Frank Champi (born 1948) is a former

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 ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

who played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. He is best known for entering the 1968 season finale against

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

halfway through the second quarter, with the team losing 0-22 and leading a stunning comeback that scored 16 points in the final 42 seconds, while saving the school's undefeated season with a 29–29 tie.

Early years

Champi attended Everett High School. As a junior, he was named the starter at quarterback. Although he originally committed verbally to

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, he opted to enroll at

instead, after Crimson quarterback Bobby Leo got involved in the recruiting effort.

College career

As a freshman in 1966, he played football on the

junior varsity team Junior varsity (often called "JV") players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition (such as any football, basketball, or baseball game), usually at the high school level–– and formerly at the collegiate level� ...

. As a sophomore in 1967, he was the fourth-string quarterback on the team. He also competed in the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

. As a junior in 1968, he was the backup

behind senior George Lalich. In the

season finale A season finale (British English: last in the series; Australian English: season final) is the final episode of a season of a television program. This is often the final episode to be produced for a few months or longer, and, as such, will try to ...

Harvard was unbeaten, but faced the

team that was undefeated, nationally ranked at 16th and heavily favored. About halfway through the second quarter, with Yale leading 22-0 and threatening to run away with the game, head coach John Yovicsin decided to substitute Lalich with Champi, who managed to lead the team to a 64-yard touchdown drive before halftime. Yovicsin returned Champi to the bench at the start of the second half, then reinserted him for the rest of the contest after a lackluster three play series by Lalich. Trailing 29–13 with 42 seconds remaining, he rallied the team to score 16 points. As a result, both schools shared the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

title and inspired the ''

Harvard Crimson The Harvard Crimson are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at ...

'' the next day to print the headline, " Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29". He finished the season with 11-of-27 completions (40.7%) for 128 yards, 4 touchdowns and no interceptions. As a senior in 1969, although he was named the starter at quarterback, he was being alternated with senior Dave Smith. He decided to leave the football team after the second game of the season against

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

. He posted 7-of-18 completions (38.9%) for 83 yards and no touchdowns. The team struggled with the quarterback play the rest of the year, falling to a fifth-place tie with a 3–6 record. He returned to practicing

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

and the

Personal life

In 1969, he appeared in the

Dating Game show Dating game shows are game shows that incorporates a variety of matchmaking systems and services in the form of a game with clear rules. Human matchmaking is involved only in selecting the game's contestants, who are usually selected more for the ...

with former Yale quarterback Brian Dowling. After college, Champi returned to Everett High School as a football backfield coach and teacher. He also enrolled in the

Harvard Graduate School of Education The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is the education school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1920, it was the first school to grant the EdD degree and the first Harvard school ...

and obtained a

Master of Arts in Teaching The Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) or Master of Science in Teaching (MST) degree is generally a pre-service degree that usually requires a minimum of 30 semester hours beyond the bachelor's degree. While the program often requires education c ...

. He later coached and taught at Everett, Lunenburg High School and Melrose High School. He ultimately was hired as a Senior Applications Engineer at

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

in the early 1980s.

References

External links

Frank Champi college stats

Unbeatens Met, And What Happened Beats All
{{DEFAULTSORT:Champi, Frank 1948 births Living people Sportspeople from Everett, Massachusetts Players of American football from Middlesex County, Massachusetts American football quarterbacks Harvard Crimson football players Harvard Crimson men's track and field athletes High school football coaches in Massachusetts