University of Richmond Athletics
AlOng Came the Spiders
June 25, 2001
Location: Bronx, N.Y., 10023
Founded: 1841
Enrollment: 14,600 (private)
Nickname: Rams
School Colors: Maroon and White
President: Rev. Joseph A. O'Hare, S.J. (Berchmans College, `54)
Director of Athletics: Frank McLaughlin (Fordham, `69)
Dept. of Athletics Address:
Fordham University
Department of Athletics
441 E. Fordham Rd.
Bronx, NY 10458
Most Recent A10 Championships: 1998 Baseball
Year joined the A10: 1996
Driving Distance from Richmond: 336.5 miles
Official Athletics Website: www.fordham.edu/athletics
Sports:
Men's: Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Football (Patriot League), Golf, Track & Field, Soccer, Squash, Swimming and Diving, Tennis, Water Polo
Women's: Basketball, Cross Country, Track & Field, Soccer, Softball, Swimming and Diving, Tennis, Volleyball.
A-10 Item List About Fordham:
1) Elder Statesman... Fordham competes in the oldest Division I gym in the country. The Rose Hill Gymnasium (3,470) opened on January 16, 1925 in a game between Fordham and Boston College. The Rams won, 46-16. The gym was the largest on-campus facility at the time earning the nickname "The Prairie" because of its ample floor space. The original configuration had no end zone stands and a capacity of 2,100. One of the legendary games played at Rose Hill Gym was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's final high school game. The 1988 Tolentine-Archbishop Molloy Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) championship game played at Rose Hill Gym was billed by New York Newsday as the best high school game of the 1980's. Current Spiders guard Reggie Brown, a graduate of Archbishop Molloy, played in Rose Hill Gym. The Richmond Spiders men's basketball team fell to the Rams in Rose Hill, 73-70 on December 30, 1998.
2) Watch your mouth... Why the Ram? The answer is from a team cheer, the first organized Fordham cheer. On a spring afternoon in 1883, the Fordham nine (baseball) were playing against the United States Military Academy at West Point. The students began cheering: one-Dam, two-Dam, three-Dam..FORDHAM! The cheer was an immediate hit with the students. However as the story is told, Jesuit faculty felt the cheer was not in keeping with the image of Fordham gentlemen. Unwilling to give up the cheer entirely, the students found "RAM" a suitable rhyme for "dam".
3) Faith... Fordham University, founded in 1841, was the first Catholic institution of higher learning in the northeast. One of 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the nation, Fordham has one of the largest on-campus Jesuit populations. "Jesuit education is based on the fundamental values of academic excellence, leadership, service and faith." -- Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (www.ajcunet.edu). In addition to Fordham, two other schools in the Atlantic 10, Xavier and St. Joseph's, are Jesuit institutions.
4) Famous faces abound... Fordham University has a host of famous alumni. Alan Alda, Denzel Washington, Captain Kangaroo, Wallington Mara (New York Giants co-owner), Vin Scully, P.J. Carlesimo, Geraldine Ferraro and legendary coach Vince Lombardi. Of course, Lombardi is not the only legendary coach to have graduated from Fordham. Richmond's all-time winningest coach and Hall-of-Famer, Dick Tarrant is a Fordham graduate (Class of 1951).
5) Ring My Bell... One of Fordham's proudest traditions occurs after every Rams victory in any sport. A bell located in front of the gym is rung after every win.
6) Culture like none other in the World... The New York Botanical Gardens and the Wildlife Conservation Society, more commonly known as The Bronx Zoo are adjacent to the Rose Hill campus. The Lincoln Center campus has as its next-door neighbor the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the most famous park in the world, Central Park. The world's largest fish market, the South Street Seaport (www.southstseaport.org), offers history, good food and great shopping to all who visit.
7) Twice as Nice...There are two campuses for Fordham University: Lincoln Center and Rose Hill. Rose Hill, Fordham's original campus, is located in the north Bronx adjacent to New York Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo. Rose Hill is the largest "green campus" in New York City. The campus buildings depict Gothic architecture while the streets are paved in cobblestone. A number of films including the Ali McGraw-Ryan O'Neal movie "Love Story" and Robert Redford's "Quiz Show" have been filmed on the Rose Hill campus.
8) New York, it's my kind of town... Students can hop on a Ram Van for only $2.00 and take a quick ride into Manhattan (and the Lincoln Center campus) for some of the best shopping in the world. For the dreamers, there is Barney's New York, Bergdorf Goodman and the beautiful blue box of Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Ave. Of course, there are the standards: The Gap can be found, it seems (Madison, E. 23rd, Broadway and more), at nearly every corner. If your taste is more eclectic, the Soho district (www.newyork.citysearch.com) offers something more. From Agnes B. to Betsey Johnson to Cynthia Rowley to Kate Spade, you can find the funky and fun in Soho.
9) Rivals... The biggest rivals for the Fordham Rams are cross-town foes Manhattan College (Jaspers) and Jesuit rival, the College of the Holy Cross (Crusaders).
10) New Kids on the Block... Fordham entered the Atlantic 10 in 1996 along with Dayton, La Salle and Va. Tech. Previously, the school was a member of the Patriot League, of which it still belongs in football.
11) Best eating close to campus... Fordham is located right next to the Little Italy section of the Bronx. Pasquale Rigolettos, which comes highly recommended, is located at 2311 Arthur Ave. Other eateries offering the finest in Italian on Arthur Ave include Dominick's Restaurant and Emilia's Restaurant.
12) "Dancing is a contact sport," said Vince Lombardi. "Football is a hitting sport."... Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi accepted nothing less than perfection from his teams. Under Lombardi, the Packers collected six division titles, five NFL championships and two Super Bowls (I and II) and acquiring a record of 89-29-4. Lombardi was inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1971. That same year, the Super Bowl trophy was renamed the Vince Lombardi Super Bowl Trophy in his honor. His passion for the game of football was instilled in him at Fordham University where he enrolled in 1933. After a year on the freshman team, varsity football coach "Sleepy" Jim Crawley (a Knute Rockne prot?g?) made the 170-pound Lombardi a guard on the defensive line, which was tagged the "Seven Blocks of Granite."
"If you'll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives." (www.vincelombardi.com)
NEXT WEEK: Along Came the Spiders...to George Washington
Photos from...
Arena: www.fordham.edu/athletics
New York Skyline: members.aol.com/smurphy109/sm.htm
Vince Lombardi: www.vincelombardi.com