Entry from November 25, 2004
Rams (Fordham University teams)
Many Fordham people think that the ram that died in 1927 was the origin of the Fordham "ram." That ram had been the football team's popular mascot. However, the Fordham "ram" goes back at least to 1905.
19 November 1912, New York Times, pg. X12:
FORDHAM'S HALLOWE'EN.
(...)
In this contest the men of junior corridor defeated the representatives of "Fifth Avenue," as the top floor of the college dormitory is termed, but only after an exciting struggle in which the latter attempted to tie the rope to a pillar. (...) A collation was served and the singing of the "Fordham Ram," the college song, brought the festivities to a close.
11 December 1927, New York Times, pg. 18:
FORDHAM RAM, IDOL
OF THE CAMPUS, DEAD
Rameses, Sensing Doom, Fled
to Botanical Garden, but Failed
to Defeat Executioner
NOW HIS NAME IS LEGION
Majestic Head of Gridiron Mascot,
Victim of Old Age and Obesity,
Will Grace College Sanctum
Rameses, the 109-pound, full-grown Long Island ram, which held up a New York Central Railroad train on Friday after his escape into the wilds of the Bronx Botanical Gardens, and which was the pet and football mascot of the Fordham University student body during the past season, was executed yesterday. At noon Rameses was placidly chewing some grass in a section of the Fordham campus, apparently unaware of his fate, and at 1:30 in the afternoon he was dead, his body being prepared for the college kitchen and his head being mounted by a taxidermist.
Last September, Rameses was purchased by the staff of The Ram, the student weekly publication, to be used at football games. He was fed well, given a large field to roam in and soon, when he was not being exhibited to cheering thousands on the gridiron, became fast friends with Harry, an ancient truck horse whose duty it is to pull the campus lawnmower. The two became inseparable and were often photographed together surrounded by admiring human friends.
But the football season, like all other things in a ram's life, came to an end. Gone were the hoarse-throated throngs, the pretty girls who had petted Rameses and, indeed, gone was the very memory of the ram, who had only his pal Harry to fall back on. The question arose as to the disposition of Rameses. The Ram staff decided that death should be his portion, in order that his head might be added to the trophies in their editorial sanctum. On Thursday a taxidermist was called on the telephone and told to come to the university on Saturday afternoon for the purpose of foing aaway with Rameses when the students would not be about to see the slaughter.
. .
. .
http://www.1122productions.com/fightsongs/f.html
Fordham
"Fordham Ram"
Hail! men of Fordham, hail! on to the fray!
Once more our foes assail in strong array.
Once more the old Maroon, waves on high
We'll sing our battle song.
We do or die.
With a Ram, a Ram, a Ram for victory
With a Ram, a Ram, a Ram for loyalty.
To the fight, to fight,
To win our laurels bright!
Hail! men of Fordham, hail! on to the fray!
Once more our foes assail in strong array.
Once more the old Maroon, waves on high
We'll sing our battle song.
We do or die.
http://www.alumni.fordham.edu/alumni/home/fcaahistory.htm
Fordham's traditions were greatly enhanced on May 1, 1905 when The Fordham Ram, had its first concert performance at the Carnegie Lyceum, a recital hall in the old Carnegie Hall. The noble ode to our beloved mascot was performed by the Glee and Mandolin Club, under the direction the song's composer John Ignatius Coveney. Not only was Coveney an accomplished musician who taught himself to play seven instruments, but he was also a strapping gridiron hero and debater. But football was not yet the premier sport on Rose Hill; rather the baseball squad drew the raves as "one of the best baseball nines near New York."1
1. Raymond A. Schroth, S.J., Fordham A History and Memoir (Loyola Press, Chicago 2002), pg. 116.
19 November 1912, New York Times, pg. X12:
FORDHAM'S HALLOWE'EN.
(...)
In this contest the men of junior corridor defeated the representatives of "Fifth Avenue," as the top floor of the college dormitory is termed, but only after an exciting struggle in which the latter attempted to tie the rope to a pillar. (...) A collation was served and the singing of the "Fordham Ram," the college song, brought the festivities to a close.
11 December 1927, New York Times, pg. 18:
FORDHAM RAM, IDOL
OF THE CAMPUS, DEAD
Rameses, Sensing Doom, Fled
to Botanical Garden, but Failed
to Defeat Executioner
NOW HIS NAME IS LEGION
Majestic Head of Gridiron Mascot,
Victim of Old Age and Obesity,
Will Grace College Sanctum
Rameses, the 109-pound, full-grown Long Island ram, which held up a New York Central Railroad train on Friday after his escape into the wilds of the Bronx Botanical Gardens, and which was the pet and football mascot of the Fordham University student body during the past season, was executed yesterday. At noon Rameses was placidly chewing some grass in a section of the Fordham campus, apparently unaware of his fate, and at 1:30 in the afternoon he was dead, his body being prepared for the college kitchen and his head being mounted by a taxidermist.
Last September, Rameses was purchased by the staff of The Ram, the student weekly publication, to be used at football games. He was fed well, given a large field to roam in and soon, when he was not being exhibited to cheering thousands on the gridiron, became fast friends with Harry, an ancient truck horse whose duty it is to pull the campus lawnmower. The two became inseparable and were often photographed together surrounded by admiring human friends.
But the football season, like all other things in a ram's life, came to an end. Gone were the hoarse-throated throngs, the pretty girls who had petted Rameses and, indeed, gone was the very memory of the ram, who had only his pal Harry to fall back on. The question arose as to the disposition of Rameses. The Ram staff decided that death should be his portion, in order that his head might be added to the trophies in their editorial sanctum. On Thursday a taxidermist was called on the telephone and told to come to the university on Saturday afternoon for the purpose of foing aaway with Rameses when the students would not be about to see the slaughter.
. .
. .
http://www.1122productions.com/fightsongs/f.html
Fordham
"Fordham Ram"
Hail! men of Fordham, hail! on to the fray!
Once more our foes assail in strong array.
Once more the old Maroon, waves on high
We'll sing our battle song.
We do or die.
With a Ram, a Ram, a Ram for victory
With a Ram, a Ram, a Ram for loyalty.
To the fight, to fight,
To win our laurels bright!
Hail! men of Fordham, hail! on to the fray!
Once more our foes assail in strong array.
Once more the old Maroon, waves on high
We'll sing our battle song.
We do or die.
http://www.alumni.fordham.edu/alumni/home/fcaahistory.htm
Fordham's traditions were greatly enhanced on May 1, 1905 when The Fordham Ram, had its first concert performance at the Carnegie Lyceum, a recital hall in the old Carnegie Hall. The noble ode to our beloved mascot was performed by the Glee and Mandolin Club, under the direction the song's composer John Ignatius Coveney. Not only was Coveney an accomplished musician who taught himself to play seven instruments, but he was also a strapping gridiron hero and debater. But football was not yet the premier sport on Rose Hill; rather the baseball squad drew the raves as "one of the best baseball nines near New York."1
1. Raymond A. Schroth, S.J., Fordham A History and Memoir (Loyola Press, Chicago 2002), pg. 116.
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