Day 65: Optimal Option

Welcome to Camp Cavanaugh!

Just a reminder that Ivy League Media Day is this August 11th, (26 days away), and it will be a teleconference instead of a face-to-face event at the Yale Golf Club.

Over the past two years, there has been a live online broadcast of the event, but I’m not sure that will happen this year.

The big news we all like to see on media day is the release of the preseason Ivy poll by the members of the media. I will try to get and post that list as soon as it’s released.

Mike Cavanaugh (1996)

Technically, Mike Cavanaugh was a quarterback, and while he was never a subpar passer, it was his prowess as a runner that made him so memorable at Columbia.

His efforts in 1994 were the single biggest factor in delivering the Lions their first winning season in 23 years.

Cavanaugh was a star QB at Bishop Foley High School in Troy, Michigan, but then head coach Ray Tellier wanted to put the 6′ 195-pounder at wide receiver.

In his sophomore season, an injury to Chad Andrzejewksi (1994) thrust Cavanaugh into the emergency starter role and he paid some benefits immediately with two TD’s in a win over Cornell at Ithaca.

Mike also returned punts that season!

In ’94 he and passing QB Jamie Schwalbe (1994) shuttled at QB, and most weeks it really worked.

It started working big time in week two against Lehigh. Cavanaugh finished with 110 yards on just nine carries, including TD runs of 50 and 27 yards.

The game ended in a 28-28 tie when Lehigh blocked what would have been the winning PAT.

The following week Cavanaugh was even more spectacular, rushing for 188 yards on 12 carries with TD runs of 33 and 24 yards.

Columbia won again the following week at Fordham on the strength of a key 24-yard TD run by Cavanaugh.

By then, the Ivy League was sitting up and taking notice, and Cavanaugh’s chances to run started to get squeezed. But he still made the most of his attempts and finished 1994 with 622 yards on 108 carries for a 5.8 yards per carry and six TD’s.

Because he was not a pure QB or running back, Cavanaugh didn’t even make honorable mention All Ivy, still one of the most stinging omissions for Columbia fans to accept, even after all this time.

Cavanaugh moved effortlessly into the single QB system in 1995 after Schwalbe graduated.

He had the Columbia offense humming with a 22-point per game average and plenty of passing to compliment his running.

The highlight of 1995 came against Penn, as Cavanaugh scored a long running TD to spark a 24-14 win.

Two weeks later against Yale in a heavy rain storm, he calmly squeezed 21 points out of his Lion mates in a 21-7 win.

Then came the horrific leg break against Princeton, and Columbia’s march to a potential Ivy title came to an abrupt end.

Because he missed the last 3 1/2 games, Cavanaugh was relegated to the Honorable Mention All Ivy team, another real snub that still hurts.

Mike is currently spending some time this summer coaching at a free youth summer football camp run by his father and many of his other relatives who all played collegiate football (including his brother John ’01, who played at Columbia).

Day 67: MVP Jackson & a Quickie Scouting Report

Doug Jackson entered the Bristol Hall of Fame in 2006

A lot of us are trying to find out what we can about week two first-time opponent Central Connecticut State.

But it doesn’t take long to figure out that the Blue Devils are all about running the football.

CCSU ran the ball about 50 times a game last year compared to just about 18 pass attempts per game.

The big ball carrier is rising senior James Mallory, who had 1,520 yards rushing last year, 15 TD’s and a 5.3 yards per carry average.

Despite the ball control offense, the Blue Devil defense was not entirely dominant. CCSU gave up about 210 yards passing per game and 19 TD passes in 2008.

It’s impossible to truly gauge just how good Central Connecticut is compared to Columbia’s Ivy opponents. But it seems like the Blue Devils will be a tougher challenge than teams like Iona or Marist were for the Lions in recent years.

Doug Jackson 1976

I have Connecticut on my mind today, so I thought I’d focus on one of Columbia’s best ever Connecticut products, Doug Jackson out of Bristol.

Columbia’s first-ever Bushnell Cup, (Ivy Player of the Year), winner didn’t exactly come out of nowhere, but he really had a breakout season as a senior in 1975. Before that super year, Jackson hadn’t been one of the team rushing leaders.

Jackson powered for 914 yards on 174 carries for a 5.3 yards per carry average. He also scored 10 TD’s.

His two best games were against Harvard where he had 179 yards in a close loss to the Crimson, and then later in the season when he had 194 yards in a win over Penn. That performance helped the Lions avoid the cellar and clinched the MVP award for Jackson, who also ended up with spots on the All Ivy, All-East, All-ECAC and All-American teams.

Jackson got a chance in the NFL as a back-up/practice squad player for four years with the Cowboys and Giants.

After his playing days, Jackson coached as an assistant at Penn and then back at Columbia before going back to the high school coaching ranks.

Day 72: Chris Riga

Riga started for 3 head coaches – Naso, Garrett, and MacElreavy

I’ve written a lot about Matt Sodl ’88 on this blog over the years, making a point to admire his fortitude after going 0-30 as a varsity player despite excellent play week in and week out.

But a man who went through the same kind of test with similar overall results despite stellar play was Chris Riga ’87.

The Westfield, MA, native came to Columbia in 1983 and after an impressive freshman campaign at linebacker and offensive guard, he caught the eye of head coach Bob Naso before the 1984 season and was starting a few games by the end of that year.

In 1985, under new head coach Jim Garrett, Riga had a stand out junior year. He collected 105 tackles and recovered four fumbles. But the Lions stumbled through a rough year, going 0-10 and coming close to victory in just one game, (a 13-10 loss to Bucknell).

When Larry MacElreavy took over as yet another head coach in 1986, he could see that Riga was the team leader and he was indeed elected captain of the squad.

’86 turned out to be another 0-10 season, but Riga made Honorable Mention All Ivy and proved he could stay focused and motivated throughout all the setbacks.

After Columbia, Riga became a decorated officer in the U.S. Army.

His contributions to his country and Alma Mater are very appreciated.

Day 73: Chris Carey

Chris Carey in 2001

Just a little bit of news again today before we continue with the countdown:

1) The real recruiting highlight of the year is just two days away. Columbia’s football camp for high school students is at Wien Stadium this Friday and Saturday. A big number of incoming freshmen started participating in these camps when Coach Wilson came to Columbia. This is where we find and truly test our future stars.

2) Two big questions on two other Ivy teams are still unanswered. Harvard to LSU and then back to Harvard QB Andrew Hatch is still not on the roster for the Crimson. With 73 days until kickoff, one has wonder when the cutoff date would be for someone who has already been back on campus for months.

The other big transfer, Stanford’s Fred Craig, is still expected to join the Penn Quakers, but his name is also not yet on Penn’s roster. I will keep checking.

3) One thing I neglected to mention about Dartmouth yesterday is that the Big Green are pushing back the start times for most of their home games to 1:30 pm. This might allow me to stay home on the Friday night before the game and then hit the road at about 6:30 am on game day. It’s another night at home, which is nice…but it also means returning home at about 10:00 or 10:30 on Saturday night. I’ll have to weigh this one as will some of the CU fans who plan to make the trip in week 6.

Captain Carey

It seems like linebackers have become a font for underclassmen captains at Columbia in recent years. First Rory Wilfork in 1995, then Drew Quinn in 2007, and in between them we had middle linebacker Chris Carey ’04 who was elected captain for both 2002 and then 2003.

Carey was a shoo-in for the job after recording 102 tackles in his sophomore year, third-highest in the league for 2001. 80 of those stops came when he posted double figures in six consecutive games against Lafayette, Penn, Dartmouth, Yale, Harvard, and Cornell.

Carey came to Columbia from New Jersey’s Pingry School, and he had a lot of Ivy football pedigree from day one.

Carey’s grandfather Bill attended Columbia and commuted from Connecticut for classes. His uncle Max was a star cornerback and kick returner for the Lions, setting several records as a returner in the mid- to late-1960s.

Carey’s father, Chris Sr., wrestled for Princeton in the 1970s.

Carey was a big part of the exciting 2003 season for the Lions, but only for half of it. A concussion kept him out of the lineup for the second half of the season. But before that, he was a big contributor in the heart-stopping 33-27 Hail Mary win over Princeton at Princeton Stadium. That had to be a mixed emotional night for the family.

Something tells me that game is Carey’s No. 1 college football memory.

But I could be wrong.

Day 74: Manhattan Transfer

Coach Galen Snyder

First off today, make sure you check out the GoColumbiaLions.com Web site and see the “splash page” that hawks football season tickets.

The page features a good shot of QB Millie Olawale, Roar-EE, and some students in full light blue body paint. (By the way, I never did the full body paint thing…but you have to respect the kids who do, as long as they are indeed below the age of 30 and 250 or so pounds).

Today’s memorable linebacker I’d like to recognize is Galen Snyder ’91, who came to Columbia as a transfer from Duke University. During the first two seasons of head coach Ray Tellier’s tenure, Snyder was the anchor of the defense and showed signs of being a good motivator and future coach.

The Lions won only two games in Snyder’s two varsity seasons of 1989 and 1990, but Snyder had so many standout games that he was named to the All-Ivy second team in ’89 and the first team in 1990.

Unbelievable tackle totals were Snyder’s calling card.

In a 27-12 loss to Bucknell at Wien Stadium in 1989, Snyder was a part of an incredible 35 tackles. No, that’s not a misprint, it was 35 tackles in one game!

In a close loss at Penn in 1990, Snyder had 18 tackles.

Snyder was elected team captain before that 1990 season, and he has continued that legacy as a team leader. Snyder currently is the head football coach at his alma mater of Pennsbury High School outside of Philadelphia.

None of Coach Snyder’s recent grads are playing ball in the Ivies, but there must be no hard feelings at Bucknell over his efforts in the 1989 game because one of his players is now with the Bison.

Day 82 and an Otis Family Moment

Jim Otis strikes a pose

I switched to Verizon FIOS earlier this summer and I really love the service and the channel choices.

One of those new choices is The Big Ten Network and the channel was playing the classic 1969 Ohio State-Michigan game yesterday.

One of the stars of that game was Buckeye fullback Jim Otis, father of great Columbia QB Jeff Otis ’05.

Ohio State famously lost that game, but Otis had a great day rushing for 144 yards on 28 carries, one of them for a TD.

During Jeff’s career at Columbia, Jim was often seen at Wien Stadium on football Saturdays.

He even gave a great interview to the YES Network during the 2003 game against Harvard which the Lions won on an Otis-to-Zach Van Zant TD pass.

The elder Otis became an All-American and a good running back for the St. Louis Cardinals for a few years.

Steve Cargile in 2003

Player of the Day, Day 82: Steve Cargile ’04

One of the players on that 2003 team was defensive back Steve Cargile, who switched positions to help the team midway through his college career and ended up finding a place in the NFL.

Cargile came to Columbia as a wide receiver from the Cleveland area and did quite well in that role through his junior year.

Then Head Coach Ray Tellier decided to encourage Cargile to switch to defensive back, and he turned in a stellar 2003 season which landed him on the All Ivy second team.

More importantly, Cargile stood out so much in his new role, the NFL took notice. Everyone agrees Cargile would never have been recognized by the pro scouts had he stayed at wide receiver.

Many Columbia fans last saw Cargile sitting with another Columbia graduate turned NFL player Marcellus Wiley 1997, at this year’s spring game.

He has spent the last year or so on the Giants practice roster, but is still hoping to get into the action at the Meadowlands sometime soon.

Gregory, Crawford, and Prosper

Ted Gregory Today

Day 85: Ted Gregory ’74

The Middletown, Ohio man came to Columbia in 1970 as a wide receiver who many thought wasn’t big or strong enough to make an impact.

Then, Head Coach Frank Navarro switched him to the defensive side of the ball and by the time he was done, Gregory would have put in a career that would later earn him a spot on the Ivy League Football 25th Anniversary All-Time team.

Gregory made opposing teams crazy in the secondary and as a kick returner. He started his Ivy League career with a bang in his first Ivy League game against Princeton in 1971. In a game Columbia eventually won, Gregory intercepted Tiger QB Rod Plummer and went 56 yards for the TD to make it 13-7.

Gregory finished that season as an Honorable Mention All Ivy, but he was a first Teamer in both his junior and senior seasons of 1972 and 1973.

Gregory remains very close to the Columbia program and was my guest for a great interview during halftime of the Lafayette game last season.

 

Star of Two Prides: Tad Crawford as a BC Lion

Day 84: Tad Crawford ’07

The Ontario native broke into the lineup right away as a freshman and played in all 10 games in 2003.

Then in each of his next three seasons, he ended up as the Lions’ top tackler for the year. His biggest impact came in his senior campaign of 2006 when he also came in third in the Ivies for tackles. He was also a very steady punt returner, bringing stability to a position that had been more than a little shaky in the season before he got the job.

Now Tad is in the middle of his third season in the Canadian Football League, going from the Columbia Lions to the British Columbia Lions. In 2007, he had an outstanding rookie season with BC after being selected by the Lions in the third round of the CFL Draft. He wound up with nine defensive tackles, one sack and a fumble recovery.

Last year Tad avoided the sophomore jinx, recording 11 defensive tackles while adding another 12 on special teams. His highlight game of the season came against Edmonton on Aug 8th when he grabbed his first career interception and a blocked punt which resulted in a TD by teammate Rick Foley.

 

Day 83: Prosper Nwokocha ’06

Originally, Nwokocha wanted to follow his brother Chuck and play for Harvard. But he settled on coming to Columbia and he ended up as one of the best corners and kick returners in CU history.

Harvard would come to really regret not grabbing Prosper in 2003, when his two interceptions sealed a shocking 16-13 win over the Crimson at a windy Wien Stadium.

My second favorite memory of Prosper was his kickoff return for a touchdown that turned things around in a 23-17 win over Fordham in 2005.

Nwokocha now works in Dallas as a personal banker at Bank of America.

 

Day 87: UNH & Chris Tillotson

Will the Lions roam to the Granite State?

Bruce Wood of Big Green Alert is reporting that Columbia is one of the schools the University of New Hampshire is considering replacing Dartmouth with on its schedule after this year.

Taking on a team that has recently beaten BCS clubs like Northwestern sounds pretty scary… but it also could be fun.

And if we add UNH to the schedule, a scholarship-strength Fordham team won’t look so scary anymore!

Chris Tillotson

Getting back to the “100 Players in 100 Days” countdown, I continue my look at notable Columbia defensive backs with the spotlight today on Chris Tillotson ’99.

Chris was recruited first as a wide receiver, but he first started getting his feet wet helping out the great defense on the 1996 team that went 8-2.

In 1997 he earned honorable mention All Ivy honors, mostly because of his efforts at defensive back, but he also stepped in at wide receiver from time to time and scored some key touchdowns.

Tillotson’s 1998 senior season didn’t start out great, as he was suspended for the first two games, but he made up for it with stellar play the rest of the way.

It all came to an impressive crescendo against Cornell on November 14, 1998 when Tillotson almost singlehandedly defeated the Big Red in a 22-10 Columbia victory.

Tillotson finished the game with two interceptions, a 25-yard reception to set up one field goal, a cagy 12-yard punt return to set up another, a 17-yard game on a reverse, and a 70-yard return of a fumble recovery for the game-icing touchdown.

Tillotson finished the season as a first time All Ivy member, an impressive feat for someone benched for the first two games of a 10-game season.

Day 89: Lou Kusserow

Lou Kusserow (CREDIT: Columbia Athletics)

As I continue my look at memorable defensive backs in Columbia history, many of you may be surprised to see Lou Kusserow ’49 on this part of the list rather than among the running backs.

Kusserow may actually be the best running back in Lions history, but I want to focus on his amazing career as a pass defender this time. He was a key part of the Columbia defense in his time and he did it in the era when the players played offense and defense.

Kusserow was one of those rare players in the old days who was able to play varsity football all four years because of the war exception that was kept in effect until 1949 or so. (QB Gene Rossides was another one of those players). And because he stood out so much on both sides of the ball an argument could be made that he was the greatest football player in Columbia history.

Here are some of the more interesting records and tidbits from Kusserow’s Lion career as a defensive back:

1) He still holds the Columbia record for most interceptions in one game with four. He did it in a 27-13 win over Yale in 1945. Kusserow is tied with three other Ivy players for that single game record, but he was the last to accomplish the four-pick feat, (Paul Busse of Princeton did it also against Yale in November of 1940).

2) He’s tied with Phillip Murray ’03 for the all-time Lion career interception record at 16. That ties him for fourth on the Ivy career list. (Princeton’s Dean Cain, of acting fame, holds the record at 22).

3) He made what was perhaps the most significant interception in Columbia history, the pick off that iced the historic 21-20 win over Army in 1947. (He also rushed for a TD in that game).

4) During his four years roaming the secondary, Columbia’s opponents averaged just 15.8 points per game. The Lion “D” allowed 30 or more points just 5 times in that 36-game stretch.

5) It was as a defensive back that Kusserow became a star in the Canadian Football League. He is still remembered fondly by Hamilton Tiger Cat fans who talk about the plays he made to help preserve a Grey Cup title.

6) He was also a great kick returner, and still holds the record for the longest kickoff return in Columbia history, a 100-yarder against Dartmouth in a 26-21 loss in Hanover.

In fact, a possibly apocryphal, but fun story about Kusserow involves his kick returning prowess. It goes something like this:

Before his first game, Lou Little warned Kusserow not to try to run back kick-offs if they went over the goal line, but to down the ball in the end zone.

The opening kick-off went to Kusserow over the goal line. Lou fumbled, recovered, fumbled again, grabbed the ball and started to run.

On the bench, Little sprang to his feet, his face red with anger. “Get that fool kid out of there!” he yelled to his assistant. Kusserow had reached his own ten-yard line and seemed trapped by a host of tacklers. Somehow, he squirmed away and wasn’t caught until he had reached the enemy eight-yard line.

Little stuck out a hand to stop his assistant from carrying out the instruction he had just given.

“Let the kid stay in,” Lou Little growled. “After all, he’s only seventeen years old. You wouldn’t want to shake his self-confidence, would you?”

After his playing days, Kusserow, like Columbia basketball great Chet Forte, became a pioneer of sports television. He won three emmys and produced several Super Bowl and World Series broadcasts.

Lou Kusserow died in 2001 at age 73. He was inducted into the Columbia Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006.

Columbia’s Bill Wazevich: An All-Time Great

Bill Wazevich never joined Marty Domres in the NFL…but he should have

DAY 96: Bill Wazevich

No discussion of wide receivers in Columbia history should exclude Bill Wazevich ’70.

Wazevich was QB Marty Domres’ favorite target for two seasons, but he was much more than just a small cog in a combo.

Wazevich caught forty five passes for 593 yards in 1967. In his varsity career he caught 102 passes for 1,336 yards, then an Ivy League record. His 214 receiving yards against Princeton in 1967, still is a Columbia record and was an Ivy League record at the time. That game was a heartbreaking loss, as it came during Columbia’s long losing streak to the Tigers that stretched from 1946 until 1971.

The Ohio native then made the jump to the NFL. He got signed by the Cleveland Browns and put up a hell of a fight to get a slot on the team before he was finally cut. 

Here’s a fantastic local newspaper piece about Wazevich’s struggle to make the Browns that I recently found.

Wazevich went into finance instead, becoming a vice president at Merrill Lynch.

In 2002, he died before his time, at age fifty four. When I interviewed Domres during the 2007 season, Marty said Wazevich’s death was still too new, painful, and raw to talk about.

It’s easier to talk about what he did as a student, athlete and an alum. He excelled at all of those roles. 

After football, he still had a career in sports. He was a very well-respected high school basketball official for boys’ and girls’ games. He worked district and regional tournaments and officiated in three state tournaments in Ohio.

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