Liberty Cup
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The Liberty Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the college football game between
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
and Fordham University, two
National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
(NCAA) Division I football programs in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. The cup was awarded annually from 2002 to 2015, but the two teams have not met since then. The trophy was dedicated a year after the Columbia-Fordham game was postponed following the attacks of
September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
. At least 43 Columbia alumni and 39 Fordham alumni and students died at the
World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...
.Berkow, Ira. "Reflections on Making the Proper Decision Over Postponing a Game." ''The New York Times'' Sept. 12, 2002. They included two former Fordham football players, Nick Brandemarti, a member of the class of 2000, and Kevin Szocik, a 1997 graduate. Columbia ended the crosstown rivalry series after a run of losses in the 2010s.


Background

Columbia, based in
Upper Manhattan Upper Manhattan is the most northern region of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Its southern boundary has been variously defined, but some of the most common usages are 96th Street, the northern boundary of Central Park (110th Street), ...
, and Fordham, based in
The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, today represent two of the three Division I football teams in New York City;
Wagner College Wagner College is a private liberal arts college in Staten Island, New York City. Founded in 1883 and with an enrollment of approximately 2,200 students, Wagner is known for its academic program, The Wagner Plan for the Practical Liberal Arts. It ...
, on Staten Island, is the third. In the early days of college football, they were two of the three nationally prominent teams in New York City, with
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...
the third. Despite their proximity and long football histories, however, the schools met only three times in the 100 years up to 1990. The first matchup took place in 1890, and another followed in 1902. Both contests were lopsided shutout wins by Columbia. Columbia had been one of the first universities to sponsor a football team, and the Blue and White, along with other future
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 school ...
teams, were among the nation's leaders in the early decades of the 20th century. The two teams did not meet again for several decades, even after Fordham joined Columbia in the NCAA's "major" level, equivalent to today's Division I, in 1928. Aside from 1943–1945 hiatus due to
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, Fordham remained a major program until the 1954 season. It pursued a national schedule, however, rather than meeting "Ancient Eight" teams like Columbia. After a string of losing seasons both athletically and financially, Fordham folded its football program in 1954. A renewal of the rivalry became possible only in 1970, when Fordham reintroduced varsity football, at what is now known as the
Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...
level. Columbia, along with the rest of the Ivy League, still played at what is now known as the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Nonetheless, the Columbia scheduled Fordham in 1972 as a replacement for Buffalo which had temporarily terminated its football program. Like their previous two contests, the 1972 affair also ended in a lopsided shutout win for the Lions. Again, competing at different levels kept the schools from establishing a series. This changed in the 1980s. Columbia, along with the rest of the Ivy League, was relegated to the new Division I-AA (now known as
NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...
) after the 1981 season. Fordham moved up to I-AA prior to the 1989 season. This put the 1991 encounter between the two on a more even footing. Fordham won that fourth meeting by a 20-16 score. Columbia gained revenge in sweeping the next four contests, which were played in 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1996. After a brief hiatus, the two renewed their series in 2000, typically as Columbia's season opener and the third game on Fordham's schedule.


Origin Of the Liberty Cup

The 10th meeting between Fordham and Columbia originally was scheduled for September 15, 2001. In the days following the September 11, 2001 attacks,
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
, the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
and many NCAA Division I teams canceled games for the following weekend. But Fordham and Columbia — the only Division I football teams in New York City at the time — debated as late as Friday, September 14, about the possibility of playing. Fordham officials wanted to send a message about American resilience in the face of the attacks, but Columbia officials argued that it was too soon to think about playing a football game. "The question was, should we not play and mourn and honor our dead, or was normalcy in the face of this disaster the best response?" said the Rev. Joseph A. O'Hare, president of Fordham at that time. The schools decided against playing on Sept. 15, but later in the season agreed to meet on Thanksgiving morning, November 22. Fordham thumped Columbia 41-10 before a surprisingly ample crowd, considering the holiday and early start time. Afterward, O'Hare said it had been the right decision to reschedule. "Oh, absolutely," he said. "I think we had put sports in perspective – and we played great." Less than 10 months after that game, the underdog Lions gained their revenge, holding Fordham close for 59 minutes before winning with a 37-yard field goal with 10.5 seconds to play. This September 2002 matchup was the inaugural Liberty Cup game. The 13-11 victory was Columbia’s only win of the 2002 season; Fordham finished 10-3, gaining a share of the Patriot League title and reaching the quarterfinals of the
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.


Altar boy joke controversy

The
Columbia University Marching Band The Columbia University Marching Band (CUMB) was the marching band of Columbia University. Founded in 1904, it claimed to be the first college or university marching band in the United States to convert to a scramble band format, making the switc ...
drew protests from Fordham and Roman Catholics generally with an off-color double ''entendre'' reference to the priest abuse scandal during its halftime performance at the inaugural 2002 Liberty Cup game, when the Columbia band's self-appointed "
Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...
" read from a script over the stadium's public address system:
"As well as the Mets' season going up in smoke, Fordham tuition going down like an altar boy, and the Fordham football team with a threat rating of a cute, neon pink, the band now presents an all-star gala halftime salute to more Columbia news."
In reporting the incident, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', the
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, and most of the mainstream media found the reference to be too insensitive or offensive and refused to print it. Columbia President Lee C. Bollinger apologized for the band's remark. The author of the joke refused to apologize.Wakin, Daniel J. "Columbia U. Head Apologizes To Fordham Over Public Gibe." ''The New York Times'' Sept. 25, 2002.


Series history

The 2003 game was a thriller, with Fordham coming out on top in a wild 37-30 game.
Jerry Glanville Jerry Michael Glanville (born October 14, 1941) is an American football coach who is the head coach of the Alabama Airborne of Major League Football. He played football at Northern Michigan University in the early 1960s, and is a former NASCAR ...
was the color broadcaster for that game for TV as a part of the now-defunct Football Network. After CBS executives saw his work on that game, he was offered a chance to call an NFL game the following week, the Detroit LionsSan Diego Chargers game. Columbia took the 2006 meeting, 37-7, in the most lopsided result of the cup series until Fordham defeated Columbia 52-7 in 2013. The 2006 win was the Lions' second consecutive victory over Fordham, and made
Norries Wilson Norries Wilson is an American football coach and former player. He was the running backs coach of the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights football team, but was let go in 2015. He was the first African-American head football coach in the Ivy L ...
the first Columbia coach since Aldo T. "Buff" Donelli to win his debut. Fordham responded by winning eight of the next nine matchups.


Hiatus

In 2014, after Columbia concluded a second consecutive 0-10 season, Columbia President
Lee Bollinger Lee Carroll Bollinger (born April 30, 1946) is an American lawyer and educator who is serving as the 19th and current president of Columbia University, where he is also the Seth Low Professor of the University and a faculty member of Columbia La ...
commissioned former Boston University football head coach Rick Taylor to review the program. The following year, Taylor recommended Columbia improve its athletic facilities, increase salaries and discontinue the Fordham series. He based the recommendation partly on differences between 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 school ...
and the Patriot League: a later start to the season for Ivy teams like Columbia, and the ability to offer
athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United ...
s for Patriot teams like Fordham. "They should not play Fordham when Fordham has three games and scholarships under their belt," Taylor said. "I'd take Fordham on anytime in the middle of the season when I got games under my belt." Columbia did not schedule Fordham after 2015. "I would hope that some time in the next decade, Fordham comes back on the schedule," Taylor said. "Because that will prove that we were alright, and Columbia has succeeded." As of the 2021 season Columbia has yet to face Fordham again.


Pre-Liberty Cup results

Columbia held an 8-2 series lead, including meetings going back to the 19th century, before the Liberty Cup was dedicated:


Liberty Cup results

Fordham earned victories in the final six Liberty Cup contests, the longest win streak of all meetings with Columbia, giving the Rams a 10-4 Cup series lead: Following the most recent game in 2015, the overall series is tied, with both teams at 12 wins. Combining the 24 contests, Columbia outscored Fordham 527-494.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liberty Cup College football rivalry trophies in the United States Columbia Lions football Fordham Rams football Sports competitions in New York City Recurring sporting events established in 2002 2002 establishments in New York City