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60th Anniversary of the 1961 Ivy League Football Champions
10/15/2021 6:21:00 PM | Football
Great Columbia Teams: 1961 Ivy League ChampionsVideo: 1961 Columbia Lions1961 Statistics & Results (PDF)Story on 1961 Lions
The Saga of 61: Columbia Wins Ivy League Championship in 1961; Columbia Football to honor 1961 team by wearing Light Blue jerseys and helmet numerals in tomorrow’s Homecoming game vs. Penn.
This story and memories are reprinted from Columbia's 1986 Homecoming Game Program, which celebrated the 25-year anniversary of the 1961 Ivy League championship team. Article based on the research of Richard F. Dawson '87CC, an undergraduate intern in the Columbia Sports Information Office. This story appears on page 34 and 35 of tomorrow's game day program.
NEW YORK—The fall of 1961 was an exciting one in the world. There was the Berlin crisis, matching President John F. Kennedy and Russia's Nikita Khruschev, and the U.S. Army in Katanga. On the playing fields, all eyes were on Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle of the Yankees. Both were on target for Babe Ruth's 60 home runs; would either get it? Jack Nicklaus was the favorite to win the U.S. Amateur Championship, while still an undergraduate at Ohio State, and the antics of a frantic, scrambling rookie quarterback named Fran Tarkenton were making not only his Minnesota Vikings teammates, but the whole NFL sit up and take notice.
The football picture closer to home was strictly status quo, however. Several writers picked Dartmouth to win the Ivy League, while 55 writers and broadcasters tabbed Yale to repeat as Ivy champions, with Cornell the second choice. Columbia was picked for only sixth, despite four votes for the top spot.
Columbia 50, Brown 0
Few were prepared for the Brown blastoff when Columbia scored the most points in its Ivy League history by beating Brown 50-0 in Providence. They scored their first touchdown just minutes into the game, following a three-yard punt, then added two more for a 22-0 first quarter lead. Senior Russell Warren scored three touchdowns to make Ivy Back of the Week, one on a 5-yard run, one on a 44-yard pass from Tommy Vasell, and one on a 26-yard return after Lee Black had blocked a punt. Fellow running back Tom Haggerty also had two touchdowns, and the writers went wild.
"Columbia played as if the title was on the line," wrote one New York Times man, while another wrote a few weeks later, "nothing…has been quite so eye-popping as the 50-0 victory. It's nothing less than colossal."
Princeton 30, Columbia 20
It appeared that Columbia's chance of beating Princeton for the first time since 1945 looked good, but the Lions disappointed the home folks in their Baker Field opener by relinquishing 14-0 and 20-15 leads to fall, 30-20.
More than 23,000 Homecoming fans were on hand in the old wooden stadium, but they were unable to rally the Lions. Tom O'Connor had given Columbia the lead with two early touchdowns, one of 47 yards, and Russ Warren scored again to make it 20-15, but Princeton roared back behind quarterback Jim Rockenback, who passed for two touchdowns and ran for another, and tailback Greg Riley, who ran 87 yards for the clinching score.
As sports writer Stanley Woodward of the New York Herald Tribune wrote, "But soft, what baleful light o'er yonder Hudson breaks. It is those damned Princetonians and they're in again. Before the first period was over, they had scored, and before the day was over—though militantly pushed around by our sturdy force—they had feloniously stolen the game."
Columbia 11, Yale 0
From the frying pan into the fire was Columbia's plight. Still smarting from the Princeton game, they had to tackle undefeated (through 11 games) Yale, the defending Ivy League champs. But the Lions were more than equal to the task, scoring a second period touchdown and getting a late field goal, while the defense gave the Elis their first shutout since 1958.
Al Butts, a sophomore making his first start, scored on a 4-yard slant, and then set up a field goal with a pass interception at the Lions' 38. Butts also intercepted another pass, and was voted Ivy Back of the Week, while guard Tony Day, who had a key fumble recovery, made the All-East Team. As manager Larry Devore wrote in the official game report, "It was quite a day for Columbia."
Columbia 26, Harvard 14
It was a fitting homecoming for the Massachusetts boys. Tom Haggerty scored two touchdowns, Tom O'Connor and Russ Warren had one each as the Light Blue scored 20 second quarter points and held on for the win. The trio outgained the entire Harvard team, 236 yards to 158, and Warren even foiled a late Crimson threat when he used his speed to deflect a lateral and recover it. The New York Times thought so much of Columbia's win, they noted it ahead of Kelso, the wonder horse, in their Sunday front-page headlines.
Columbia 35, Cornell 7
After a 14-7 upset by a huge Lehigh team, Columbia rebounded once again to blast the Big Red. "Haggerty's running was worth the price of admission," Devore's report said, and he may have been right.
Despite a muddy field and pouring ran—Cornell had no artificial turf in those days—Haggerty rushed for 148 yards in 15 carries, netting two touchdowns on runs of 64 and 47 yards, plus an 84-yard return to set a school scoring record and Ivy League rushing mark.
Columbia 35, Dartmouth 14
That set up the big one, for the loser would be eliminated from the title chase. And Columbia came out roaring again, outrushing Dartmouth 268-87, and outscoring the Green, 21-6 in the second half. End Dick Hassan scored twice, on a reception and a blocked punt, and Tom Haggerty set another record with 32 carries for 132 yards. Tony Day had the punt block, and guard Ed Yuska recovered a fumble to setup a score.
"The Ivy League picture has a Light Blue hue," Joe Trimble wrote in the Daily News; "Columbia Leads Ivy" headlined the Journal-American in giant letters; and Devore, as usual, summed it up best: "Columbia completely outclassed the opposition before a crowd of 25,106, the biggest crowd in years. It was a tremendous win for Columbia—its football team, and its school."
Columbia 37, Penn 6
The Ivy-tie clincher was decided by halftime, with Columbia owning a 23-0 halftime lead. Haggerty, Warren, and quarterback Tom Vasell all scored touchdowns, O'Connor kicked a field goal, sub quarterback Dick Sakala ran a 40-yard bootleg for a score, and center Lee Black capped it by catching a blocked punt in mid-air and taking it in.
Rutgers 32, Columbia 19
It was a dream game with a nightmare finish. Columbia, which finished in a tie for the Ivy title when Harvard beat Princeton on the same day, against undefeated Rutgers, with the Lambert Cup, emblematic of Eastern grid supremacy, at stake.
And it looked perfect when Columbia took a 19-7 lead after three quarters on O'Connor's field goal and touchdowns by Buzz Congram (a 12-yard pass that first bounced off the hands of Columbia tackle Ed Little, who was eligible on the play) and Mike Hassan (a 32-yard pass interception). But the Lions were ailing and exhausted. They proved powerless as the Scarlet Knights scored 25 fourth period points to gain the victory.
The Lions had lost their finale (at the hands of Rutgers coach John Bateman, the 1937 Columbia co-captain, no less), but the season was truly a success. Manager Devore had no comment on the final game, save for the weather. "A beautiful day," he called it.
It was also a beautiful year.
WHAT WAS YOUR FONDEST MEMORY OF THE SEASON?
Bob Asack, T
"Defeating an unbeaten Yale the week after a tough loss to Princeton."
Lee Black, C
"Completing what the team had set out to do freshman year, and being selected All-Ivy."
Al Butts, B
"The camaraderie."
Bill Campbell, G
"The two 80-yard drives in the second half of the Dartmouth game which really sealed the championship."
Tony Day, G
"Beating Dartmouth! And Tom Haggerty's three touchdowns in the mud at Cornell."
Len DeFiore, B
"Stopping Dartmouth on fourth down and 1-yard to go on our 20-yard line to preserve the early lead."
Larry Devore, Team Manager
"Beating Dartmouth, which showed the squad they were an excellent team…Dick Sakala's bootleg touchdown against Penn…Russ Warren giving 200 percent every day and every game…Buff Donelli taking a drink from his special water bucket ladle and then flipping it (unintentionally) over the managers five times a game."
Aldo T. "Buff" Donelli, Head Coach
"The willingness to make the sacrifices and the will to win; we just happened to have that. They seemed to make the plays they had to win."
Tom Haggerty, HB
"Grinding it out on Bob Blackman…Cornell and RAIN."
Harry Hersch, HB
"Being in the best physical shape of my life due to the special workouts arranged by Al Paul."
Richard Knopf, HB
"Russ Warren's performance against Princeton—the greatest athletic effort I have seen during my lifetime."
Ed Little, T
"Winning after two years of frustration…Buff Donelli telling me that the Princeton team would either pass or run on first down—this was a particularly tough time for Coach Donelli, I guess.
Joe Nozzolio, FB
"The Cornell game with Tom Haggerty running wild in the mud, and my making an appearance before a 'hometown' crowd…The Rutgers game."
Joe O'Donnell, G
"The people."
Al Paul, OL Coach
"I didn't have any strong feelings about the 1961 season until late in the fall of 1960. Then I became very enthusiastic. The highlights to me were the Harvard and Dartmouth games. In the 26-14 win over Harvard, we ran and ran and ran…end runs with the guards leading."
Dick Sakala, QB
"The closeness, the friendships, the camaraderie of a very special, determined group of men."
Don Savini, Assistant Coach
"Being associated with a winner."
Tom Vasell, QB
"The 35-14 win over Dartmouth, a must-win. The crowd at Baker Field had to be one of the largest since the forties. They were given a real treat by the resounding victory."
Russ Warren, HB
"The best: defeating Dartmouth…The worst: losing to Princeton."
Ron Williams, WR
"Being able to make the Columbia football program respectable."
NEW YORK—The fall of 1961 was an exciting one in the world. There was the Berlin crisis, matching President John F. Kennedy and Russia's Nikita Khruschev, and the U.S. Army in Katanga. On the playing fields, all eyes were on Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle of the Yankees. Both were on target for Babe Ruth's 60 home runs; would either get it? Jack Nicklaus was the favorite to win the U.S. Amateur Championship, while still an undergraduate at Ohio State, and the antics of a frantic, scrambling rookie quarterback named Fran Tarkenton were making not only his Minnesota Vikings teammates, but the whole NFL sit up and take notice.
The football picture closer to home was strictly status quo, however. Several writers picked Dartmouth to win the Ivy League, while 55 writers and broadcasters tabbed Yale to repeat as Ivy champions, with Cornell the second choice. Columbia was picked for only sixth, despite four votes for the top spot.
Columbia 50, Brown 0
Few were prepared for the Brown blastoff when Columbia scored the most points in its Ivy League history by beating Brown 50-0 in Providence. They scored their first touchdown just minutes into the game, following a three-yard punt, then added two more for a 22-0 first quarter lead. Senior Russell Warren scored three touchdowns to make Ivy Back of the Week, one on a 5-yard run, one on a 44-yard pass from Tommy Vasell, and one on a 26-yard return after Lee Black had blocked a punt. Fellow running back Tom Haggerty also had two touchdowns, and the writers went wild.
"Columbia played as if the title was on the line," wrote one New York Times man, while another wrote a few weeks later, "nothing…has been quite so eye-popping as the 50-0 victory. It's nothing less than colossal."
Princeton 30, Columbia 20
It appeared that Columbia's chance of beating Princeton for the first time since 1945 looked good, but the Lions disappointed the home folks in their Baker Field opener by relinquishing 14-0 and 20-15 leads to fall, 30-20.
More than 23,000 Homecoming fans were on hand in the old wooden stadium, but they were unable to rally the Lions. Tom O'Connor had given Columbia the lead with two early touchdowns, one of 47 yards, and Russ Warren scored again to make it 20-15, but Princeton roared back behind quarterback Jim Rockenback, who passed for two touchdowns and ran for another, and tailback Greg Riley, who ran 87 yards for the clinching score.
As sports writer Stanley Woodward of the New York Herald Tribune wrote, "But soft, what baleful light o'er yonder Hudson breaks. It is those damned Princetonians and they're in again. Before the first period was over, they had scored, and before the day was over—though militantly pushed around by our sturdy force—they had feloniously stolen the game."
Columbia 11, Yale 0
From the frying pan into the fire was Columbia's plight. Still smarting from the Princeton game, they had to tackle undefeated (through 11 games) Yale, the defending Ivy League champs. But the Lions were more than equal to the task, scoring a second period touchdown and getting a late field goal, while the defense gave the Elis their first shutout since 1958.
Al Butts, a sophomore making his first start, scored on a 4-yard slant, and then set up a field goal with a pass interception at the Lions' 38. Butts also intercepted another pass, and was voted Ivy Back of the Week, while guard Tony Day, who had a key fumble recovery, made the All-East Team. As manager Larry Devore wrote in the official game report, "It was quite a day for Columbia."
Columbia 26, Harvard 14
It was a fitting homecoming for the Massachusetts boys. Tom Haggerty scored two touchdowns, Tom O'Connor and Russ Warren had one each as the Light Blue scored 20 second quarter points and held on for the win. The trio outgained the entire Harvard team, 236 yards to 158, and Warren even foiled a late Crimson threat when he used his speed to deflect a lateral and recover it. The New York Times thought so much of Columbia's win, they noted it ahead of Kelso, the wonder horse, in their Sunday front-page headlines.
Columbia 35, Cornell 7
After a 14-7 upset by a huge Lehigh team, Columbia rebounded once again to blast the Big Red. "Haggerty's running was worth the price of admission," Devore's report said, and he may have been right.
Despite a muddy field and pouring ran—Cornell had no artificial turf in those days—Haggerty rushed for 148 yards in 15 carries, netting two touchdowns on runs of 64 and 47 yards, plus an 84-yard return to set a school scoring record and Ivy League rushing mark.
Columbia 35, Dartmouth 14
That set up the big one, for the loser would be eliminated from the title chase. And Columbia came out roaring again, outrushing Dartmouth 268-87, and outscoring the Green, 21-6 in the second half. End Dick Hassan scored twice, on a reception and a blocked punt, and Tom Haggerty set another record with 32 carries for 132 yards. Tony Day had the punt block, and guard Ed Yuska recovered a fumble to setup a score.
"The Ivy League picture has a Light Blue hue," Joe Trimble wrote in the Daily News; "Columbia Leads Ivy" headlined the Journal-American in giant letters; and Devore, as usual, summed it up best: "Columbia completely outclassed the opposition before a crowd of 25,106, the biggest crowd in years. It was a tremendous win for Columbia—its football team, and its school."
Columbia 37, Penn 6
The Ivy-tie clincher was decided by halftime, with Columbia owning a 23-0 halftime lead. Haggerty, Warren, and quarterback Tom Vasell all scored touchdowns, O'Connor kicked a field goal, sub quarterback Dick Sakala ran a 40-yard bootleg for a score, and center Lee Black capped it by catching a blocked punt in mid-air and taking it in.
Rutgers 32, Columbia 19
It was a dream game with a nightmare finish. Columbia, which finished in a tie for the Ivy title when Harvard beat Princeton on the same day, against undefeated Rutgers, with the Lambert Cup, emblematic of Eastern grid supremacy, at stake.
And it looked perfect when Columbia took a 19-7 lead after three quarters on O'Connor's field goal and touchdowns by Buzz Congram (a 12-yard pass that first bounced off the hands of Columbia tackle Ed Little, who was eligible on the play) and Mike Hassan (a 32-yard pass interception). But the Lions were ailing and exhausted. They proved powerless as the Scarlet Knights scored 25 fourth period points to gain the victory.
The Lions had lost their finale (at the hands of Rutgers coach John Bateman, the 1937 Columbia co-captain, no less), but the season was truly a success. Manager Devore had no comment on the final game, save for the weather. "A beautiful day," he called it.
It was also a beautiful year.
WHAT WAS YOUR FONDEST MEMORY OF THE SEASON?
Bob Asack, T
"Defeating an unbeaten Yale the week after a tough loss to Princeton."
Lee Black, C
"Completing what the team had set out to do freshman year, and being selected All-Ivy."
Al Butts, B
"The camaraderie."
Bill Campbell, G
"The two 80-yard drives in the second half of the Dartmouth game which really sealed the championship."
Tony Day, G
"Beating Dartmouth! And Tom Haggerty's three touchdowns in the mud at Cornell."
Len DeFiore, B
"Stopping Dartmouth on fourth down and 1-yard to go on our 20-yard line to preserve the early lead."
Larry Devore, Team Manager
"Beating Dartmouth, which showed the squad they were an excellent team…Dick Sakala's bootleg touchdown against Penn…Russ Warren giving 200 percent every day and every game…Buff Donelli taking a drink from his special water bucket ladle and then flipping it (unintentionally) over the managers five times a game."
Aldo T. "Buff" Donelli, Head Coach
"The willingness to make the sacrifices and the will to win; we just happened to have that. They seemed to make the plays they had to win."
Tom Haggerty, HB
"Grinding it out on Bob Blackman…Cornell and RAIN."
Harry Hersch, HB
"Being in the best physical shape of my life due to the special workouts arranged by Al Paul."
Richard Knopf, HB
"Russ Warren's performance against Princeton—the greatest athletic effort I have seen during my lifetime."
Ed Little, T
"Winning after two years of frustration…Buff Donelli telling me that the Princeton team would either pass or run on first down—this was a particularly tough time for Coach Donelli, I guess.
Joe Nozzolio, FB
"The Cornell game with Tom Haggerty running wild in the mud, and my making an appearance before a 'hometown' crowd…The Rutgers game."
Joe O'Donnell, G
"The people."
Al Paul, OL Coach
"I didn't have any strong feelings about the 1961 season until late in the fall of 1960. Then I became very enthusiastic. The highlights to me were the Harvard and Dartmouth games. In the 26-14 win over Harvard, we ran and ran and ran…end runs with the guards leading."
Dick Sakala, QB
"The closeness, the friendships, the camaraderie of a very special, determined group of men."
Don Savini, Assistant Coach
"Being associated with a winner."
Tom Vasell, QB
"The 35-14 win over Dartmouth, a must-win. The crowd at Baker Field had to be one of the largest since the forties. They were given a real treat by the resounding victory."
Russ Warren, HB
"The best: defeating Dartmouth…The worst: losing to Princeton."
Ron Williams, WR
"Being able to make the Columbia football program respectable."
Highlights: FB | Columbia 29, Cornell 12
Saturday, November 22
Preview: FB | Coach Poppe - Week 10 | Presented by Amity Hall Uptown
Friday, November 21
Podcast: FB | Captains' Corner (S7, E10)
Thursday, November 20
Postgame: FB | Coach Poppe after Brown
Saturday, November 15
