| 1961 Columbia Lions football | |
|---|---|
 1961 Columbia football team in Baker Field stands | |
Ivy League co-champion | |
| Conference | Ivy League |
| Record | 6–3 (6–1 Ivy) |
| Head coach |
|
| Offensive scheme | Wing-T |
| Captain | Bill Campbell[1] |
| Home stadium | Baker Field |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Columbia + | 6 | – | 1 | – | 0 | 6 | – | 3 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Harvard + | 6 | – | 1 | – | 0 | 6 | – | 3 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dartmouth | 5 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 6 | – | 3 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Princeton | 5 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 4 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yale | 3 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 4 | – | 5 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cornell | 2 | – | 5 | – | 0 | 3 | – | 6 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Penn | 1 | – | 6 | – | 0 | 2 | – | 7 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Brown | 0 | – | 7 | – | 0 | 0 | – | 9 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1961 Columbia Lions football team was an American football team that represented Columbia University in the 1961 college football season as a member of the Ivy League. In their fifth year head coach Aldo Donelli, the Lions compiled a 6–3 record (6–1 in conference game) and outscored opponents by a total of 240 to 117. They won Columbia's first and only Ivy League championship, sharing the title with Harvard.[2][3]
Although Columbia had accumulated an Ivy record of 4–10 in the previous two seasons, expectations for the team in 1961 were high; the Columbia Spectator wrote before the season, "[i]f practically no one gets hurt, if a few key sophomores come through, and most important of all, if [Aldo] Donelli's nineteen experienced seniors get fighting mad, then no Ivy League squad will have a chance against the Lions."[4]
The Lions began the season on the road against Brown, whom they defeated in one of the most lopsided victories in Columbia Lions history,[5] but followed up with a homecoming defeat against Princeton; despite this, Princeton's head coach, Dick Colman, said, "I'll tell you this much–they had the better team."[4] Although the team had led the Tigers 14–0, depth was and remained an issue throughout the season for the Lions; Columbia had only 14 players that consistently played and did not have separate offensive and defensive units.[4] The team entered the penultimate week of the season having to defeat Penn to win a share of the conference title. Playing without their captain, Bill Campbell, who had been injured, the Lions defeated the Quakers, 37–6.
The team played its home games at Baker Field in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.
- ^ "1961 Football Team". Columbia University. Retrieved September 17, 2024.
- ^ "1961 Columbia Lions Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Col1961was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c Pagels, Jim (March 27, 2013). "The only 'Columbia': Remembering the Ivy League Champions from 1961". Columbia Spectator. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
histwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).