Harvard Crimson (1966)

Our last post concerned the 1966 Yale Bulldogs, so for this one we'll take a glance at their Ivy League doppelgängers. 

The Team: Harvard went 8-1 and shared the Ivy title with Princeton and Dartmouth. (Trivia: From 1960-83, at least one school out of Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton or Yale won or shared the Ancient Eight title each season.) The Crimson's lone loss was an 18-14 decision to Princeton on Nov. 5 at old Palmer Stadium. The Tigers drove 93 yards in the fourth quarter for the go-ahead touchdown, then stopped the Crimson in the red zone on fourth down with less than 2 minutes left to seal the victory. To complete the circle, Princeton's lone Ivy loss was to Dartmouth and Dartmouth's defeat was against Harvard.

The Players: Quarterback Ric Zimmerman threw for a modest 639 yards with seven TDs and seven interceptions, completing just under half his passes in an era when a 50% completion percentage was pretty darn good. Senior Bobby Leo led the ground game with 827 yards and seven TDs, followed by sophomore Vic Gatto with 700 yards and three scores. Junior Carter Lord led the receivers with a whopping 19 catches for 248 yards. (Ah, the '60s.) As many of you probably know, future actor Tommy Lee Jones played for Harvard and was a sophomore guard on the '66 team.

Vic Gatto runs against Columbia in 1966. Note that 
both teams are wearing dark jerseys.

The Coach: I wrote a bit about John Yovicsin in this post. This was his 10th year at Harvard and his second of three Ivy titles. His career record was 78-42-5. This Harvard Crimson article from 1966 takes a first-hand look at his personality and coaching style.

The Uniforms: Harvard's look was largely unchanged from 1964-71: Crimson helmets with black-and-white stripes with white numbers; crimson jerseys with smallish white numbers (reversed on the road); and light gold pants. In later years, Harvard added striped socks to the ensemble. 

Harvard breaks out the white jerseys and long sleeves
for its late-season loss to Princeton.

Harvard played only two road games in '66 (Princeton and Columbia) and wore the white jerseys only once, at Princeton. (For whatever reason, Harvard wore the "home" jerseys even when Columbia wore the light blue shirts at home, although '66 marked the time in years the Lions wore white shirts on the road.) The white shirts were long-sleeved for the late-season game, but the homes went with short sleeves all season long.

The Fallout: Harvard slipped to 6-3 overall, 4-3 and tied for fourth in the Ivies in '67, then in '68 ... ah, you all know that. 😎

Sure, everyone knows Tommy Lee Jones played at Harvard,
but how many people know he was a star on the old soap opera
"One Life to Live" from 1971-75?