1954 Fordham Rams football team

The 1954 Fordham Rams football team represented Fordham University during the 1954 college football season. The Rams went 1–7–1 and amassed 96 points while their defense allowed 292 points. It was their worst season since the winless 1946 campaign. Shortly afterwards, and following a disastrous, 41–0 season finale home loss to previously winless (0–9) Villanova, head coach Ed Danowski resigned.[1] Speculation grew around five coaches, all former Fordham players, rumored as replacements. In order of likeliness the candidates were Vince Lombardi, at the time a backfield coach with the New York Giants; Johnny Druze, at the time a line coach with Notre Dame; Harry Jacunski, at the time a line coach with Yale and two long shots who were each successful in the high school ranks. They were Ray Riddick, at the time head coach of Lowell High School's powerhouse program in Massachusetts and Leo Paquin, in charge of Xavier High School's program in Manhattan.[2]

1954 Fordham Rams football
ConferenceIndependent
1954 record1–7–1
Head coach
Home stadiumPolo Grounds
1954 Eastern college football independents records
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
Carnegie Tech      7 0 1
Boston College      8 1 0
Boston University      7 2 0
Hofstra      7 2 0
No. 20 Penn State      7 2 0
Tufts      6 2 0
Brown      6 2 1
Drexel      5 2 0
Bucknell      6 3 0
Colgate      5 2 2
Princeton      5 3 1
Yale      5 3 1
Cornell      5 4 0
Harvard      4 3 1
Syracuse      4 4 0
Pittsburgh      4 5 0
Franklin & Marshall      3 5 0
Temple      3 5 0
Dartmouth      3 6 0
Holy Cross      3 7 0
Buffalo      2 7 0
Fordham      1 7 1
Columbia      1 8 0
Villanova      1 9 0
Penn      0 9 0
Rankings from AP Poll

In the end none of the five were chosen.[3] Instead, sighting poor attendance numbers and financial losses of $100,000 per year, the school decided to drop its football program on December, 15th.[4][5]

Alumni, many hoping Lombardi would be named head coach, led a campaign to cover all operating costs for the 1955 season and honor an already announced schedule [6] in the process. The university however stood by their decision.[7][8][9][10] After more pushing, the alumni movement was finally abandoned in May, 1955.[11] With that came the lost opportunity at hiring, arguably, the single greatest football coach of all time. They also lost the services of freshmen quarterbacks Chuck Zimmerman and Jim Reese who had platooned the freshman team to a promising 3-1 record. Reese transferred to Minnesota where in 1958 he became the first Golden Gopher to throw for 200 yards in a game. Zimmerman transferred to Syracuse where in that same season he threw for over 700 yards while leading the Orangemen to the Orange Bowl.

Schedule

DateOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
October 2at RutgersW 13–710,000[12]
October 9at Boston UniversityL 20–5518,000[13]
October 16Boston CollegeL 7–2113,676[14]
October 23at MarquetteT 14–1419,500[15]
October 29at No. 10 Miami (FL)L 7–7537,498[16]
November 6at No. 17 West VirginiaL 9–3910,000[17]
November 13Holy Cross
  • Polo Grounds
  • New York, NY
L 19–2013,557[18]
November 20Syracuse
  • Polo Grounds
  • New York, NY
L 7–2010,423[19]
November 27Villanova
  • Polo Grounds
  • New York, NY
L 0–419,699[20]
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

References

  1. Smith, Art (October 3, 1954). "Rams Tally in 2d to Rap Rutgers, 13-7". Sunday News. New York, N.Y. p. 101 via Newspapers.com.
  2. Keane, Clif (October 10, 1954). "Boston U. Swamps Fordham, 55-20". The Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. p. D1 via Newspapers.com.
  3. Roberts, Ernie (October 17, 1954). "Gagliardi, Kane Spark Eagles, 21-7". The Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Mass. p. 58 via Newspapers.com.
  4. Strickler, George (October 24, 1954). "Marquette Rallies to Tie Fordham, 14-14". Chicago Sunday Tribune. Chicago, Ill. sect. 2, p. 3 via Newspapers.com.
  5. Evans, Luther (October 30, 1954). "Revenge-Mad Miami Humiliates Fordham, 75-7". The Miami Herald. Miami, Fla. p. 14A via Newspapers.com.
  6. McKowen, Bob (November 7, 1954). "WVU Trims Fordham; Six Men Get Touchdowns". The Charleston Daily Mail. Charleston, W.Va. p. 13 via Newspapers.com. Attendance figure in "Mountaineers Whip Rams, 39-9". The Pittsburgh Press. Pittsburgh, Pa. November 7, 1954. sect. 4, p. 2.
  7. Smith, Art (November 14, 1954). "Rams Butt, Can't Kick – Holy Cross Wins, 20-19". Sunday News. New York, N.Y. p. 100 via Newspapers.com.
  8. Reddy, Bill (November 21, 1954). "Syracuse U. Whips Fordham in Finale, 20 to 7". The Post-Standard. Syracuse, N.Y. p. 31 via Newspapers.com.
  9. Turkin, Hy (November 28, 1954). "Villanova Slams Rams for First Victory, 41-0". Sunday News. New York, N.Y. p. 111 via Newspapers.com.
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