Columbia Lions (1968)

Whether you're a fan of sports history or American history, 1968 was an interesting year.

Columbia University was in the news quite a bit that year, and 99% of the time, it wasn't for football. 

A hotshot Ivy League quarterback was the talk of college football, and 99% of the time, it was this guy.

Although student protests and Brian Dowling dominated the headlines in Ivy-ville, a Columbia quarterback was making a name for himself. Marty Domres, an Ithaca, NY, native who opted for Columbia over his hometown Cornell Big Red, set at least 10 school records during his three years under center, and a Columbia Daily Spectator article from '68 said he set 31 school, league, regional and national records overall. 

Marty Domres. What's interesting is that he's wearing the 1970-73 uniform in this picture,
although he played at Columbia from 1966-68. Looking through Spectator archives, it appears
the Lions may have worn these for preseason headshots only.

His numbers appear quite modest in retrospect: His 4,492 career passing yards would have been third in FCS football for just the 2021 season. In a 46-20 season-ending win over Brown, Domres set Ivy records for attempts (54), completions (30) and yards (396), numbers regularly surpassed on any given Saturday. But as I've droned on more times than I care to remember on this little ol' blog, the QB's best pass was a handoff to the running back in those olden times. But Columbia, being bereft of talent, attached itself to Domres' rocket arm and let it fly. And when Domres wasn't throwing the ball, he usually scooped the ball under his arm and ran with it (198 rushing yards, 6 TDs) whenever his offensive line melted, which was often. 

Domres, right, lets 'er rip in the season finale against Brown.

A 44-16 loss to Princeton in Week 2 might sum up Domres' career best. Domres, "throwing from a roll-out, from a drop back pattern and lying on his back," in the words of the Daily Princetonian,  was 28-for-53 for 372 yards and a TD pass (not to mention five of his 15 interceptions that season). Quoth the Columbia Daily Spectator: "On almost every pass, the senior quarterback was demolished immediately after releasing the ball, and there were several occasions when you simply knew he wasn't going to get up. But he did. ... Domres' scrambling, passing and apparent sense of masochism with regard to defensive linemen scored high marks ..." No wonder he drew an ovation from the Princeton fans at Palmer Stadium when he walked off the field for the final time. 

Domres runs for his life — again — vs. Princeton.

While Domres was one of two QBs named to the all-Ivy team (Dowling was the other), he lacked Dowling's supporting cast, and the Lions went 2-7 for the third straight year. (In 1969, without Domres, Columbia slipped to 1-8.) Domres was a first-round draft pick of the San Diego Chargers in the 1969 NFL/AFL draft and was a backup for three years until 1972, when he was dealt to the Baltimore Colts and became the answer to a trivia question: Who replaced John Unitas as the Colts' QB when Johnny U was benched?

Under first-year coach Frank Navarro, Columbia's uniforms ditched 1965-67's rather busy look. Light blue pants and the faux-New York Jets jerseys were out, replaced with a simpler design used until 1970, when shoulder stripes were added ... although if you look at the above photo of Domres, you'll see the 70s shirts were hanging around, at least in the preseason.

I found this on Reddit while doing a Google search 
for anything Domres-related. Umm ...