Springfield College vs. Amherst, 1966

A photograph of the Springfield College football team in a game against Amherst in 1966. It appears that Springfield is wearing the darker jerseys and Amherst is in the white. Springfield College is on defense and there are 4 players rushing towards Amerst player, John Ratichek. The identifiable Springfield players in this photograph are Alfred Cece (# 40), Vincent Cutrona (# 86), Richard Friedman (# 81), James Gillis (# 65), and James Nichols (# 70). Springfield lost to Amherst this game and finished the 1966 season under head coach Ted Dunn with a final record of 7 wins and 2 losses.In 1890, Amos Alonzo Stagg, a Yale all-American and major league baseball pitching prospect, came to Springfield College (then known as the YMCA Training School) and started the college’s first football team. A grad student in a one-year program to become a YMCA Physical Director, he served as Coach, Manager, Captain, and Player on this original team often called “Stagg’s Eleven” or “The Stubby Christians.” The team finished the first season with a record of 5 wins and 3 losses, playing Yale strongly in the first indoor football game ever played in Madison Square Garden. Among other greats to coach the football team was James Huff McCurdy. McCurdy came to Springfield in 1895 and headed the team till 1917. He is largely responsible for helping to grow the Springfield College football team’s reputation and starting a long tradition of being feared by other colleges, in addition to his innovative work in exercise physiology. Later, Oscar “Ossie” Solem, famous Syracuse University coach