Penn Quakers (1982)

 In our last post, we looked at the 2002 Northeastern Huskies, a team picked to finish next-to-last in its league but wound up sharing a title. Today, we look at another team picked to be a dead-ended and became a front-runner instead: The 1982 Penn Quakers, who not just won the Ivy League title, but flipped the switch from toiling as one of college football's losingest programs to one of its finest.

Recent history had not been kind to Penn: The Quakers had gone 4-33-1 from 1978-81, capped by a 1-9 campaign under first-year coach Jerry Berndt in which they surrendered 324 points, the most in school history. No one expected anything to change in '82: Penthouse, that noted gridiron periodical, said Penn was "like a thoroughbred with four shattered legs; destroying it would be an act of kindness." Sports Illustrated (remember SI?) picked the Quakers to go 1-9 for a third straight year.

But on opening day, Penn crushed defending co-champion Dartmouth 21-0 for its first road win in five years, and the Quakers never looked back. And for a closer look ...

The media guide cover. Football at Pennsylvania 
was very, very good in 1982.

The Team: Penn finished the season 7-3 overall, 5-2 Ivy to share the title with Dartmouth and Harvard (the Quakers defeated the Crimson, too), only the second championship in Penn history and its first since 1959. A 23-0 season-ending loss to Cornell thwarted Penn's bid for an outright title. "It's nice," running back Steve Flacco said during the season, according to Richard Goldstein's Ivy League Autumns. "People say 'hi' to you now. Before, they were laughing behind your back."

It's celebration time as Penn clinches a share of the Ivy League title.

The Players: Flacco led the team with 466 yards rushing, while quarterback Gary Vera threw for 1,771 yards and 13 touchdowns. They were helped by first-team all-Ivy linemen John McInerney and Chris DiMaria. Mike Christiani (LB) and Dave Shulman (K) also make the first team, while Flacco, Jeff Schulte (TE, 25 catches, 6 TDs), Scott Boggio (DE), Dave Smith (DT), Matt Finn (LB) and Tim Chambers (DB) made the second team.

The Coach: Jerry Berndt, a Dartmouth assistant  for much of the 1970s, went 29-18-2 at Penn from 1981-85 -- half those losses were in '81 -- winning four Ivy titles along the way. He coached two Asa Bushnell Cup winners (Ivy player of the year) and 41 all-Ivy selections, 21 on the first team. Later stints at Rice and Temple proved not to be as fruitful, but his time at Penn ushered in a winning culture that has yet to subside.

"We’ll show ’em," Jerry Berndt told the Daily Pennsylvanian 
about the dire predictions for Penn in 1982. And he wasn't full off hot air.

The Uniforms: Berndt did more than instill a winning attitude at Penn; he installed some winning uniforms, as well. Berndt ditched the clunky, clashing style of 1979-80 and replaced it with something more streamlined. Navy blue was restored as the predominant color for the first since the mid-1960s; the classic "P" appeared on the helmets for the first time (sorta-kinda like what the Quakers wear now); and the ensemble was completed with sharp navy jerseys and white pants. I'm normally not crazy about the jersey number on a dark jersey being something other than white or a light color, but it works here. The Quakers wore this style, with a few alterations, into the 1990s.

The Fallout: Fallout? What fallout?!? Penn has been one of the dominant Ivy League teams for close to 40 years, and it all started with this bunch. The Quakers won three more Ancient Eight titles under Berndt from 1983-85, running the table in league play (7-0) in '84. As of this writing, Penn has won or shared 18 Ivy titles (tied with Dartmouth for the most) ... 17 since the 1982 team shocked the league.

Northeastern Huskies (2002)

I hate to drag the phrase "fake news" here, but let's face it: Preseason polls are generally "fake news." They're mostly based on how teams did last season, with no regard to who's returning, who's left, etc. Maybe it's because I'm steaming that my Black Bears were picked to finish ninth in the CAA preseason poll. (If Maine finishes ninth or lower in 2021, I promise to do a post on the worst team in Maine history, and I think I know which one it is, by far.)

OK, rant over. Let's look at a team that was picked to finish next-to-last in its league in August, and celebrated a league title in November: The 2002 Northeastern Huskies, the only championship team in the program's 77-year history.

The Team: Picked to finish 10th out of 11 teams in the Atlantic 10 (formerly Yankee Conference, now CAA), Northeastern shocked the league by going 10-3 overall, 7-2 in league play to share the A-10 title with defending co-champ Maine (which was picked second in the preseason poll). The Huskies shut out their first two opponents, including a 31-0 shellacking of I-A (FBS) Ohio U. The two league losses were to Delaware and William & Mary. (Oddly, Northeastern and Maine didn't play each other in '02 despite their geographic closeness.) The season ended with a 29-24 loss to Fordham in the NCAA I-AA (FCS) tournament, only the second postseason game in Northeastern's history and the first since a 27-6 loss to East Carolina in the 1963 Eastern Bowl.

The 2003 Northeastern media guide showcases
many of the stars from the '02 season.

The Players: Running back Tim Gale set a single-season school record with 16 touchdowns and tied another with 96 points and was named first-team all A-10, as was OL John McDonald. In the air, quarterback Shawn Brady (isn't that a character on Days of Our Lives?) threw 16 touchdown passes. Linebacker Liam Ezekiel set a school record with 145 tackles and one of three Huskies named all A-10 on defense, along with DL Steve Anzalone and DB Art Smith. Kicker Miro Kesic (first-team all A-10), scored 85 points, fifth most in school history. 

The Coach: I wrote about Don Brown in this post several months back. These days, he's the defensive coordinator at the University of Arizona. (Triviata: Brown started his career in 1978 as an assistant as Hartford (Vt.) High School, a couple TD passes from where I used to live, and was later defensive coordinator at Dartmouth College.)

A 2002 Northeastern program.

The Uniforms: After wearing some pretty ugly unis in 2001, Northeastern went to a look more reminiscent of what it wore in the 90s, with all black at home and all white on the road. The rather busy helmet logo from '01 remained. (The Huskies switched to a simpler block "N" in '04.) 

The Fallout: The 2003 Huskies were picked to win the A-10 (see what I mean about predictions based upon the previous year's results?), and Street & Smith (remember them?) had Northeastern No. 1 in the nation. While the Huskies failed to meet those lofty forecasts, they still finished 8-4 and were ranked Nos. 20 and 19 in the final polls while missing the NCAA tourney. Northeastern never had another winning record before the program was shut down in 2009.

UConn Huskies (1942)

Yikes ... and away.

Not too long ago, I posted the above 1942 photo on the Facebook page of an unnamed University of Connecticut player in suspended animation, possibly leaping for a football — or a catnip mouse. (The original came from this site, which I’d highly recommend to anyone with an interest in UConn or college football in general; it’s quite the rabbit hole.) Now let’s take a closer look at the ’42 Huskies …

The Team: UConn went 6-2, with the losses coming to Maryland and Wesleyan (?!?). The wins included future Yankee Conference rivals Maine, UMass and Rhode Island, with the rest coming against Middlebury, Springfield and Coast Guard.

The 1942  UConn team, gathering in practice uniforms
for a rather informal team photo.

The Players: There are two I want to single out: Six-five, 220-pound end Walt Dropo is easily one of this bigger legends (literally and figuratively) in Connecticut sports history. The Moose from Moosup, Connecticut was a star in football, basketball and baseball; according to his Wikipedia page, he was the the school’s all-time leading scorer in hoops and was a first-round draft pick of the 1947 BAA (NBA) Draft by the Providence Steamrollers. The Chicago Bears picked him in the ninth round of the ’46 NFL Draft. His brother, Milton, was a center for the Huskies’ football team.

The versatile Walt Dropo appears to be
pulling down a rebound in this 1942 Connecticut Campus pic.

But it was in baseball where Dropo made his mark, signing with the Boston Red Sox, where he took baseball by storm in 1950, leading the AL in RBIs and winning Rookie of the Year honors. In ’51, Dropo broke his wrist and was never the same player again. You can read more about his feats here.

The other player I want to note is guard Al Pinsky, who also doubled as sports editor of the Connecticut Campus, the school paper. Can you imagine him doing a post-game interview?

Al: “Hey quarterback, why’d you throw that interception in the fourth quarter?”

QB: “Because you missed your blocking assignment and I had to hurry my throw, you jabroni.”

Al Pinksy was pretty versatile in his own right.

The Coach: Joseph Orlean “J.O.” Christian guided the Huskies from 1934-49, going 66-51-4; he is second behind only Randy Edsall on UConn’s all-time win list. He also coached the baseball team from 1936-61, going 254-170-7 with a pair of College World Series appearances (the baseball field is named in his honor). After his coaching days, Christian was commissioner of the Yankee Conference from 1966-71.

The Uniforms: UConn wore just one jersey that season, but mixed it up with multiple helmets and pants. The white shirts are very distinctive, with navy shoulder panels and three stripes at the very end of the sleeves. The Huskies wore white and navy helmets, while the pants alternated between navy and what appears to be a sandy color. The socks feature a striped pattern similar to the jersey sleeves.

The Fallout: Thanks to World War II, UConn did not field a team in ’43, but came back in ‘44 to go 7-1 in each of the next two seasons; the ’44 bunch outscored its foes 152-13.

Colby Mules (1972)

These days, I live about 20 minutes from Waterville, Maine, and Colby College, which, according to the townsfolk, is either singlehandedly leading the revival of downtown Waterville or is "that place on the hill" singlehandedly taking over the city, whether the residents like it or not.

One thing everyone can agree on is this: Colby is not known for football (well, outside of Baltimore Ravens GM Eric DeCosta). From 1962-78, the Mules had only one winning record and have had but two since 2000. Today, we're going to look at the 1972 bunch -- the lone winner in that aforementioned 17-year span. (I should eventually profile the 2000 team that shared the NESCAC title, which is kinda like Columbia winning the Ivy League or Rhody taking the CAA.) More importantly, the '72 Mules answer a question that has been on America's minds for decades: What if you mashed up the Baltimore Colts unis with those of the Detroit Lions?

About five years ago, I profiled the 1962 team that resembled the latter-day Baltimore/early Indianapolis Colts.

Colby players were full of joy in 1972.

The Team: Colby went 7-1, the Mules' best record since the 1940 bunch went undefeated (6-0-1), and their most wins since 1909 (7-0). Colby outscored its opponents 222-150; toss out a 49-0 loss to Hobart, and the margin is 222-101.

The Players: The leader of this team was sophomore Peter Gorniewicz, who set school records with 1,170 rushing yards, 15 touchdowns and 90 points scored. He finished his career with 4,114 yards, which apparently was a New England record at one point. QB Brian Cone, who was named team MVP, handed the ball off to Gorniewicz and also kicked field goals. Cornerback Aubrey Moore led the team in interceptions with four.

The Coach: Dick McGee guided the Mules from 1967-78, going 29-64 (the '72 team was his best, by far), and also was athletic director from 1974-87. He also did quite a bit for community sports in central Maine, as you can read here in this excellent tribute following his death in 2015 (and I'm not just saying that because I work for the Central Maine papers! 😎).

Colby players take in the action, 1973.

The Uniforms: Now, time to answer that question America was debating in '72. The result? Not bad. The blue seems to be a little darker than that used by the Lions or Colts (side rant: I've never liked the term "Honolulu blue" to describe the Lions' jerseys), but it works well. The horseshoe on the silver helmet doesn't look too much out of place; I found it odd only upon first sight. The striping, names and number fonts and pure Champion all the way, very similar to what Boston College had in the 70s. Interesting that the Mules wore names on the back; most teams (at least around New England) still eschewed the practice at this point in time.

True fact: The Maine Legislature outlawed
live animal mascots in the 1960s.

The Aftermath: Gorniewicz had another big season in '73, but the Mules fell to 1-7 and didn't  had another winning season until 1979.

(The bulk of the info on this team, plus the pictures, came from this excellent article from The Colby Alumnus, Fall 1972. Check it out.)

A headline from the Colby Echo describes Colby's lone
win of the '73 season, over Bates. So much for academic schools
having more intelligent humor.

Delaware, Bryant, Merrimack, Sacred Heart (2020-21)

I have procrastinated enough! Time to get the last four teams of spring 2021 out of the way before the fall 2021 season starts.

If you don't think times are a-changin', just check out Delaware's uniforms. In eight games, the Hens wore five different styles -- and not once did they wear the traditional blue shirt-yellow pants combo. I'll admit to liking the Color Rush-esque all-back uniform, but I'd limit it to once a year. (Delaware wore it twice this spring.) 

As for the three NEC teams that played this spring (Central Connecticut, like the Ivy League, sat out), no one made any significant changes from 2019. Bryant stuck with the black pants during its limited slate (the Bulldogs also wore gold and white pants in '19), Merrimack wore the same combo from '19 and NEC champion Sacred Heart (the Pioneers actually finished second, but beat Duquesne in the title game for the NCAA FCS tourney berth) squeezed in four styles in five games after using seven designs in 2019.

Princeton Tigers (1960)

In my post on the 1960 Yale team, I promised a follow-up on the Princeton squad from that year. So without further ado …

The Team: Princeton went 7-2 overall and 6-1 in Ivy League play, dropping only the season opener to Rutgers (when the Knights were a glorified FCS team) and Yale. The Tigers outscored their opponents 232-133, and the defense delivered three shutouts.

You know it's old-school football when a players
is listed as a "wingback."

The Players: End Jim Blair and tailback Hugh Scott were all-Ivy first-team selections. Scott ran for 760 yards and five TDs, and also threw for 367 yards and five scores. (As noted in the last post, Princeton ran a single-wing offense, where it wasn’t unusual for running backs to throw for a few yards here and run for a few yards there.) Another running back, the wonderfully named John “Silky” Sullivan, ran for 695 yards and five TDs and was a second-team all-Ivy selection. Tackle Stan Baldwin and guard Matt Tobriner also made the second team.

John "Jack" "Silky" Sullivan can't slip through a swarm of
Yale defenders on Nov. 12, 1960. The Tigers fell to the Bulldogs, 43-22,
for its only Ivy League loss that year,

The Coach: Dick Colman guided the Tigers from 1957-68, going 75-33 overall and 61-23 in Ivy play with four Ancient Eight championships. According to Wikipedia, he was the last mayor coach to employ the single wing, which was retired by his successor, Jake McCandless. He was indicted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1990.

Dick Colman gets a victory ride after the Tigers' 
season-ending 7-0 win over Dartmouth.

The Uniforms: I have written about these before, and they are classics. Orange helmet with numbers on the side, black jerseys with oodles of orange stripes and gray pants. If you wanted even more stripes, the socks were happy to oblige. 

 

The Aftermath: Princeton slipped to 5-4 each of the next two seasons before winning three out of four Ivy titles from 1963-66, with a second-place finish in ’65. After leaving Princeton, Colman was the athletic director at Middlebury College in Vermont from 1969-77.

Yale Bulldogs (1960)

I was wandering through a place calming to be Maine’s largest antique store (and frankly, I believe it; three LONG floors, plus an extra building next door) when I came across this:

A Princeton-Yale program from November 12, 1960, just days after former Harvard freshman footballer Jack Kennedy was elected president.

Alas, my scanner is on the fritz, so I can’t scan in the goodies from this 118-page beauty, but here are some of the highlights:

• A guide to the Yale Bowl that includes concession prices. Cokes were 15 cents, “pop corn” (yes, two words) 20 cents, hamburgers 35 cents. What, no avocado toast?!
• Depth charts and offensive formations. Yale used the double wing-T, Princeton the single wing, which was grossly outdated by 1960, but the Tigers still made it work.  
• Profiles of former Yale coach T.A.D. Jones and Princeton mentor Charlie Caldwell, complete with full-page team photos and results of each of their teams of yore (so the 1948 team has its own page with a team photo, scores and paragraph summary).
• And, since it’s the Ivy League, a profile of former Princeton (and U.S.) president Woodrow Wilson. Wonder if he ever called any plays to the sidelines. 

The information on past Yale teams is a real treat.

As for the game itself, Yale took a 43-22 decision (a wild score in those days) in front of 62,528 at the Yale Bowl in a battle of Ivy League unbeatens. I doubt Yale draws that much for a whole season unless Harvard comes to town. 

And now, a closer look at Yale. We’ll get to Princeton next time:

The Team: Yale went 9-0, outscoring its foes 253-73, to roll to the Ivy League title. The Bulldogs finished No. 14 in the AP poll and No. 18 in the coaches poll. I doubt Yale was one of college football’s 40 best teams that year, but the pollsters liked to put a token Ivy team in there. Yale also earned a share of the Lambert-Meadowlands trophy (symbolic of Eastern supremacy, meant a big deal then, but zilch now) with Navy.

The Players: Five of the all-Ivy eleven come from Yale: Mike Pyle (tackle), Ben Balme (guard), Hardy Will (center; great name), Tom Singleton (back) and Bob Blanchard (back). Back Ken Wolfe was on the second team. And the listing doesn’t differentiate between halfbacks, fullbacks, quarterbacks, H-backs or sore backs; they’re just listed as backs. Anyway, Singleton was the quarterback and accounted for 14 TDs (nine through the air, five on the ground) and Blanchard ran for 540 yards and eight TDs. Wolfe was the leading receiver with 18 catches (!) and four TDs.

Whether running or passing, Tom Singleton (right)
was always doing something. This is from the Yale Daily News'
photo spread commemorating the Bulldogs' season-ending won over 
Harvard, and the only time they wore their road jerseys that year.
All of Yale's other games were played at home.

Bob Blanchard works his magic against Princeton.

The Coach: Jordan Olivar went 111-63-8 at Villanova, Loyola Marymount and Yale and was 61-32-6 with the Bulldogs. The 1960 team was his second and final team to win the Ivy league and finish nationally ranked.

The Uniform: A little different than the classic look adopted later in the decade. The helmet has a number in lieu of the “Y” and the home jerseys have either gray or white stripes (photos  from that year show both). The road whites mirror the homes, only in reverse. 

The Aftermath: Yale tumbled to 4-5 in 1961 and 2-5-2 in ’62 before Olivar stepped aside (or maybe was pushed?) in favor of John Pont, who lasted only two years before he left for Indiana and took the Hoosiers to the Rose Bowl (yes, I just used “Indiana" and “Rose Bowl” in the same sentence).

Another cool program bonus: An All-Ivy, All-Decade team
covering 1950-59.

Colgate, Holy Cross (Spring 2021)

And we sloooowly make our way through the uniforms of Spring 2021 with a couple Patriot League schools. Like the last two efforts at spring football (AAF, XFL 2.0), not everyone completed their seasons.

New-to-us Colgate played two games before calling it a day because of COVID-19 concerns. The Raiders' Under Armour unis have some really small numbers on the front and shoulders. The jersey fronts also have an Under Armour logo, a "COLGATE" wordmark, a Patriot League logo and a small shield that looks more at home on a soccer kit. Actually, the shield represents "Colgate’s 13 founders with 13 dollars, 13 articles and 13 prayers," according to the release from last fall announcing the Raiders' new athletics identity. The familiar "'gate" logo remains on the helmet.

Holy Cross had itself a nice little season, capturing its second straight Patriot League title before falling in the first round of the NCAA FCS tournament. Like Maine, the Crusaders donned four different style in four games. While the purple home shirts remained the same from fall, 2019, the roads feature a new wordmark and number font. (I'll be up front, my attempt at this font sucks and I'll try to improve it down the road.) Holy Cross wore both purple and white helmets (those white helmets should be worn full-time, honestly), and thankfully the black and gray and god-knows-what-else alternates from the recent past were cast aside.

Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island (Spring 2021)

College football, spring-style, is winding down, and for some teams, it wound down almost as soon as it started up. Here's the first look at the region's uniforms for the truncated season:

Maine won two games, lost two games and had ZERO COVID-19 cases, but its season ended early anyway when COVID forced New Hampshire and Rhode Island, Maine's last two opponents, to shut down. But the Black Bears managed to squeeze in four uniform styles in four games. Maine wore new jerseys with a smaller wordmark and a vintage Tennessee Titans-style number font (yay!) and also wore new helmets with a logo on one side and a number on the other (boo!). The pants remained the same from last year (by "last year," of course, I mean 2019).

New Hampshire played one game, a win over Albany, then called it a day after several weeks of postponements and cancelations. The Widcats did show off a new home jersey with a traditional number font, which matches the road version they started wearing in 2018.

The good news for Rhode Island? The Rams got off to a 2-1 start and cracked the FCS Top 25 polls. The bad news? That was the whole season, thanks to COVID issues. But Rhody did enjoy its second winning season out of three, a pretty fair accomplishment for a long- woebegone program, and defeated a pretty good Villanova team to open the season. After unveiling new white and light blue jerseys in 2019, the Rams added a matching navy jersey to the rotation this spring. Note the complete absence of light blue trim on the shirt.

Colgate Raiders (1977)

Colgate, you ask? Yes, it’s my first post on the (Red) Raiders, after I saw a request in the comments section a while back and I figured, well, why not. While I should probably start with the awesome 2003 team that reached the I-AA (FCS) title game, I’ll go back a little further with the 1977 bunch, which was no pushover, either.

The Team: The Raiders went 10-1 playing mostly against Yankee Conference, Ivy League and future Patriot League foes. This was during the time period after college football split from “University” (big-time) and “College’ (not-so-big-time) into divisions I, II and III, but before the creation of I-AA/FCS in 1978. Colgate, for whatever reason, was considered D-I, even though its schedule was closer to the lower levels than the Alabamas of the world (Colgate joined I-AA in 1982.). Nonetheless, the Raiders roared out to a 10-0 start and squeaked into the really-real D-I national rankings at No. 20 before a season-ending 21-3 loss at D-II Delaware. The Raiders outscored their foes 380-217, an average of 34.5 points per game (pretty impressive in the grind-it-out ’70s).

A couple shots from Colgate's season-opening 23-0 win over Rutgers,
which the school yearbook treats on a level usually reserved for a New Year's Day
bowl win. Check out this student quote: "I just didn't go to any classes. I've spent
all my time trying to send negative waves down to Rutgers."

The Players: Nice of Wikipedia to include stats for this team. These guys (Colgate, not Wikipedia) did it through the air and on the ground. Quarterback Rob Relph threw for 2,178 yards and 20 TDs, running back Henry White ran for 1,032 yards and 5 TDs (and was an AP All-American honorable mention) and receiver Dick Slenker caught 44 passes for 782 yards and 7 TDs. Doug Curtis made 116 tackles and Gary Hartwig registered six sacks.

The Coach: Frederick Dunlap wet 77-49-3 at the Gate from 1976-87 after an 11-year stint at Lehigh (49-62-2). Overall his career record was 126-111-5.

A nice close-up of the Colgate home uniform.

The Uniform: According to the Helmet Project, 1977 marked the debut of the iconic “’gate” logo the Raiders use to this day, with a few breaks here and there. The ’77 helmets and jerseys were maroon; the shirts are very similar to what Maine and Dartmouth wore in other eras. The pants were gray with a thick maroon stripe down the side, again, like 1980s Maine or the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The classic 'gate logo, in all its glory.

The Aftermath: Colgate remained a strong team for the most part under Dunlap, reaching the I-AA tournament in 1982 and ’83 and finishing in the NCAA I-AA top 10 rankings both years. After a run of down years in the ‘90s, Colgate turned to Dick Biddle, who coached the Raiders to the I-AA title game in 2003, which I might have to write about one of these days.

Fairfield Stags (1998)

A glance at this blog's stats reveals that a years-old post on Fairfield's short-lived program recently generated a bunch of hits (well, a bunch of hits by this blog's rather modest standards), so let's take a look at the Stags' high point: The 1998 bunch that shared the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title.

The Team: In just its third year as a varsity program, Fairfield (just outside of Bridgeport, Conn.) went 9-2 overall, 6-1 in the MAAC (not to be confused with the Mid-American Conference or the Middle Atlantic Conference) to share the title with Georgetown, which Fairfield beat 24-17 in the regular season. The MAAC, which had eight or nine teams depending on your source (what is this, 1898?), almost resembles a football ghost town; only three of its teams in '98 (Georgetown, Marist, Duquesne) still have football in 2021. The MAAC ended its sponsorship of football after the 2007 season.

The Stags outscored their opponents 346-131, and the defense served up three shoutouts while allowing just 27 points over Fairfield's last six games. On Oct. 3 at Duquesne, Fairfield scored 14 points in the last 8:26 of regulation to defeat the Dukes in overtime, 23-20, on a QB sneak by Jim Lopusznick. A 48-0 thrashing of winless Saint Peter's on Nov. 14 gave the Stags a share of the MAAC crown. Alas, the non-scholarship MAAC did not have an automatic bid for the NCAA I-AA (now FCS) tournament, so Fairfield was shut out of the postseason.

The Players: Lopusznick threw for 27 touchdowns, ran for six more and was named MAAC player of the year. The junior also was the baseball team's center fielder. Teammates Marvin Royal (RB), Eric Wise (WR), Ben Harvey (OL), Steve Krines (DL) and Chris Silvestri (DB) were named all-MAAC, and Kevin Keisel was named co-coach of the year.

Fairfield quarterback Jim Lopusznick accounted for 33 TDs
and was the MAAC player of the year. This picture comes form the archives
of the Fairfield Manor student paper.

The Coach: Keisel coached Fairfield from 1996-2000, going 34-17, then left for Division II Millersville (Pa.; perhaps Keisel knew something was up at Fairfield?), going 15-27. He also coached at D-III Albright and Guilford; his career record is 88-93-1.

A 1998 photo of, er, #6 (or it that Mr. 6?) in action  
from the 1999 Fairfield yearbook.
I guess nobody had a roster handy.

The Uniform: Until the program's last couple years, Fairfield had the same standard uniform: White helmet with "STAGS" on the sides and red, white and black stripes down the middle; plain red jerseys with black trim; and white pants. The '98 jerseys had a teeny-tiny "COLLEGE FOOTBALL USA" patch just below the V-neck; the logo also was used on one of my favorite football video games of all time.

The Aftermath: The Stags went 9-2 again in '99 and 8-2 in 2000, when Keisel left after the season. Fairfield went 5-5 in 2001 and 5-6 in '02, and that was it for the Stags, who dropped football and men's ice hockey at the end of the school year. This article from 2009 sheds some light on the demise of the football program.

Delaware Blue Hens (1968)

 

Let's pull another random team from a random season of the helmet, shall we?

1968 Delaware. A good team from a program that hardly lacked in good teams.

The Team: Following a 2-7 disaster in 1967, Delaware bounced back in '68 with an 8-3 mark, 5-0 in the Middle Atlantic Conference's (aka the "other" MAC) University Division. The Blue Hens capped their season with a thrilling 31-24 win over Indiana -- the other Indiana, the one in Pennsylvania -- on Dec. 14 in the inaugural Boardwalk Bowl in Atlantic City, N.J., Down 24-23 in the final minute, the Hens marched downfield thanks to four straight passes in the game's final 45 seconds by QB Tom DiMuzio, known more for his running than his passing. With 15 seconds left, DiMuzio hit split end Ron Withelder with an 11-yard strike for the winning score. (And hey, you can watch the game here and here ... except for the winning score. Perhaps not coincidentally, the video was posted by Indiana. 😎) Delaware outscored its foes 319-180, and finished 15th in the final College Division rankings.

Delaware QB Tom DiMuzio pitches ...

... and Ron Withelder catches the winning TD in the Boardwalk Bowl.
Both pictures are from The Review newspaper.

For the record, the University Division consisted of Delaware, a few future Patriot League teams (Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell), a couple of lower-level teams (West Chester, Gettysburg), Hofstra and Temple. 

Delaware and UMass face off in 1968, a 28-23 win
for the Blue Hens.

The Players: Middle linebacker John Favero was an AP Little All-American honorable mention, and was named to the all-ECAC and all-MAC teams. Running back Chuck Hall (1,019 yards rushing) earned dual all-star honors, and teammates Pete Cornelius, Conway Hayman, Dick Kelley, Yancy Phillips, Jim Scelba and Hank Vollendorf also were named all-MAC. Kicker Jeff Lippincott's 23 PATs set a school record. 

The Coach: Harold R. "Tubby" Raymond (1926-2017) is one of the true titans of non-FCS football, going 300-119-3 from from 1966-2001, winning three national titles (2 NCAA College Division, 1 NCAA D-II) along the way. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

Tubby Raymond delivers. the marching orders
to lineman Conway Hayman, an all-conference selection in '68.

He continued to use the Delaware Wing-T offense established by his predecessor, David Nelson, into the 2000s, long after most other schools had moved on to a pro-style attack. Hey, if it ain't broke ...

The Uniform: ... Don't fix it, right? The Hens' unis are virtually identical to what they wore in 1958, 1978, 1998 ... So much in college football changed, but the Wing-T and the unis didn't go anywhere for decades. The winged helmet, also established by Nelson, is still around today, although the jerseys and pants are far more flashy. 

I've probably mentioned this before, but check out the little "D" stencil on the socks, a staple of Delaware unis into the 1970s.

The Aftermath: It was more of the same for Delaware in 1969, when it went 9-2, (6-0 MAC) and won another Boardwalk Bowl. The Hens also won Boardwalk Bowls in 1970 and '71, then chickened out of the 1972 game against UMass.