True Penn Heroes

There isn't much Ivy League football news this time of year but the latest out of Philadelphia is pretty special. Two Penn football players were "hits" in the "Be the Match" program and donated potentially life-saving bone marrow on back-to-back days.

The Penn site reports that junior tight end Robert Gawlas and senior defensive back JP Grant were the donors.

A great quote from Grant:

"This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Not many people get a chance to make such a big impact. You have a chance to be like Superman - to save someone's life. It's something you usually only see in movies or comic books. You have the opportunity to be someone's Superman."

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In late March the BGA Blog floated RPI as a possible wildcard entry should the Patriot League need to add a football team in the near future. (link). Sitting in the Ithaca College football stands for graduation after hearing from a couple of students that the school is mulling a move to Division II, I found myself daydreaming about the the Bombers as a potential addition to the Patriot League ranks.

Academically, Ithaca is a college on the move with a student body of about 6,800 and well-regarded schools of communications, music, health sciences and human performance, humanities and sciences, and business. It offers masters degrees in communications, education, music, business and several other fields, and even a PhD program in physical therapy.

Athletically, Ithaca has a proud football tradition with three DIII national championships and a record seven appearances in the national championship Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl. It has appeared in a record 39 playoff games and won 27, another record. The school has won eight Lambert/Meadowlands Cups as the top small college team in the East and has a .643 all-time winning percentage, fourth-best in the nation among Division III schools.

While the football stadium would need to be upgraded, the setting over Cayuga lake is gorgeous and they've shown they can handle big crowds. The 2001 Cortaca Jug game against Cortland drew a crowd of 12,620 to Butterfield Stadium and there have been six games since 1999 that have drawn over 10,000 fans.

Ithaca's commitment to athletics was clear when we saw the soon-to-be-finished, 130,000-square-foot fieldhouse that, among other things, will allow the Ithaca football team to practice indoors.

Not to be ignored is the potential for a huge intra-city rivalry between Ithaca and Cornell.

To play FCS football, of course, a school must move its entire program to Division I. That's a huge hurdle, but it wouldn't be that huge should Ithaca in fact first make a move to Division II. Something to think about during the silly season between spring football and the preseason ;-)