up for national assistant coach of the year while at the University of Connecticut in 2004. He is the latest head coach brought in to try to turn the program around. In his first season, the squad had vastly improved and notched a 5-5 campaign, with two victories to close out the year against Cornell and at defending Ivy-Champ Brown. This was the program's first .500-or-better season in 10 years. Wilson, along with his staff, have restored pride in the Columbia football program and, by all indications, have the proverbial ship pointed in the right direction.

Columbia has had five graduates on NFL rosters in the last year – more than any other Ivy school. They are: Marcellus Wiley '97, Steve Cargile '04, Jeff Otis '05, Wade Fletcher '05 and Michael Quarshie '05.

== Notable players ==
*[[Bill Campbell]]
*[[Brian Dennehy]]
*[[Marty Domres]]
*[[William Joseph Donovan]]
*[[Stuyvesant Fish]]
*[[Matthew Fox]]
*[[Paul Governali]]
*[[Jack Kerouac]]
*[[Sid Luckman]]
*[[Johnathan Reese]]
*[[Archie Roberts]]
*[[Gene Rossides]]
*[[Bill Swiacki]]
*[[Russell Warren]]
*[[Marcellus Wiley]]
*[[John Witkowski]]

== Trivia ==

* An early Columbia-[[Princeton]] game was the first live televised sporting event.
* Football players sometimes come back to speak at [[Columbia College]] [[Class Day]].

== External links ==

* [http://www.gocolumbialions.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9600&KEY=&SPID=3885&SPSID=43660 Columbia Football]
* [http://roarlions.blogspot.com/ Roar Lions Roar: a Columbia football blog with far better coverage than Spec]

[[Category:Varsity sports]]

Fordham University

2009-09-14T12:58:29Z

DamnRam:

The Jesuit university for New York City. Has their main campus in [[The Bronx]] and another near [[Lincoln Center]]. Generally, the former is filled with conservative jocks and the latter with performing arts major [[hipsters]] who seem like they ought to be going to [[NYU]] or neighboring [[Julliard]].

Fordham plays Columbia in an annual football game known as the [[Liberty Cup]]. Fordham has won the last two Liberty Cups to lead 4-3, and hence have claimed temporary bragging rights over Columbia. Neither Fordham nor Columbia students are fanatically obsessed with superfluous things like football, but since Columbia students believe that they overshadow Fordham in every other category they pretend that losing doesn't matter. I hasten to add, however, that Columbia leads Fordham 8-6 in all football games played since 1991, and by 11-6 if you care to count victories in 1972 (just after Fordham brought football back), 1902 and 1890.

If ever you feel insecure because you didn't get into Harvard or Yale, just make a snide quip about Fordham and somehow you will be instantly relieved of any doubts that it is worth the $50,000 you are paying in tuition at Columbia.

To Fordham's credit it did graduate the illustrious [[w:Vin Scully|Vin Scully]], along with many other very accomplished sportscasters. In addition, impartial outside observers tend to agree that Fordham's students are generally more attractive and better adjusted socially than the famously insecure Columbia students.
[[Category:Universities]]

Fordham University

2009-09-14T12:48:22Z

DamnRam:

The Jesuit university for New York City. Has their main campus in [[The Bronx]] and another near [[Lincoln Center]]. Generally, the former is filled with conservative jocks and the latter with performing arts major [[hipsters]] who seem like they ought to be going to [[NYU]] or neighboring [[Julliard]].

Fordham plays Columbia in an annual football game known as the [[Liberty Cup]]. Fordham has won the last two Liberty Cups to lead 4-3, and hence have claimed temporary bragging rights over Columbia. Neither Fordham nor Columbia students are fanatically obsessed with superfluous things like football, but since Columbia students believe that they overshadow Fordham in every other category they pretend that losing doesn't matter. I hasten to add, however, that Columbia leads Fordham 8-6 in all football games played since 1991, and by 11-6 if you care to count victories in 1972 (just after Fordham brought football back), 1902 and 1890.

If ever you feel insecure because you didn't get into Harvard or Yale, just make a snide quip about Fordham and somehow you will be instantly relieved of any doubts that it is worth the $50,000 you are paying in tuition at Columbia.

To Fordham's credit it did graduate the illustrious [[w:Vin Scully|Vin Scully]], along with many other very accomplished sportscasters. In addition, impartial outside observers do tend to agree that Fordham's students are generally more attractive and socially well-adjusted than the famously insecure Columbia students.
[[Category:Universities]]

Fordham University

2009-09-13T21:06:35Z

DamnRam:

Fordham University

2009-09-13T21:00:12Z

DamnRam: