CU has more sporting history than you’d think

What would you say if I told you that the Columbia football team directly contributed to the production of the world’s first atomic bomb 72 years ago? I’d probably have a better chance convincing most of you that the current team is going to win the Ivy title this year. It’s true, though, the team did play a role in the A-bomb’s creation, but we’ll get to that later. At Columbia, it may not seem that we have much to brag about to our friends at Big 10 and PAC 12 schools when it comes to college sports. Our teams might not fill 40,000-seat stadiums or warrant prime time coverage on ESPN, but our athletics program does have a rather intriguing history. So even if it’s an off year for your favorite Lions team, there are still quite a few other talking points you can use with your non-CU friends.

Since we’re already talking football, let’s start there. I bet many of you would be surprised to know that Columbia was a founding father of collegiate pigskin. In 1869, Rutgers and the College of New Jersey (what we know today as Princeton) played two games in what is considered the first official season of college football. A year later, a third team was thrown in the mix—yup, the mighty Light Blue. Columbia lost to Rutgers 3-6 in the third college football game in history. In 1872, Columbia battled Yale in the first inter-division game in Ivy history (though the Ivy League wasn’t officially established for more than eight more decades). The Lions also lost, 3-0, but were again a part of an important moment in collegiate sports history. From this point forward, football teams were added every year across the country, and the rest is history—history in which Columbia football played a formative role.

All Columbia students should recall that Yankee legend Lou Gehrig got his start on the baseball diamond at Columbia. Less well known, however, is that Gehrig arrived at Morningside Heights in 1921 on a football scholarship. He started on the gridiron as a fullback before transitioning to the baseball team to pitch and field first. Don’t believe me? Just Google “Lou Gehrig Columbia Baseball” and check out a picture of the future hall-of-famer taking a swing on South Field against the backdrop of Hamilton Hall. Now that’s cool! It is said that Gehrig smacked monster 400-plus-foot home runs that reached the Alma Mater statue on Low Steps. He also recorded 17 strikeouts as a pitcher before accepting a contract with the Yankees after just two years at Columbia. Of course, the rest is history.

But wait, there’s more! Lou Gehrig wasn’t the only baseball legend to grace Columbia with his presence. Another baseball great, Eddie Collins, played quarterback and second base for the Lions from 1906 to 1907, prior to his 24-year tenure in the majors. Oh, and then there’s that Sandy Koufax guy.

Not only was the football team one of the first college squads in the country, but Columbia’s wrestling team competed in the first college match in history against Yale on March 21, 1903.

And here’s one for my little brother, who just started his first year at Stanford: Columbia shut out the Stanford Indians (now “Cardinal”) 7-0 in the 1934 Rose Bowl.

Five years later, in 1939, Columbia and Princeton battled in baseball at Baker Field in the first televised sporting event in United States history.

But 1939 was not just a landmark year for television. On the brink of World War II, the United States and Britain commenced efforts to beat the Germans to building the first atomic bomb in history. The initial research program, known as the Manhattan Project, began right here at Columbia.

Of course you probably knew that, or at least some of that. But as I sat in my history class “U.S. 1940-1975” last week, Professor Mark Carnes taught us that, as physicists started piling up uranium in Schermerhorn Hall, they required assistance carrying massive uranium bricks, graphite, and other supplies. So Columbia physicist George Pegram employed the strongest people at his disposal for heavy lifting—the Columbia football squad. The uranium chain–reaction experiments carried out at Columbia led directly to producing the atom bomb.

“It really was a pleasure to direct work of these husky boys, canning uranium—just shoving it in—handling packs of 50 or 100 pounds with the same ease as another person would have handled three or four pounds,” said Enrico Fermi, the Italian-born, Nobel-prize winning physicist who played a central role in the Manhattan Project and subsequent development of the atom bomb.

As you can see, Columbia sports fans have plenty to talk about. Ok, so the football team had a rough season opener against Fordham, but there are still plenty of games left. Take the time to fully appreciate that grandeur of Columbia sports history. There is much to be proud of, so I hope that I’ve given you some reason to be appreciative of this past. And if not, at the very least I hope you learned a few things. That’s why we’re here after all, right? Whoops, my time is up—class dismissed.

Michael Shapiro is a List College senior majoring in history and modern Jewish studies.
sports@columbiaspectator.com