Rhode Island Rams (1967)

College football is less than two months away. Let's get back into the swing of things and pull a team out of the bag o' random! This time, it's the 1967 Rhody Rams.

The Team: Between 1958 and 1972, Rhode Island has but one winning team, and this was it. Among the wins was a 28-17 opening-day shocker over Delaware in which Rhody scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns. (The Hens ended the season 2-7, their last losing season for 16 years.) Wins over Maine and New Hampshire and a scoreless tie against Vermont put Rhody in third place in the Yankee Conference.

The Rams take in the action from the bench.

The Players: In an era when passing was far more risky and interceptions far more common, Rhody QB Larry Caswell threw for 11 TDs and just two picks. He finished with 1,575 passing yards, a respectable total for that era. His favorite target was future NFL draft pick Frank Geiselman, who hauled down 48 passes for eight TDs. Brent Kaufman was the leading ground-gainer with 590 yards and eight scores. 

Frank Giesleman goes airborne to 
grab a pass against Maine.

The Coach: Jack Zilly was an All-American, national-title winning end at Notre Dame who played for the NFL's Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles from 1947-52, winning an NFL title in LA in '51. At Rhody, Zilly installed a pro-style offense (which would explain the Rams' air attack), but, the '67 team was his only winner; his final record was 21-41-2 from 1963-69.

The Uniforms: I've written about these uniforms before, but they're among my favorites of the '60s. In '67, Rhody ditched the navy blue LA Rams knock-offs (here's another example) and returned to the light blue it had phased out earlier in the decade. The new unis had white helmets with light blue horns and little notches in the horns. Light blue jerseys and white pants were worn at home, and the colors were revered on the road. 

The Fallout: Rhody won only five games over the next two seasons and Zilly was let go in 69. His successor, Jack Gregory (1970-75), also had only one winning season. It would take the magic of Bob Griffin to turn the Rams into a consistent winner for the first time since the early 1950s.

Buddy Teevens: Rookie coach

Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens, who became a national name in football circles after abolishing live tackling in favor of robotic dummies in an effort to prevent head trauma, recently lost a leg following a cycling accident. Here's a column I wrote for Central Maine Newspapers on how Teevens turned around a stagnant Maine program in the mid-1980s. 

A while back, I wrote about the changes Teevens made to Maine's uniforms here.

From Football to Baseball (Part II)

OK, I've procrastinated enough. Time for Part II of our series of New England/Ivy League college football players who went on to play Major League Baseball. Part I can be found here.

You probably know all about Harvard "beating" Yale 29-29 in the 1968 season finale in a battle of undefeated teams. But did you know the guy who caught the "winning" 2-point conversion was a baseball player? Pete Varney was a tight end on the football team and a catcher on the baseball team, where he batted .370 lifetime (still third on the all-time list) and was a first-team All-American at a school not known for its baseball exploits. Varney went on to play parts of three seasons with the Chicago White Sox and the Atlanta Braves. He later coached tag Brandeis University, where he won 705 games over 34 years.

Pete Varney, right, with old-school Coke can in hand, congratulates
Harvard QB Frank Champi after the Crimson's celebrated 29-29 tie with Yale in 1968.

Varney with the Chicago White Sox in the mid-1970s.

A search through Baseball-Reference reveals not one, but three guys named Mark Johnson who played in MLB between 1995-2008. The one we want is a native of Worcester, Mass., who was a first baseman-outfielder for the Pirates, Angels and Mets from 1995-2002. His second year with the Pirates (1996) was his best one, when he played a career-high 127 games and batted .274 with 13 homers. (I'll save the analytics for other sites.)

But on the gridiron, the left-handed Johnson was the starting quarterback at Dartmouth, where his name still dots the top 10 on many of the Big Green's passing lists despite playing only three seasons. He also played first base, right field and even pitched for the baseball team.

(Funny aside: Johnson's Wikipedia bio is probably longer than those of many Baseball Hall of Famers.)

Mark Johnson with coach Buddy Teevens c. 1988. (GET WELL BUDDY!!)
The caption is a reference to Johnson declining a Pirates contract offer
in 1989 in order to return to Dartmouth for his senior year. He signed with the Pirates in '90.

Johnson's 1995 Upper Deck baseball card.
I recall blowing $75 on an unopened box in '95 ...
only to buy the whole set for $25 a decade later.

Ah, the nomadic career of a left-handed relief pitcher. Ron Villone pitched 15 years in MLB, one for every team that employed him. OK, I exaggerate, but not by much; he took the mound for 12 different teams, never lasting more than two seasons with any one club. (He pitched three seasons for Seattle, but that was over two stints.) Amazingly, he's only tied for third for most MLB teams; Octavio Dotel and Edwin Jackson played for 13 each.

At UMass, the 6-foot-3, 245-pound Villone was a third-team All-American pitcher in 1992. But the oddity about Villone is that he was recruited to play football; according to this article, the baseball coach asked him to they out for baseball upon hearing about his 90-mph fastball.

Villone was certainly no slouch on the gridiron, where he was an all-Yankee Conference selection at tight end in 1990 and '91. He caught 47 passes for 651 yards and four TDs during his time at Amherst. 

Ron Villone, the football player: Intense.

Ron Villone, the pitcher: Also intense.
Here he is in his minor league days.

Mark DeRosa was in the news earlier this year for managing Team USA to a silver medal in the World Baseball Classic. Before that (and before he was bouncing off the walls every day on MLB Network) he played infield (and occasionally outfield) for eight MLB teams from 1998-2013. 

And before that, he was a killer quarterback at Penn who led the Quakers to Ivy League titles in 1994 and '95 — including an undefeated season in '94 — throwing for 3,895 yards and 25 touchdowns. DeRosa also played shortstop on the baseball team, and he signed with the Atlanta Braves following his junior season (he continued to attend class at Penn and earned his degree in 1997).

This 1994 Daily Pennsylvanian article highlights Mark DeRosa's
performance in the season-ending win over Cornell
that gave the Quakers an undefeated season. 

DeRosa (with awesome throwback jersey)
with the Atlanta Braves. 

The (Somewhat) Complete UConn Uniform History, Part III

The history of UConn uniforms continues! This segment takes us from the late 1960s through the end of the I-AA/FCS era. 

Part I is here, Part II is here.

1968: After years of wild designs, UConn simplifies its look with a rather plain jersey and pants. After decades of using navy blue as their primary color, the Huskies lighten it to something closer to navy blue. The helmet logo changes to a Chicago Bears-style "C" with stitches inside to simulate a football shape, a simple-but-clever logo.

1971: UConn becomes the first Yankee Conference team to wear names on the jerseys. The C-with-stitches logo moves from the helmet to the sleeves, making for a very bland helmet. Red is added as a trim color for the first time.

1973: The names are removed, while the helmet goes from white to light blue. The C-with-stitches logo returns to the helmet.

1977: The Huskies switch to a design that lasts well into the 1990s: A white helmet with a script "UConn" on each side  — the first time the school moniker appears on the helmets — and jerseys with three stripes on each sleeve. 

1982: There's nothing too different from the 1977 design, but check out the socks: There's a tiny "U C O N N" going down each side.

1984: Following a trend throughout I-AA/FCS football, the Huskies add names to the jerseys. By this time, blue facemasks appear on the helmets and the red trim disappears.

1989: UConn returns to navy blue, but the rest of the uniform remains virtually the same.  The "DEGENNARO" is for Matt Degennaro, a record-setting Husky QB of yore.

1994: Under a new coach (Skip Holtz), UConn makes its biggest overhaul since 1977. Navy blue helmets return with an italicized "UCONN" on each side. (A red outline is added in '95.) A husky logo appears on the sleeves and the pants, which come in both white and navy. UConn freely mixes and matches the shirt-pants combos over the next several seasons. Also note the Yankee Conference patch, first used in 1993 under the old design, and the disappearance of names on the back.

1998: In honor of the school's football centennial, a special patch is worn on the left sleeve. Also this season, the Huskies play their first postseason games in program history when they reach the I-AA playoffs. (During the season, UConn openly pondered a move up to I-A/FBS, so perhaps the '98 playoff run clinched the decision?) One year earlier, the Yankee Conference morphed into the Atlantic 10, and the league patch on the front reflects the move.

1999: In their final I-AA/FCS season, the Huskies change their look under new coach Randy Edsall. The taller "UConn" logo resembles the one used on the women's basketball jerseys, while drop-shadow numbers (oh-so-trendy in the late 90s) are added. Also note the alternate vertical striping on the shirts, much like what Boston College and the New England Patriots used around this time. The white pants are put on the bench for now.

Next time: The series concludes with the FBS era!

New Hampshire Wildcats (1994)

For its homecoming game this season, New Hampshire wore a retro uniform inspired by what the Wildcats wore in the 1980s and '90s. (You can see some pictures here. They don't look exactly like the vintage duds, but I have very low patience for people who whine about inaccurate throwbacks as if it's world hunger or something.) The unis were hyped with this awesome Twitter video showing lovingly grainy, fuzzy clips from the olden days. One of the clips was from their dramatic Yankee Conference-clinching win over Boston University in 1994 ... which bring us to today's topic.

The '94 Wildcats made the NCAA I-AA (FCS) tournament for the first time in three years — and the last time for another decade. Here is an excellent highlight video from that season. For all the Wildcats did in the Ricky Santos/David Ball era a decade later, the '94 bunch might have been the most entertaining team they ever offered to the public: Dramatic wins, dramatic losses, defensive players scoring all the time, a versatile QB ... the list goes on. 

Let's take a closer look:

The Team: UNH ran the table with an 8-0 YC mark, the first time the Wildcats had gone unbeaten in league play since 1975 and the last time until 2014. But nothing was decided until the season finale against BU; the Wildcats were 7-0 in the YC, the Terriers 6-1. A win would give UNH the YC's automatic NCAA berth. A loss, and hope the NCAA gods like you that day. James Madison, also in the NCAA hunt, lost to lowly Northeastern that day to fall to 9-2 overall, 6-2 YC, putting the Dukes on the bubble. (They got in and reached the quarterfinals.)

The Wildcats led the Terriers 24-10 in the second quarter, but were down 38-24 in the fourth. UNH scored two TDs to force overtime. (In 1994, only the YC and maybe one or two other leagues used OT. Elsewhere, tie games were still the law of the land.) In the first possession of the second OT, UNH took a 52-45 lead on a "Philly Special" when halfback Matt Mezquita threw a TD pass to quarterback Jim Stayer. BU scored a TD of its own in the "bottom" of the frame ... but its extra point attempt bounced off a Terrier helmet and the UNH fans stormed the field. 

"This is the most exciting game I've ever coached," misty-eyed UNH coach Bill Bowes told The Boston Globe after the game.

UNH was rewarded with a home game against Appalachian State in the first round of the NCAA tourney, the first home playoff game in program history. But the Wildcats let a 10-0 fourth-quarter lead slip away and the Mountaineers forced OT (which in the playoffs, of course, was and is the law of the land). Appy State took a 17-10 lead on its first possession and won the game by that score when UNH fumbled on its first play and the Mountaineers recovered. 

The Wildcats finished No. 12 in the I-AA rankings.

One odd tidbit: Of UNH's 12 opponents that year, four (UMass, UConn, Appalachian State, James Madison) have since joined FBS, while three others (BU, Northeastern, Hofstra) have long since dropped the sport.

UNH QB Jim Stayer could pass, run and even catch the ball,
as he showed in the regular-season finale.

The Players: In researching this bunch, what struck me was the players' versatility. Mezquita, a running back, ran for three TDs and threw for two more, including one in the BU game. All-YC linebacker Warren Armes scored three TDs as a running back, and all-American defensive end Mike Foley scored from the tight end spot in a 42-14 win over Richmond.

Stayer threw for over 2,000 yards and 12 TDs (and, of course, that TD catch against BU), while Avrom Smith ran for over 800 yards and 11 TDs, plus two more through the air and another via kickoff return. Foley, Armes, DL Joe Fleming and DB Jim Conannon were named to the all-YC first team. Foley also won the Bill Knight trophy given the to the MVP of the UMass game, the first defensive player to win the honor.

Defensive end Mike Foley (91) was a threat at tight end, too.

The Coach(es): I've probably mentioned head coach Bill Bowes in a million other posts, but here's the CliffsNotes version of his career:

• Went 175–106–5 at UNH from 1972-98; leads the program in seasons and wins;
• Won four Yankee Conference titles, making the NCAA playoffs each time (1994 was his last);
• Is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame;
• Played at Penn State from 1962-64;
• Had only five losing seasons; including his first two, while he was presumably rebuilding the program.

But check out Bowes' staff. Offensive coordinator Sean McDonnell succeeded Bowes as head coach and led the Wildcats to 14 straight NCAA tourneys; running backs coach Chip Kelly became McDonnell's OC, revamped the Wildcats' offense, and went to coach at Oregon and UCLA (sandwiched around a couple NFL stints); and offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. was the head coach at Louisiana Tech for eight seasons (he is now the OL coach at North Carolina). That's a pretty stacked lineup.

This screen grab from UNH's 1994 highlight video shows, from left,
Sean McDonnell, Bill Bowes and (I think), Chip Kelly.

The Uniforms: As is the case with Bowes, I've discussed the classic UNH look in many other posts. In this day and age, when teams change their unis on a weekly basis, the Wildcats trotted out the same design with minimal changes for close to 25 years. As a Penn State alum, Bowes would be pretty familiar with maintaining tradition. Although I do wonder why UNH wore names on the home jerseys only. The Wildcats began wearing the Yankee Conference patch on the front  in 1993.

The Fallout: The good times form 1994 did not carry over into '95, as the Wildcats dropped their first three games out the gate (all against YC foes) and finished 6-5. The '96 team bounced back with an 8-3 record and a No. 18 ranking in the I-AA poll, but did not receive an NCAA invite.  

Yankee Conference (1972)

It's time to journey back 50 years to the Yankee Conference of 1972, a season in which the  league's six teams finished with a descending won-loss record, from 5-0 down to 0-5. This also was the last season of the YC in the original six-team alignment it had used since 1947; Boston University joined in 1973 and Vermont dropped out after the '74 campaign. (Compare that to today's successor, the CAA, where it's news if the league actually has the same teams in consecutive seasons!)

I miss the smaller, tidier Yankee Conference and often fantasize the America East Conference schools with football programs (Maine, UNH, Albany, Bryant) can form an America East football league with Rhode Island, UMass and UConn, reuniting five of the original YC members. (And let's face it: the latter two schools have no business playing in FBS, no matter how many times some Redditor defends UConn by saying, "BuT tHe FaCiLiTiEs ...") 

WARNING: I may be repeating a few things from previous posts. 

I've profiled a few other YC seasons: 1947, 1969, 1974, 1982, 1996.

I took this photo from this fundraising page. Hope they don't mind!

Massachusetts, which I profiled in this post, was in the midst of a golden age, capturing its seventh title (sixth outright) in 10 years. This was the first season in which the school used the "Minutemen" nickname. (After discarding "Aggies," "Statesmen" and "Redmen" over the previous 40 years, UMass finally found a moniker that stuck.) Eight players —  QB Peil Pennington, WR Steve Schubert, T Thomas Mullen, G Clarence Brooks, FB Richard Cummings, DE Ed McAleney and CB Robert Parrott — were named all-Yankee Conference. The team outscored its foes 369-155 and crushed California-Davis in the Boardwalk Bowl, 35-14, after original foe Delaware chickened out (cluck, cluck, Hens!).

UMass' uniforms didn't change from the previous season, keeping the "UM" on the helmets the Minutemen had used since '70. After a one-year helmet change in '73, UMass went to the kick-arse Minuteman helmet in '74.

Connecticut finished second despite a losing record overall (one of the negatives of playing in a small league). The Huskies' only loss was a 49-16 thumping at UMass, which should tell you how much better the Minutemen were than the rest of the league. Their top player, kick returner/running back Eric Torklelson, later played seven seasons for the Green Bay Packers. End Rob Robustelli was the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame Andy Robustelli, of the late, great Arnold Terriers.

The uniforms were unique in that the Huskies wore names on the back, becoming the first YC team to do so. I always liked the clever logo: A football-shaped "C" with stitches inside.

By going 3-2 in YC play, the 1972 Vermont team was the last in program history to have a winning record in league play before the school pulled the plug two years later. The Catamounts featured a strong-armed quarterback in Earl Olson, a Rutland native, who ... well, let's let his UVM Hall of Fame bio tell the rest: "In 1972 he set Yankee Conference records for yards passing (1,033 in conference games) and passes completed (84) to earn all-league honors. He ranked third in the NCAA in passing yards per game and 10th in total offense. Olson, just 5-foot-11, was twice named the team MVP (1970 and 1972)." 

UVM wore a rather plain uniform, with a simple green "V" on a yellow helmet. (This would look pretty good on a helmet.) A year later, that all changed.

The coaching career of future College Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Bowes got off to a humdrum start at New Hampshire, where the Wildcats went 4-5 overall, 2-3 YC for the first of two straight seasons. (That changed greatly in 1975 and '76.) Running back Ed Whalen (no, not the Stampede Wrestling and Calgary Flames announcer) set a school record with 201 rushing yards against Springfield; his season total of 831 yards including four straight 100-yard games.

The Wildcats' uniforms were in a transition phase; at home, they still wore the older long-sleeve jerseys with the wildcat patch on the sides, but switched to a more streamlined design with shorter sleeves on the road. By 1974 both jerseys were in sync, identical to what the Cats wore in '75.

Maine went through a rough spell in the 1970s, and '72 was no exception. From what I've been able to gather, the Black Bears were the only YC team to not offer scholarships, a decision that produced a mixed reaction on campus — the pro-sports faction wanted scholarships so Maine could field more competitive teams, while the anti-sports crowd didn't want to give any free rides to the jocks. Anyway, Maine managed to win three games despite going the "pure" route.

The Black Bears changed their road uniforms in mid-season, dumping the bears-on-shoulders jerseys and red-trimmed socks for versions that's better matched what they wore at home.

Alas, I couldn't find a team photo for Rhode Island,
so this group shot will have to do.

Rhode Island, which presumably did offer scholarships, got less bang for its buck than Maine, failing to win a game in YC play. After roaring out to a 3-0 start, the Rams lost their final seven games. The 1973 Renaissance yearbook noted how young the Rams were (only eight seniors) and insisted "there seems to be hope for the future." (Rhody did leapfrog to second in the YC in '73).

The Rhody uniforms changed very little from what the Rams had worn since 1967, save for some minor changes in trim and use of sleeve numbers. A set of light blue pants debuted in 1973.

New Hampshire Wildcats (1952)

 

Let's pull out another team and season from Big Bag o' Random ...

The 1952 New Hampshire Wildcats.

The Team: This was a rare off-year for UNH, which suffered its first losing non-war season since 1939 and failed to win a game in conference play.

The Players: The leader of the offense was Dick "Dum Dum" Dewing, a fullback who starred on the Wildcats' undefeated 1950 team and an all-Yankee Conference selection in 1952. The UNH Hall of Famer made noise on the field as a player, and made even more noise in his later years.

After his playing days, Dewing, became the famed "Cannon Man," the leader of the famed group of men in colonial gear who fired a cannon after every UNH touchdown, a tradition he was part of until 2019. According to this article, Dewing was "an artillery officer with the First Newmarket Militia, a Revolutionary War reenactment group." The tradition apparently began when UNH athletic director Marty Scarano wanted to surprise coach Sean McDonnell on his birthday. Sounds like everyone got a blast of it (sorry, couldn't resist). Dewing, who also served in Vietnam, died in 2021.

The cannon men wait to fire away in 2009 at a game
 I attended at old Cowell Stadium. I believe Dick Dewing
is the one in front, facing left.

UNH's 1952 offense.

The Coach: Clarence Elijah "Chief" Boston got his name from his father, who was chief of police in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The Harvard graduate racked up a 60-57-10 record from 1949-64, which included four conference titles, two undefeated seasons and one winless campaign. 

UNH's 1953 home uniform, from the Granite yearbook.
Sadly, there's no caption, so I'm not sure who has the ball here.

Billy Pappas strikes a pose for The New Hampshire paper in 1952.
He is a member of the UNH Hall of Fame, so I'd say the caption's prediction was spot on.

The Uniforms: The basic home uniform — silver helmets with plastic jerseys, navy jerseys with two stripes on the sleeves and silver pants — went virtually unchanged from 1949-56, and the Wildcats even retuned to this look from 1960-64. The road shirts underwent some revisions over the years, but the 1949-55 versions mirror the home versions perfectly.

The Fallout: UNH went back to playing like UNH, going 13-3 in 1953-54 and winning the Yankee Conference title both times. I feel like in the early days of the YC, teams' records fluctuated more because of the obvious lack of depth compared with the big boys, even the Ivy League schools. But then, Vermont never won a conference title and UConn won five in a row later in the decade, so what so I know?

Rhode Island Rams (1984-85)

Amazingly, I've never devoted a post to these guys, the last Rhode Island football teams to experience postseason play. In the vast field of weeds that has been Rams football over the last 50-60 years, the 1984-85 bunch, who went 20-6 and reached the NCAA I-AA (now FCS) Tournament twice, are the two magnificent roses to bloom from the crabgrass. Thanks to a big-armed quarterback, Rhody took its fans on a magical ride that old-timers likely still talk about today.

First, some quick backstory: In 1976, coach Bob Griffin took over a team that was low in wins (just two in 1975) and money, to the point that the school had considered canceling the program one year after Yankee Conference rival Vermont did the same thing. Instead, Rhody put its faith in Griffin, who rewarded the school and the fans with five teams that finished .500 or better from 1977-83, capped with a trip to the 1981 I-AA tourney.

But the fun was just beginning in Kingston.

Tom Ehrhardt "Ehrs" it out against Boston University and UMass in 1984.
All the photos here are from Rhody's Renaissance yearbook.

In 1984, a junior transfer from C.W. Post named Tom Ehrhardt arrived. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound gunslinger took his arm to Rhody because he like Griffin's pass-heavy offense, according to an article in the 2005 Rhody media guide (the source of much of the information for this piece). After a slow start, Ehrhardt put up numbers that stand out even in today's offense-heavy times — 410 yards and 5 TDs in a win over Brown, followed by 408 yards against UMass and 425 against Northeastern. Ehrhardt finished the season with 3,870 passing yards, which set a school single-season AND career mark, to go with 36 touchdowns. The only warts on his record were 20 interceptions (a little foreshadowing here). 

Ehrhardt's favorite target, tight end Brian Forster, caught 100 passes for 1,357 yards and 12 TDs, while wideout Dameon Reilly had "only" 58 catches for 902 yards, but a team-high 14 TDs. 

I'm not sure if Griffin ran the run-n-shoot (this was around the time the USFL's Houston Gamblers made it a chic offense), but those numbers are quite run-n-shooty.

Tom Ehrhardt and coach Bob Griffin talk strategy.
My guess is Griffin's saying, "throw the ball early and often."

Ehrhardt's name (trounced AIR-heart) was a field day for punny headline writers, who made copious references to Rhody's "Ehr-force," "Ehr-attack" ... you get it. 

In a loaded Yankee Conference race that featured three teams in the I-AA top 20, Rhody shared the league title with Boston University (each went 4-1 in YC play) and earned a first-round bye for the 12-team NCAA tourney.

After edging Richmond 23-17 in the quarterfinals, Rhody headed to Montana State (a national power then and now) for the semifinals. The Rams led 20-18 and were deep in Bobcat territory with five minutes left in the fourth quarter. Instead of running out the clock, Ehrhardt threw ... and Montana State's Joe Roberts intercepted the ball and ran it back for a pick-six in an eventual 32-20 Bobcat win. You can see the clip — with Eddie Robinson on commentary — and read more about the game here.

Just to show that Rhody did, indeed, run the ball on occasion,
here's Richard Kelley rushing at Northeastern in 1984.

Ehrhardt and pals were back for more in 1985, and they put up even more ridiculous numbers. OK, maybe Ehrhardt didn't make "people forget about Doug Flutie," as Rhody's Renaissance yearbook breathlessly claimed, but he still threw for 4,508 yards despite missing all of one game and most of another with a hip injury. Only two Rhody QBs, not including Ehrhardt, have ever thrown for more yards in an entire CAREER. He also threw for 42 TDs (only one other Rhody QB has thrown for more in a career), highlighted by eight scores and 566 passing yards in a 56-42 win over UConn to clinch the Yankee Conference title with a 5-0 mark. (No truth to the rumor a young Mike Leach was at the game taking notes.) The only bad thing? His 27 interceptions (cue ominous music). Forster caught 128 passes for 1,819 yards and 17 TDs; against Brown, he had 18 catches for 327 yards. About 20 years earlier, that would have been considered a good season.

The late Brian Forster after hauling down one of his 128 catches in '85.

Fellow tight end Tony DiMaggio makes a catch against Maine.
He finished the season with nine TD receptions.

In the first round of the NCAA tourney, Rhody defeated Akron 35-27 behind Ehrhardt's 43 completions (still a school record) for 472 yards and five TDs. But it all came crashing down in the quarterfinals a week later as Ehrhardt threw six interceptions in a 59-15 loss to Furman.

The graduation of Ehrhardt, who still holds 15 school passing records, marked not just the end of an amazing career, but a fun era for Rhody football; the Rams went 1-10 in each of the next two seasons and have had just five winning seasons since, not counting the spring 2021 COVID season. 

New England is a region where college football often plays second fiddle to the Patriots or the high schools. But once in a while, a Doug Flutie or a Ricky Santos or a Tom Ehrhardt will come around to capture the region's imagination. It would be nice if another "Ehr-attack" arrived to get fans talking again.

Bonus No. 1: Griffin, Ehrhardt and others talk about the vintage Rams here.

Bonus No. 2: Quite possibly the most 80s sports TV intro here.