Fordham University

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I attended Fordham University in New York City for one year on a football scholarship. I always considered myself a lackadaisical and mediocre player and was astounded that any college would want to offer me a scholarship. Oddly, I was also offered a scholarship to Loyola College in Los Angeles. I've always suspected that these offers were due to the efforts of some in my community, unknown to me, who served as recruiters for various institutions. In any event, I lived up to my low estimates of my abilities while at Fordham. At that time, I was smitten by my wife-to-be, Jean Yarnall. Back then it was about a 5 hour drive from New York City to Mount Carmel so I saw little of her. Consequently, I was love sick most of the time and not pleased to be at Fordham. Understandably, I was a worse student than I was in High School and performed badly as a football player. I still wonder about how many people I disappointed because I left Fordham after one year of lackluster accomplishments. I had little money at Fordham. My mother gave me enough money for a bus ticket to get back to Mount Carmel for the next upcoming holiday. I was also given enough money to mail my laundry back to my mother weekly in a steel container. My mother then washed, ironed and mailed it back. That may seem hard to believe today but postal service costs at that time were low enough to make the exchanges practical. I could save some money by hitchhiking back to Mount Carmel on occasion. It was usually easy to pick up a ride at the Holland Tunnel, late Friday afternoon in Manhattan, by holding up a destination sign. This usually resulted in being left off within a fifty mile radius of my destination. From there it was much tougher to get a ride. Fending off the cold, then, became priority number one. Some drivers also made these hitchhiking experiences adventuresome. While I never asked a driver to stop and let me out, the speed of some drivers did not coincide with their skill to maintain adequate control of their car. Curiously, although I subsequently attended other colleges and ultimately received my BA degree from Lycoming College, my deepest loyalties have been to Fordham. I still avidly follow the results of most of their major sports teams. The picture above shows Dealy Hall on the right, my dormitory. I initially was assigned a room on the top floor with a kid from Puerto Rico whose parents were rather financially well off. Although he was a fine person we had absolutely nothing in common. Which was probably precisely why the university placed us together, so we might experience other cultures. But, the major effect on me was deep depression. I worked hard to get transferred to another room and was, after several weeks, successful. I was moved to a room on the 3rd floor with two other football squad members and my disposition improved significantly. The building on the left was housing for the Catholic priests associated with the university. Fordham is a Jesuit institution. At an age of 19 at that time and being from a small town and without television to gain an acquaintance of how the rest of the world lived, I was consummately naive. An indication of this was my total dismay to observe the beer trucks making their weekly delivery at the priest's residence. New york City offered many instances of human behavior that were completely foreign to my previously encapsulated experiences. It all both saddened me and started me on lifetime journey of an ever growing and dominating cynicism. I was raised a Catholic and many jolting experiences drove me deeper into Catholicism. Fordham required that students attend mass, at which attendance was taken, at least three times a week. I, however, attended each weekday as well as Sunday. I also unabashedly said my evening prayers while kneeling at my bed, completely oblivious of what was going on about me. Later in life the Catholic church abandoned me by assuming characteristics that were incompatible with my spiritual needs. One overwhelming negative aspect of college life, for me, at Fordham, was hunger. My scholarship provided me with free room and board. Breakfast and lunch was shared with all students. Football players, however, ate dinner together with larger servings. In addition, at the football squad dinner meal we had access to unlimited amounts of milk. None of this ever satisfied my consistent hunger pangs. My intake never matched my consumption at home. It was common for me to linger in the dining hall until after most of the students had left, to scavenge for leftover baked goods, usually rolls and the highly prized cornbread. My time at Fordham was during the Korean war. All in my age group were draft material. Initially, all college students were deferred. Later, it was necessary for all students to pass a test in order to continue their deferment. It was a source a great relief to learn that I had passed the test. Oddly, though, I went through the initial steps of joining the Marine's Reserve Officer Training program. I took the subway to Manhattan where I passed my physical and received the documents to complete, sign, and send back. I never did. Fordham at the time of my attendance was an all male institution. There were Friday night dances with girls imported from other area colleges. I have no idea how they were transported there. I never attended these dances but did show up one evening for about fifteen minutes to indulge my male curiosities. If a female did show up on campus during the week, it was an astounding head turning event. Although there were male efforts at discretion and subtlety to control testosterone driven actions, the attention given to any girl was more than obvious.

	One of my roommates, John Benchowski in our dorm room
	Dorm neighbor from across the hall, Carmine Campisi
	The principle classroom building on campus