The Story of Ramses: Fordham University's Mascot History
Fordham University, a distinguished institution with a rich history, boasts a unique and often tumultuous relationship with its mascot, Ramses the Ram. From the late 1920s, the university maintained a live bighorn sheep on campus, each named Ramses and numbered sequentially. These rams, while symbols of school spirit, were also frequent targets of kidnapping and, according to some, victims of a supposed curse. The story of Ramses is a blend of tradition, rivalry, and a touch of the macabre, reflecting the vibrant culture of Fordham University.
The Origin of the Ram
During an 1883 baseball game against the United States Military Academy, students began chanting "One-Dam, Two-Dam, Three-Dam, Fordham!". The Jesuit fathers, deeming the term "dam" too ungentlemanly, replaced it with "Ram," leading to the official adoption of the "Rams" nickname after alumnus J. The mascot is Ramses the Ram. The tradition of a live ram mascot began in 1925. Weighing over 160 pounds, it took at least five students to bath the animal.
A Lineage of Loss and Legend
The history of Fordham's live ram mascots is fraught with misfortune. Students christened the first ram Ramses. As Ram after Ram, all named Ramses, about 28 total, died in horrible ways, people began to claim that the ram was cursed. The terrible legacy began in 1927 when a naive group of students procured a live mascot for the University and christened him Ramses.
Ramses I met an untimely end when he was struck by a speeding passenger train on a dark night. His head was then decapitated and mounted on a walnut shield, which was displayed in the Ram newspaper office. This ghoulish adornment graced both the front page and office wall of the Ram until 1930. There is an accusation that Ram editors strapped poor Ramses to the tracks. The library claims that Ramses I actually came onto the scene in 1925, and was kidnapped by a rival school and send to a slaughterhouse.
Ramses III was a troubled animal, possibly because Rams aren’t supposed to be kept on urban campuses in NYC and abused by college kids. He was apparently “aggressive,” and often ran away from campus and tried to attack the NY Central trains, because the train tracks are right off campus. Trains were delayed, conductors were mad, so instead of maybe building a better habitat that the Ram couldn’t escape from, Ramses III was “sentenced to death” in December 1927 and “executed” (to use the library’s phrasing) by the Fordham Rifle Team.
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According to a 1930s article, Ramses III met a different fate. They found him Monday morning on what we call the Ramkin field over behind St. John’s Hall. Ramses III, Maroon Monarch, was found dead because he succumbed to attacks of Wild Dog Pack at Dead of Night. He lay tangled in the long heavy chain that kept him to the stake. The ground about was torn and uprooted and white fleece scattered all around him.
Based on this article, it wasn’t just Ramses I whose head was mounted and displayed somewhere on campus. There is a picture of at least one of the ram heads, the one at the Ram’s newspaper office, which I believe was in the basement of St. John’s Hall, now Queen’s Court. That ram head was there from 1927-1935 at least, not sure what happened to it afterwards.
These brave rams lived in a hutch constructed for them originally behind Queen’s Court at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus. The rams would need all the safety measures they could get. Fordham’s first ram, appropriately named Rameses I, reigned only briefly. This was not the end of Rameses I, however. After his life came to a tragic end, several students retrieved his body and, like the Egyptian emperor from whom he derives his name, his body was preserved for eternity.
In 1954, Ramses XVI died under mysterious circumstances. Although foul play was suspected, the murderer was never found. Ramses XVIII fared little better than his predecessor. Homeless after his shed burned down under mysterious circumstances. He was the first to move into a two bedroom with running water Ram House built by Kelly Bricklayers, a business owned by Princess Grace’s father.
The rams would need all the safety measures they could get. At home, the Rameses dynasty was under threat on every front by rival universities. Every athletic rival Fordham ever had (and some it didn’t) took turns ram-napping Fordham’s prized rulers. These ram-napping escapades could be brutal. In 1965, The Ram reported that Fordham students had prevented a ram-napping attempt by students from Iona College in New Rochelle, New York, for the second time in two weeks. They commented: “Last week we weren’t so lucky and Rameses XX had some uncomfortable moments.
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Kidnapping Capers and Rivalries
Adding to the Ramses saga were frequent kidnappings by rival schools, most notably Manhattan College. These abductions were often elaborate, with the rival students going to great lengths to capture and sometimes even deface the Fordham mascot.
According to a 2019 article in the Fordham Observer (the LC newspaper), in 1933, Ramses V was kidnapped by NYU students. NY state police had to help track him down, and they found him 300 miles away, somewhere in Connecticut.
The first Rameses to grow old and die of natural causes. Kidnapped by NYU and taken to a Connecticut farm. New York State troopers picked him up at the state lines and he was escorted to the game by four squad cars and six motorcycles, sirens blaring. He arrived just in time for halftime.
Ramses XIX, whose nickname was “Thumper,” was kidnapped by Manhattan College students, who dyed him green, which is Manhattan College’s school color. There’s a Ram article detailing this 1961 kidnapping, and apparently the kidnappers bought all the green food coloring in Tarrytown/Sleep Hollow in order to dye Ramses green.
Some rams, however, managed to hold onto their throne for years or left power of their own volition, especially in the dying days of the empire. Rameses XX, who ruled during the mid-1960s - better known as “Fatty” - peacefully died of pneumonia. Rameses XXIV was forced to abdicate when “he” gave birth to a baby ewe and his subjects realized that Rameses XXIV was not, in fact, a ram. On Dec. One was found, however, when a student donated a ram from his family farm in exchange for the baby ewe and Rameses XXIV.
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The End of an Era
The series of unfortunate events and the rising costs associated with caring for a live animal led to the end of the live Ramses tradition in 1978. The university decided that there would be no more live rams on campus. The final straw was when Ramses XXVII got in a fight with a horse in 1978 at the Pelham Bit Studios. Ramses XXVII accidentally broke his own neck by twisting his head in the fence around his pen in 1975.
Following the death of Ramses XXVIII the live animal was replaced by a student dressed in a ram costume.
The Curse of Ramses?
The repeated misfortunes that plagued the Ramses mascots led some to believe in a curse. The question was posed, without a sacrificial ram, where will the angry force that plagues the campus vent his ancient rage?
A Modern Mascot
Today, Ramses lives on as a costumed mascot, embodying the spirit and tradition of Fordham University. While the live ram may be gone, the legend of Ramses continues to be a part of Fordham's identity.
Apart from preparing to walk at graduation with a hard-earned degree in international studies, Abigael Hartlieb is celebrating another milestone. So, you have a family history of mascots? My grandfather on my mom’s side was his high school mascot. Left: Abby Hartlieb as Rita's Ice Guy in Forest Hill, Maryland. In middle school, I would always go and help out my family’s Rita’s Italian Ice store. I was also a dancer growing up, so I always enjoyed being in that kind of role. I love school spirit, so all that led me to want to be Ramses when I got to Fordham. They just threw me right into a football game. I tried on the suit beforehand, made sure it fit, and as soon as you put the suit on, you’re just right into the character. No one knows it’s you! It’s such a fun experience taking so many photos, dancing around with kids, with alumni. It’s all such a great time. I really loved sophomore year, the first game of the men’s basketball A-10 tournament at Barclays Center. The cheer team does this stunt, and that was something I’d been really wanting to do. I love the cheer team and the dance team, really great girls on both of those teams. So I texted the coach saying “let’s do something, put me in the air. I’m ready.” That stunt was such a surprise for everyone. I was getting photos of people on the plane watching it. To be on that kind of stage, being at Barclays Center, so many fans, so many alumni coming out, that was really cool. I’ve worked a Giants game. I rang the NASDAQ bell. Sometimes it gets so exciting, especially when I’m talking to someone I know would love it, but I tried my best. I really wanted everyone to know that I could be a resource if they wanted Ramses to come to something-I tried pulling the thing where I said, “Oh, I know who it is. I work in athletics. I can get them for you no problem.” I did pretty much anything I was ever asked to do. It’s as hot and sweaty as you would think in the suit. If you see me after a game, I am beet red and soaked. Just being able to make someone smile. Ramses is always a positive character. If you see him walking around campus, it’s always photos, always waves, blowing kisses. It’s a really positive thing. The summer before junior year, there was a Fordham alumni couple that really wanted Ramses in their engagement photos, so I went up to campus from Maryland just for the day and took photos on the baseball field. I loved being part of their special day. I just picture that photo being in their house for the rest of their lives.
Fordham University Athletics
The Fordham Rams are the varsity sports teams for Fordham University. Their colors are maroon and white. The Fordham Rams are members of NCAA Division I and compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference for most sports. In football, the Rams play in the Patriot League of NCAA Division 1 Football Championship Subdivision. The University also supports a number of club sports, and a significant intramural sports program.
Fordham University sports, though not part of the Ivy League, has nevertheless been credited with inspiring the term by comparison. The first usage of "Ivy" in reference to a group of colleges is from sportswriter Stanley Woodward (1895-1965). William Morris writes that Stanley Woodward actually took the term from fellow New York Tribune sportswriter Caswell Adams. Morris writes that during the 1930s, the Fordham University football team was running roughshod over all its opponents. One day in the sports room at the Tribune, the merits of Fordham's football team was being compared to Princeton and Columbia.
Founded in the late 1850s, the Fordham Rose Hill Baseball Club of St. John's College (the precursor to Fordham University, and of no connection at all to St. John's University) played against St. Francis Xavier College in the first ever nine-man-team college baseball game on November 3, 1859. There have been 56 major leaguers who have played for Fordham, including All-Star pitcher Pete Harnisch and Baseball Hall of Famer Frankie Frisch. Frisch, a star athlete in four different sports at Fordham, was known as the "Fordham Flash". Steve Bellán, first Latin American to play Major League Baseball, started his career as a player at St. The team plays home games at Houlihan Park at Jack Coffey Field. Jack Coffey Field, a multisport facility, is named after Jack Coffey, former athletic director and baseball coach at the University. He amassed 817 wins as a baseball coach. Coffey is the only player to play with both Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth in the same season (1918 Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox).
Fordham began competing in men's basketball in 1902. They played their first game in Rose Hill Gymnasium on January 16, 1925 (defeating Boston College, 46-16). On February 28, 1940, Fordham hosted the University of Pittsburgh at Madison Square Garden in the first ever televised basketball game. Pitt won, 57-37. The game was televised by NBC. Fordham has participated in four NCAA Tournaments (1953, 1954, 1971, 1992), and sixteen NITs (1943, 1958, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1991). Though Fordham won the 1991 Patriot League Tournament, the NCAA did not grant the Patriot League an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament that year. In the 2009-10 season, Fordham went 0-16 in the A-10 conference season (2-26 overall), becoming the first team to go winless in an A-10 conference season since St. After leading the team to a 25-8 record in 2022-23, head coach Keith Urgo received the John B. Hall award, one given to the top first-year coach in Division 1 basketball. The Rams won more home games in the 2023 season than any other college team in the nation.
Women's basketball at Fordham began as a club team in 1963-64. They became an NCAA competitive team in 1970-71. The Rams have won the Patriot League Championship in 1992 and 1994 and the Atlantic 10 women's basketball tournament in 2014.
Tackle Ed Franco was a consensus All-American. So was center Alex Wojciechowicz who later became an All-Pro with Detroit and Philadelphia. Guard Vince Lombardi later became one of the greatest of pro coaches. In 1937, the team went undefeated and was ranked number three nationally. So popular was Fordham, that the Cleveland NFL franchise formed in the 1930s took its nickname from the Rams of the Bronx. The Cleveland Rams later moved to Los Angeles and then to St. On September 30, 1939, Fordham participated in the world's first televised American football game. In front of the sport's first live TV audience, the Rams defeated Waynesburg College 34-7.
Fordham has dropped their football program on several different occasions. Fordham first dropped football between 1894-95, and then again between 1910-11, 1919, and 1943-45. On December 15, 1954, Fordham scratched its football program for the fifth time, for various reasons, mainly financial. A club football team was established in 1964 (on shaky authority) and football was re-established as a varsity sport in 1970, but in Division III. Fordham was invited to play in the 1942 Rose Bowl, but declined the invitation because it had previously accepted a berth in the 1942 Sugar Bowl. The Rams, who defeated the University of Missouri by a 2-0 score, were the 1942 Sugar Bowl champions. The Rams also played in the 1941 Cotton Bowl Classic but lost 13-12 to Texas A&M.
Since 2002, Fordham has played Columbia University for The Liberty Cup. The trophy was dedicated after the attacks of September 11, 2001, forced the postponement of the first annual meeting between New York City's two Division I football programs. In 2009 the university announced that it will be offering scholarships for football for the first time since 1954. This makes the Rams ineligible to compete for the Patriot League championship, but simultaneously allows them to schedule games with Football Bowl Subdivision teams such as the Army Black Knights and the Navy Midshipmen (which are members of the Patriot League outside football), both immediately scheduled. Fordham University's 2023 Football team had an overall record of 6-5 with a 2-4 record in the Patriot League. Their biggest win of the season came against Lehigh University with a score of 38-35 on October 7, 2023.
Fordham's Women's Swimming and Diving team was the first women's team to win an A10 championship. Johnny Gibson, a 1928 graduate of Fordham, broke the 440 yd (400 m) Hurdles World Record while at the school and made the 1928 Olympic team in the same event. Gibson is known as a great contributor to the world of track and field as a founding member of the New Jersey Track and Field Officials Association and head coach of men's track and field at Seton Hall University from 1945 to 1972. Fordham track has had a resurgence in the past two decades with an All-Americans and numerous conference champions. Barry Cantrell earned all-American honors in the high jump in 1998. There have been several Atlantic 10 Conference champions including the jumping events, hammer throw. In 2008, the men's track and field team won the Outdoor Metropolitan Championship.
Fordham's men's water polo team is an NCAA Division 1 program. They compete in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) against Brown University, Connecticut College, Harvard University, Iona, MIT, Queens College, St. Francis College. In 2010 and 2009 they placed third and fifth in the CWPA Eastern Division championship. Their coach, Bill Harris, was awarded the CWPA Coach of the Year in 2009.
Men's crew has been a club sport at Fordham since 1915, when John Mulcahy (an alumnus and Olympic gold medalist in the sport) helped found it there. Fordham crew has since been quite successful, winning several national championships. The team is a member of the Dad Vail affiliation, making the Dad Vail Regatta the focus of its spring racing season. Exceptional crews have competed at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) National Championships, Henley Royal Regatta, and the San Diego Crew Classic. The team is divided into novice and varsity squads. Fordham crew trains on the Harlem River. For many years the university maintained the last remaining boathouse on "sculler's row" off the river in Manhattan, along Sherman Creek, until it was destroyed by suspected arson in 1978. It has yet to be replaced. Currently, the club shares space at the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse near Sherman Creek, the first community boathouse built in Manhattan in over 100 years. Since 1989, Fordham has medaled every year at the Dad Vail and other major collegiate regattas. During that period the team has had 9 undefeated seasons and 13 national championships: eight at the Dad Vail, three at the Eastern College Athletic Conference National Invitational Collegiate Regatta, one at the Division-I National Championships, and one at the IRA Championship.
The university supports hockey as a club sport. The team was created in the 1967-68 season playing and winning one game versus cross-town rival Manhattan College. The "Maroon Six" as they were known then, began playing a full slate of games during the 1970-71 season. The team joined the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Hockey League, in the fall of 1970 and began playing such teams as Columbia, Fairfield and St. Johns. The team has held the longest tenure in the Metropolitan Collegiate Hockey Conference (MCHC) after the MIHL changed its name during the 1974-75 season. In February 2014, the Rams captured their third league championship with a 5-4 win over Suffolk Community College. Prior championships were in 2006 and 2011. The 2013-14 team finished the year with an overall record of 20-5-2-1, the third time in team history the squad has won 20 games. They also finished in first place for the third time in the previous five years, had 11 consecutive winning seasons (the longest in team history), and qualified for the post season play every year for the previous 14 seasons. The 2018-19 season was the Rams' most successful campaign to date. Aside from securing back to back (MCHC) championships, Fordham also won both of their games at regionals against Springfield College and George Mason University, sending the Rams to the ACHA National Championship tournament for the first time. Fordham won two games at Nationals, beating Florida Gulf Coast University and University of Nebraska, while their only loss came to the University of Michigan by one goal. Joe Sponenburg was named Atlantic Region MVP, and head coach Rich Guberti won Atlantic Coach of The Year. The team is coached by Rich Guberti, who was an assistant coach for two years and has been the head coach for the past eleven years.
Founded in 1970, the lacrosse program has grown tremendously. After years as the top independent lacrosse team in the New York metropolitan area, the team has been accepted to be a member of the National College Lacrosse League. The University supports men's rugby as a club sport as a member of USA Rugby, and field within it Division I 'A' and 'B' side rugby squads. The Fordham University Rugby Football Club plays in the Metropolitan New York Rugby Union of USA Rugby. Additionally, the Rose Hill Campus is host every spring to the "Irish-Italian" men's rugby game, a staple of Fordham's Spring Weekend festival. The men's team won the Metropolitan New York Rugby Union (METNY) D-1 conference championship in 2003, 2004 and 2009 and made it to the first round of the national tournament in 2004. Five years later they made an appearance in the second round of the national tournament in the fall of 2009. The women's team is a three-time champion of the Big Apple Classic, which is hosted on Randalls Island, New York.
Fordham is a member of the Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association (MAISA) district of the Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA). The team's homeport is Morris Yacht & Beach Club, overlooking Long Island Sound and Eastchester Bay on City Island, a few miles from its Rose Hill campus. During the 2014-2015 College Sailing season, Fordham, a club team, was ranked as high as 6th nationally amongst varsity programs. For the first time, both the Co-ed and Women's teams qualified for College Nationals in the spring of 2014.
The Banners of Fordham University
A set of academic banners depicting the distinguishing characteristics and proud history of each of the Schools, Colleges, and other major constituent groups of the University was commissioned for Commencement 2004. The name of each of these groups (rendered in Latin) encircles the central shield, while the founding date of each is marked across the buckle at the seal’s base. In 2016, the class banners were commissioned.
Fordham College at Rose Hill is represented by the triumphant or risen lamb of God, the Tudor Rose-representing Rose Hill Manor, the property from which Fordham University grew- and the scallop shell representing St. Fordham School of Professional and Continuing Studies is represented by the cauldron and wolves from the central portion of the family shield of St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order, who-like the students of this School-was an adult learner. St. Fordham College at Lincoln Center is represented by the central portion of the seal of the City of New York-a windmill, symbolizing New Amsterdam, the original Dutch colonial name for the city. Fordham’s Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education is represented by an open book displaying Alpha and Omega, the Greek letters symbolizing Jesus as the beginning and the end of all things. Fordham’s Graduate School of Education is represented by the torch of knowledge and the book of learning, as well as the laurel wreath, representing poetics. Fordham’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is represented by the owl of Pallas Athene, the goddess of wisdom and rational inquiry. The ancient classical traditions and the modern humanities and sciences join together in the curricular offerings of the arts and sciences. Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service is represented by the symbols for the virtues of faith, hope, and charity.
The alumni of Fordham University are represented by the Fordham Ram, which the University adopted as its mascot in 1893. The Faculty Senate of Fordham University is represented by the book of learning and the Fordham University mace. The image of the mace signifies the leadership of the Faculty Senate in the academic governance of the University. The administration of Fordham University is represented by elements found on the coat of arms of New York’s first archbishop, John Hughes, founder of Fordham University. The crossed keys represent St. The Board of Trustees of Fordham University is represented by the Great Seal of Fordham University, and the date of incorporation of St.
Fordham College at Lincoln Center
While Fordham College at Lincoln Center was founded in 1968, the college has a lengthy prehistory, dating to the mid-19th century. In September 1847, the University opened a school on Manhattan's Lower East Side near the edge of the notorious Five Points neighborhood. A devastating fire just a few months later forced the new school to move to the basement of St. James Catholic Church. In the following years, the school operated in the East Village, on West 15th Street from 1850, and by the early 20th century, the Woolworth Building, then the world's tallest building, from 1916 to 1943. In 1955, Fordham was the first city institution to commit to be part of the Lincoln Square Renewal Project, an effort to revitalize the city's west side with a new performing arts complex that would become the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. In 1961, Fordham Law School was the first building to open as part of the renewal project, and in 1968, Fordham College at Lincoln Center welcomed its first students. In 1969, the University opened the Lowenstein Center, which became home to Fordham College at Lincoln Center. During the last 45 years, the college has had a remarkable record of achievement, including alumni who have gone on to outstanding careers as stars of stage and screen, as writers and producers, as financial and business leaders, as practitioners of law, medicine, and religion, and as political and civic leaders. In 2014, Fordham opened a state-of-the-art residence hall on the 11th through 22nd floor of McKeon Hall. McKeon Hall, with its towering views of Manhattan and surrounding areas, is specifically designed to foster community among its residents, the first-year class. In 2017 the Lincoln Center campus unveiled a new bronze ram statue designed to mirror the one located on the Rose Hill campus. Both statues were created by sculptor Harry M. Stierwalt Jr.
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