Grabbing Your A10tion

Fordham Rams

Location: Bronx, N.Y.
Founded: 1841
Enrollment: 8430
Nickname: Rams
Colors: Maroon and White
President: Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J.
Director of Athletics: Francis X. McLaughlin
Joined the A-10: 1996
Driving distance from Charlotte: 637 miles
Website: www.fordhamsports.com
Sports in which the 49ers and Rams will compete: Baseball, Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball, Men's Cross-Country, Women's Cross-Country, Men's Golf, Men's Soccer, Women's Soccer, Softball, Men's Tennis, Women's Tennis, Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field, Volleyball
Other Sports: Football, Women's Rowing, Men's Squash, Men's and Women's Swimming
Recent League Titles: 2005 softball regular-season champions, snapping Massachusetts' 13-year reign as regular-season champions.

1.) Elder Statesman... Fordham competes in the oldest Division I gym in the country. The Rose Hill Gymnasium (3,470) opened on January 16, 1925 in a game between Fordham and Boston College. The Rams won, 46-16. The gym was the largest on-campus facility at the time earning the nickname "The Prairie" because of its ample floor space. The original configuration had no end zone stands and a capacity of 2,100. One of the legendary games played at Rose Hill Gym was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's final high school game. The 1988 Tolentine-Archbishop Molloy Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) championship game played at Rose Hill Gym was billed by New York Newsday as the best high school game of the 1980's.

2.) Watch your mouth... Why the Ram? The answer is from a team cheer, the first organized Fordham cheer. On a spring afternoon in 1883, the Fordham nine (baseball) were playing against the United States Military Academy at West Point. The students began cheering: one-Dam, two-Dam, three-Dam..FORDHAM! The cheer was an immediate hit with the students. However as the story is told, Jesuit faculty felt the cheer was not in keeping with the image of Fordham gentlemen. Unwilling to give up the cheer entirely, the students found "RAM" a suitable rhyme for "dam".

3.) Faith... Fordham University, founded in 1841, was the first Catholic institution of higher learning in the northeast. One of 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the nation, Fordham has one of the largest on-campus Jesuit populations. "Jesuit education is based on the fundamental values of academic excellence, leadership, service and faith." - Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. In addition to Fordham, three other schools in the Atlantic 10, Xavier, Saint Joseph's and Saint Louis are Jesuit institutions.

4.) Famous faces abound... Fordham University has a host of famous alumni. Alan Alda, Denzel Washington, Captain Kangaroo, Wellington Mara (New York Giants President), Vin Scully, P.J. Carlesimo, Geraldine Ferraro and legendary coach Vince Lombardi.

5.) They Ring The Bell, too... Much like the 49ers' Victory Bell, one of Fordham's proudest traditions occurs after every Rams victory in any sport. A bell located in front of the gym is rung after every win.

6.) Culture like none other in the World... The New York Botanical Gardens and the Wildlife Conservation Society, more commonly known as The Bronx Zoo are adjacent to the Rose Hill campus. The Lincoln Center campus has as its next-door neighbor the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the most famous park in the world, Central Park. The world's largest fish market, the South Street Seaport, offers history, good food and great shopping to all who visit.

7.) Campus Choice... There are four campuses for Fordham University: Lincoln Center, Tarrytown, Matymount and Rose Hill. Rose Hill, Fordham's original campus, is located in the north Bronx adjacent to New York Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo. Rose Hill is the largest "green campus" in New York City. The campus buildings depict Gothic architecture while the streets are paved in cobblestone. A number of films including the Ali McGraw-Ryan O'Neal movie "Love Story" and Robert Redford's "Quiz Show" have been filmed on the Rose Hill campus. Tarrytown overlooks the Hudson River and Fordham took over operation of Marymount College, an all-women's liberal arts college, in 2003.

8.) New York, it's my kind of town... Students can hop on a Ram Van for only $2.00 and take a quick ride into Manhattan (and the Lincoln Center campus) for some of the best shopping in the world. For the dreamers, there is Barney's New York, Bergdorf Goodman and the beautiful blue box of Tiffany & Co. on Fifth Ave. Of course, there are the standards: The Gap can be found, it seems (Madison, E. 23rd, Broadway and more), at nearly every corner. If your taste is more eclectic, the Soho district offers something more. From Agnes B. to Betsey Johnson to Cynthia Rowley to Kate Spade, you can find the funky and fun in Soho.

9.) Best eating close to campus... Fordham is located right next to the Little Italy section of the Bronx. Pasquale Rigolettos, which comes highly recommended, is located at 2311 Arthur Ave. Other eateries offering the finest in Italian on Arthur Ave include Dominick's Restaurant and Emilia's Restaurant.

10.) Vince Lombardi ... Legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi accepted nothing less than perfection from his teams. Under Lombardi, the Packers collected six division titles, five NFL championships and two Super Bowls (I and II) and acquired a record of 89-29-4. Lombardi was inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1971. That same year, the Super Bowl trophy was renamed the Vince Lombardi Super Bowl Trophy in his honor. His passion for the game of football was instilled in him at Fordham University where he enrolled in 1933. After a year on the freshman team, varsity football coach "Sleepy" Jim Crawley (a Knute Rockne protégé) made the 170-pound Lombardi a guard on the defensive line, which was tagged the "Seven Blocks of Granite." "If you'll not settle for anything less than your best, you will be amazed at what you can accomplish in your lives."

11.) The Reign is Over ... Fordham's softball team won the 2005 A-10 Regular-Season Championship, breaking UMass' 13-year reign over A-10 Softball.

12.) Blame them for TV Timeouts ... The Fordham football and men's basketball teams were the first to play in televised games, so you can thank them for the endless TV coverage or blame them for TV timeouts. On Sept. 30, 1939, the Rams football team opened the season wit a 34-7 victory over Waynesburg College in the first-ever televised football game. Announcer Bill Stern called the game over station W2XBS (now WNBC) as a demonstration of this new medium at the World's Fair. On Feb. 8, 1940, Fordham hosted Pittsburgh at Madison Square Garden in the first-ever nationally-televised basketball game. Pitt won, 57-37.