Fordham University - Maroon Yearbook (New York, NY)

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ride up the Hudson was a spring highlight, men of '47 danced to the music of Shep Fields at the Senior Ball. But the Golden Age awaited another day. September came and the undergraduates found more gold stars on the chapel flag, you noticed a few more missing faces, and at the Mass of the Holy Ghost, Father Gannon de- livered the eulogy over the coffin of isolation- ism. Recruiting parties for the reserve pro- grams found the undergraduates willing vol- unteers. The Class of '43, aiming at a January graduation, had been in school all summer, and the lower classes were likewise accelerated. The Harvester Dance went on as usual, but the inroads of war became apparent when former Maroon coach jim Crowley started six former Fordham players, members of the North Carolina Naval Pre - Flight squad, against the Ram, in the last game Fordham was to play for four years. However, the court five provided the memory of Fordham's sports' glory, sweeping in to the National Invitation finals at the Garden, there to compete against the country's best. But there were men of '47 facing sterner foes . . . in the sickening suspense of the jun- gle on Guadalcanal . . . in the parching gulleys of Northern Africa. In early 1943 neat little graphs in neat little ollices calmly recorded the loss of over 700 students, Fordham was suddenly struck to the heart. 700 remained in April, 500 in july, as the services called up their reserves. Enlisted men of the ASTP moved onto the campus to study military subjects, imparting newer, harder

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On an early winter's Friday, the RAM bore the headline, RAM VS. MISSOURI IN SU- GAR BOWL, and below carried the story of Fordham's capture of the Lambert trophy, awarded to the best football team in the East. The Sophs were sponsoring a dance that night in Keating, the Mimes were readying a cycle of one-act plays, and the basketball team was preparing for the season's opener against Saint Peter's. That was the issue of December 5th, 1941. L It was a long weekend. For in the twisted steel of the Arizona', and in the shattered bombers on Clark Field lay smoldering the dream of peace. The shadow of treachery fell early upon Fordham. Bob King, '55, and Bill O'Neill, '57, died that morning at Pearl Harbor. No laugh- ter in the corridors when we returned on Tuesday morning, in Father Farley's ofhce quiet groups listened to the disheartening news from the Pacific-it was too unbelievable and yet all too real. Caught in the ebb and flow of events, the campus mood was one of excitement and half-fearful anticipation. College life lost its simple directness: there were new paths to fol- low. The pace of history quickened and Ford- ham fell in step. Even as the three-year war curriculum was announced, and graduation dates were moved closer, the ranks began to thin as, one by one, the men of Fordham felt the call to arms. Despite the overtones of war, the spring of '42 was much like the hundred springs that had preceded it, Horace and Aristotle had weathered other wars, and cheers still rang on court and diamond. Men of '47 saw Ed Kelle- her's basketball squad wind up a hot-and-cold season with wins over the Jaspers and Violets, and cheered on jack Coffey's ball team to the first Barrow trophy award. As usual the Ethi- cal Eagle Happed his wings and Sam Telfair dispensed the wisdom of the world. The boat-

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