The 1961 Lehigh Engineers football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented Lehigh University during the

1961 NCAA College Division football season The 1961 NCAA College Division football season was the sixth season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the NCAA College Division level. Conference standings Rankings Small col ...

. Despite not winning either of its two conferences, Lehigh was awarded the

Lambert Cup The Lambert Trophy is an annual award given to the best team in the East in Division I FBS (formerly I-A) college football. In affiliation with the Metropolitan New York Football Writers (founded 1935), the Lambert Trophy was established by brother ...

as the best small-college football team in the East. In their 16th year under head coach

William Leckonby William Bader Leckonby (September 16, 1917 – October 22, 2007) was an American football player, coach of football and golf, and college athletics administrator. He played college football at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York and from ...

, the Engineers compiled a 7–2 record. Michael Semcheski was the team captain. In conference play, Lehigh's 3–2 record against opponents in the Middle Atlantic Conference, University Division, secured a tie with

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

, and placed them behind Rutgers (4–0) and Bucknell (5–2). The Engineers went 1–1 against the Middle Three, losing to Rutgers and beating Lafayette. The Engineers were a sporadic entry on the national small-college rankings. Lehigh was rated No. 9, with one first-place vote, in the October 5 AP poll, but dropped out of the top 10 the next week. The team returned to the AP rankings on November 9, at No. 8, before rising the next week to No. 6, its eventual year-end ranking. The season's first UPI coaches poll did not place Lehigh in the top 20, though the Engineers made it to No. 19 for two weeks in October before returning for good in mid-November. Following the rivalry victory over Lafayette, Lehigh climbed to a final ranking of No. 11 in the coaches poll. In both polls, Lehigh ended up the top-ranked team in the geographic area covered by the Lambert awards. Rutgers, which defeated Lehigh and won both conferences, was considered a "major" university and not eligible for the Lambert Cup. Of the eight members of the Lambert selection committee, seven listed Lehigh as their No. 1 choice, with the eighth listing it as No. 2. As the winners of the inaugural small-college Lambert Cup in 1957, Lehigh became the first college to receive the award twice. Lehigh played its home games at

Taylor Stadium Ralph and Debbie Taylor Stadium at Simmons Field (also Taylor Stadium at Simmons Field) is a baseball stadium at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. It is the home field of the Missouri Tigers baseball. It was also the home of th ...

on the university campus in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

Schedule

References

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Lehigh Lehigh may refer to: Places United States *Lehigh, Iowa *Lehigh, Kansas *Lehigh, Oklahoma *Lehigh, Barbour County, West Virginia *Lehigh, Wisconsin *Lehigh Acres, Florida *Lehigh Township (disambiguation) *Lehigh Valley, a region in eastern Penns ...

Lehigh Mountain Hawks football seasons

Lehigh Engineers football The Lehigh Mountain Hawks football program represents Lehigh University in college football. Lehigh competes as the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision level as members of the Patriot League. The Mountain Hawks play their home games ...