History of a Rivalry | The Ram-Crusader Trophy

John Loughnane '87, P'19 is the son-in-law of Bill Walsh '52, who created the Ram-Crusader Trophy as an undergrad in 1951. As Holy Cross and Fordham meet this Saturday in the 62nd matchup between the two rivals, Loughnane reflects on the history of the Trophy, the shared values of the two Jesuit institutions, and the special significance to his family of the annual tradition.

After finishing his junior year at Holy Cross in 1951, William P. Walsh returned to New York for summer employment. Walsh, who hailed from Flushing and graduated from Regis High School in Manhattan, was headed to the East End of Long Island to work as a counselor at Camp St. Regis. 

Spirited discussion that summer among camp staff included predictions for the announced slate of Holy Cross - Fordham games to be played the next four seasons – extending a series that first began in 1902. Motivated by a bold prediction from a Fordham legend at the camp, Walsh envisioned creating a trophy for the victors. 

In short order, Walsh discussed the creation of the trophy with the New York Undergraduate Metropolitan Club of Holy Cross – a student club known informally as the Met Club. As a reward for the idea, the Met Club appointed him and his fellow classmate Joseph B. Breen as co-chairs of the committee charged with creating the Ram-Crusader Trophy. 

Nobody at that time could have envisioned the path the Trophy would take over the next 70-plus years. As a son in law of William Walsh, I have had the opportunity to witness the Trophy’s journey over the past few decades first hand. This article is written with four objectives in mind: (i) to share the origins of the Trophy; (ii) to describe the Trophy’s dedication to Worcester native Major Frank Cavanaugh (the “Iron Major”); (iii) to explain why the Trophy sat on a shelf in the Holy Cross Field House for thirty-five years; and (iv) to summarize Walsh’s role in pulling the Trophy off the shelf and ensuring it was reinstituted when the teams began regular play again in 1990. 

Trophy Origins

Camp St. Regis was located on the bucolic shores of Northwest Harbor in East Hampton. For many years (1944-1982) it was operated by famed New York high school and basketball coach Don Kennedy. Newspaper advertisements for the Camp promoted the availability of a variety of athletic and non-athletic pursuits at separate camps for boys and girls. Staff included not just Kennedy but other New York area coaches including Ed Danowski, a Fordham football legend.

As a youngster, Bill Walsh knew all about Danowski as well as the national powerhouse Fordham teams of the 30s. Danowski led Fordham to a 18-5-2 record during his three playing seasons, earning All America honors twice. Fordham kept winning throughout the 30s – finishing with a Top 20 ranking from 1935 through 1941 with Vince Lombardi and the Seven Blocks of Granite leading the way. That span also included an undefeated 1937 season (7–0–1) when the Rams finished third in the nation. On January 1, 1941, the Rams narrowly lost in the Cotton Bowl to Texas A&M. One year later, the Rams prevailed over Missouri in the Sugar Bowl. 

World War II soon intervened, causing Fordham to drop its program. Danowski, who led the New York Giants to NFL championships in 1934 and 1938 after his Fordham playing days, left the Giants for good in 1941 to begin service in the United States Navy the following year. By 1946, with the war over, Fordham reinstituted the program with Danowski at the helm as head coach.

Holy Cross also was a national power prior to the war finishing tied for 14th in 1937 and in the top ten in 1938. The University of Georgia lost three straight to Holy Cross in 1937, 1938 and 1939 and never scheduled the Crusaders again. Unlike Fordham, Holy Cross maintained its program during the war and kept strong immediately after. While Fordham was still on the sidelines in 1945, the Crusaders recorded an 8-1 regular season record and narrowly lost to Miami in the Orange Bowl on January 1, 1946. 

In 1951, Walsh learned that Fordham and Holy Cross had committed to another four games with the first three set for Fitton Field and the fourth to be held at the Polo Grounds in New York City. Starting in 1902 and through 1931, the teams had met 21 times with Fordham holding a 10-9-2 advantage. Immediately after the war, Holy Cross pulled ahead in the all-time record by defeating the recently reformed Fordham teams in both 1947 (48-0) and 1948 (13-3). During the 1948 game, coaching legend-to-be-Lombardi roamed the Rams sidelines as an assistant to Danowski. 

Walsh, who was born in 1930, enjoyed glorious years cheering for Fordham as a youngster. The 1952 Purple Patcher noted his fandom, in recounting that Walsh came to the Hill from the “same asphalt pastures as his beloved Fordham Rams and New York Giants.”

The time and place was ripe for posturing and predicting during the long days of a summer camp in 1951. At some point and in some manner, discussion between the camp counselor and veteran coach turned to the upcoming season. As Walsh recounted, Coach Danowski vowed that the Rams would prevail and “pin back the ears” of the Crusaders. 

Those words inspired Walsh to act. Although a Fordham fan in his youth, that devotion did not surpass his allegiance to Holy Cross in any head to head competition. In diplomatic fashion, he proposed the creation of a trophy to be awarded to the winner of the game. The September 21, 1951 Holy Cross student newspaper announced the creation of the Ram-Crusader Trophy indicating that the Met Club, consisting of students hailing from the New York City area, would be sponsoring a post-game reception to bestow the award on the winning team. 

The game coincided with homecoming weekend and records indicate that 23,000 people descended on Fitton Field on a warm and comfortable October 6, 1951 to see the Crusaders prevail 54-20. Following the game, the “Purple Patcher Dance” attracted 350 couples to the Field House and a live orchestra. Meanwhile, the Alumni Association held a buffet dinner in the Main Ballroom at a downtown Worcester hotel (the Bancroft Hotel at 50 Franklin which was known that year as the Sheraton Hotel) while the Met Club held a reception for undergraduates just down the street at the Empire Room of Putnam and Thurston’s Restaurant which was located at 27 Mechanic Street. 

According to the 1952 Purple Patcher, the first Trophy was awarded at that Met Club reception by Trophy Committee co-chairs Walsh and Breen. Like Walsh, Breen was a graduate of Regis who also would later go on to graduate from Fordham Law after military service. The Purple Patcher summed up the Club’s activities that year as follows:

Consider the unique social zenith that is New York with its Waldorf Astoria and Stork Club and it is no wonder that the Metropolitan Club is the outstanding regional group on (and off) the Hill. From Brooklyn's Bay Ridge, to lower Connecticut's Greenwich, hundreds of New Yorkers and their friends flocked to the Martinique in September to welcome the frosh, to the Glen Island at Thanksgiving, the Astor Roof at Christmas and the Biltmore at Easter for their vacation dances. Add to these affairs, the introduction of the "CrusaderRam" trophy and the reception after the Fordham game and you have the most active year in Met Club history.

The Trophy stayed in Worcester for the next three years as Holy Cross prevailed in 1952 (12-7), 1953 (20-7) and 1954 (20-19) upping Holy Cross’ all time advantage as of that point to 15-10-2. 

As fate would have it, the Trophy was destined to remain at Holy Cross not just for those four years but rather for the next 35 years as the series took a long hiatus – a development that neither Walsh, Breen nor other members of the Met Club could have envisioned. Before explaining the shelf years, it is first appropriate to describe the Trophy’s dedication to the Iron Major. 

Honoring The Iron Major

The Trophy was intended to honor not just the teams competing in any given year – but also the memory of celebrated coach Frank W. Cavanaugh, whose career included head coaching positions at both Holy Cross (1903-05) and Fordham (1927-32). Cavanaugh also coached at the collegiate level at Cincinnati (1898), Dartmouth (1911-16) and Boston College (1919-26). In addition to coaching, Cavanaugh earned a law degree and practiced as an attorney. His final resting place along with his wife Florence and other family members lies just about a mile from Fitton Field at Saint John’s Cemetery in Worcester. 

In 1917, Cavanaugh volunteered to serve in World War I at age 41 and was seriously injured by shrapnel during the Battle of Saint-Mihiel in France. His service and valor earned him the moniker the “Iron Major” – and led to a 1943 major motion picture with that name. Leading actor Pat O’Brien portrayed Cavanaugh – just a few years after O’Brien played Notre Dame’s legendary coach in Knute Rockne, All American in 1940 for a different studio. 

Cavanaugh was eventually inducted (in 1954) into the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame with a coaching winning percentage of .731 (145-48-17) accumulated over 24 years. He was well known too for his 1919 book Inside Football. Cavanaugh passed away at age 57 in 1933 just a year after stepping away from Fordham as a result of continuing complications from his wartime injuries. Dedicating the Trophy to Cavanaugh’s memory was an appropriate way to honor his contributions to both institutions and his sacrifices for the country. Cavanaugh coached Danowski at Fordham making the dedication all the more fitting. 

Trophy on the Shelf Years 

After just four years of competition for the Trophy in the 1950s, Fordham again decided to shut down its program. Life went on. In the ensuing years, Walsh remained active in alumni activities including founding and serving as president of the Holy Cross Club of Long Island and serving as president of the Holy Cross Alumni Association from 1990-1991. In recognition of his dedication and service, the Alumni Association awarded him its highest honor, the In Hoc Signo Award, in 1992. 

During many visits back to The Hill for alumni events or games, Walsh would often stop by the Field House to check in on the Trophy, which sat in a trophy case near the entrance to the building. His family, including three young daughters, was often in tow for these visitations with two eventually enrolling and graduating from the College (Maribeth Walsh ‘83, and my spouse Nora Walsh ‘85) while the youngest (Regina) headed to Saint Michael’s College. 

Meanwhile, Fordham stuck with its decision not to support a program – though the seeds of change were taking root. A club program began in the 60s and by 1970, the program was back albeit at the level now known as Division III. Another two decades later, in 1990, the program joined Division I-AA (now known as the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS)). Fordham found a home in the Patriot League, which Holy Cross had helped form in the mid-80s for its program. 

Coincidentally, the return of football competition on November 10, 1990 between Holy Cross and Fordham coincided with Walsh’s service as president of the Holy Cross Alumni Association. Walsh ensured the Trophy was retrieved from the Field House for the occasion, spruced up and awarded. 

1990 to Present: 34 Years and Counting 

Since 1990, the teams have competed each year as part of league play. Over that stretch, Holy Cross holds a 19-15 advantage for an overall lead since 1902 of 34–25–2. Contests have included a Holy Cross victory in the 1992 game played in Ireland, Fordham’s first Trophy win earned in the 1995 contest in Hamilton, Bermuda, and the 2016 game played at Yankee Stadium where Fordham again prevailed – the last time it took possession as Holy Cross has now won seven straight. 

The marketing effort around the 2016 Yankee Stadium game was built around references to the Trophy as a “Cup” as evidenced by the domain name “ram-crusadercup.com” established for the now-defunct website that was set up as a source of information and ticket sales for the event at that time. The 2016 victory was the fifth in a row for the Rams and the Fordham athletic department made reference to the Trophy as a “cup” in articles summarizing those games. The Trophy is not now and has never been a cup, of course. In electing to make the Trophy in the summer of 1951, catchy domain names or other marketing considerations were not a factor. 

After my father-in-law’s passing in 2002, his family (often his grandchildren, including graduates Katie ‘20, Brooke ‘22 and Gavin ‘19) continued the tradition of helping to arrange the awarding of the Trophy to the winning team with the assistance of the respective institutions. 

This year, the Trophy was completely refurbished by the same craftsman, Roger Jette, who regularly cares for each of six Lombardi Trophies of the New England Patriots. The Trophy is now back in the football offices of the Crusaders where it can be viewed by anybody passing by the area. Each fall, the Trophy is susceptible to a move – but to me, it seems to fit very well in the Hart Center. 

Conclusion 

Holy Cross maintains historic series with several institutions. Well known, of course, is the 84 game competition with Boston College. There is also the 74 game series against Harvard (which started in 1904) and also the 86-game tradition against Colgate (which started in 1917). The Crusaders and Rams have competed 61 times, with half of those games played in the past three decades. Given Patriot League scheduling, it will not be long before Fordham becomes and remains the second-most played team in Holy Cross history behind Colgate. . 

The Ram Crusader Trophy, now in its eighth decade, stands as a testament to the resilience of each program and all who have fought hard for the honor of lifting. I am certain that Bill Walsh would be very thankful for the extraordinary hard work that has led to recent success for Holy Cross. No doubt he too would be pleased with the commitment of Head Coach Dan Curran, staff and players to continue building the program. He would be particularly pleased that the two Jesuit institutions with such storied legacies continue to compete every fall in a manner entirely consistent with their higher academic mission helping to create an impact for many far beyond the field. 

#GoCrossGo!

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