Best Cornell players in history

Joe Posnanski, one of the greatest sports writers in the country, is undertaking an interesting exercise on his blog. In it, he's looking to pick out the greatest athlete for a university in the "Big 3" sports (football, basketball, baseball) as well as any sports-related wildcards. These usually would include the other sports, as well as sports-related alums (e.g. writers, coaches, actors, executives, etc.).

As our glory days in the major national athletic scene are way before my time, I hesitate to offer an opinion on our best football, baseball, and basketball players in Cornell history. I guess you'd have to go with Marinaro, right? Wild cards would have to be Dryden and Dick Schaap to begin, and I'm sure others can come up with many more solid candidates.

Anyway, I thought you all might have some fun with this. Here is the post where he originally presents the idea (down a bit) as well as the two posts Poz has made on the topic thus far.

[joeposnanski.com]

[joeposnanski.com]

[joeposnanski.com]

Have at it.

I posted to the blog:

Football: Pop Warner (alt. Marinaro)
Wildcards: Dryden, Nieuwendyk, Bruce Arena, Schaap, Robert Trent Jones.

Baseball and Basketball really don't have any worth mentioning. Even if you go through the Cornell Hall of Fame, you see very few inducted for those sports.

Sadly, Dave Bliss may be among the most notable CU basketball alumni for the Baylor debacle. He also played baseball and is in the CU hall...

Jeff Hopkins '82
Baseball and Basketball really don't have any worth mentioning. Even if you go through the Cornell Hall of Fame, you see very few inducted for those sports.

Can we count Lou Gehrig, since he (once) played on Hoy Field?

Jeff Hopkins '82
Football: Pop Warner (alt. Marinaro)

Can't argue with those choices, but Gogolak has to be up there as well, simply for the revolution that he caused. That is, of course, if you consider place kickers to be football players.

Robb

Jeff Hopkins '82
Baseball and Basketball really don't have any worth mentioning. Even if you go through the Cornell Hall of Fame, you see very few inducted for those sports.

Can we count Lou Gehrig, since he (once) played on Hoy Field?

That's exactly what I was thinking for baseball.

Jeff Hopkins '82
Baseball and Basketball really don't have any worth mentioning. Even if you go through the Cornell Hall of Fame, you see very few inducted for those sports.

The lack of notable baseball and basketball alumni short-circuited my planned response to Posnanski's blog post. Too bad, really, because off the top of my head I'd say our football and wild card entries stack up pretty favorably with just about everyone the Ivy League can throw out there except probably Chuck Bednarik.

Josh '99

Jeff Hopkins '82
Baseball and Basketball really don't have any worth mentioning. Even if you go through the Cornell Hall of Fame, you see very few inducted for those sports.

The lack of notable baseball and basketball alumni short-circuited my planned response to Posnanski's blog post. Too bad, really, because off the top of my head I'd say our football and wild card entries stack up pretty favorably with just about everyone the Ivy League can throw out there except probably Chuck Bednarik.

Sid Luckman? Calvin Hill? Mike Pyle? Gary Fencik? Three Ivy Heisman winners: Larry Kelley, Clint Frank, Dick Kazmaier?

Al DeFlorio

Josh '99

Jeff Hopkins '82
Baseball and Basketball really don't have any worth mentioning. Even if you go through the Cornell Hall of Fame, you see very few inducted for those sports.

The lack of notable baseball and basketball alumni short-circuited my planned response to Posnanski's blog post. Too bad, really, because off the top of my head I'd say our football and wild card entries stack up pretty favorably with just about everyone the Ivy League can throw out there except probably Chuck Bednarik.

Sid Luckman? Calvin Hill? Mike Pyle? Gary Fencik? Three Ivy Heisman winners: Larry Kelley, Clint Frank, Dick Kazmaier?

Bill Bradley?

ugarte

Al DeFlorio

Josh '99

Jeff Hopkins '82
Baseball and Basketball really don't have any worth mentioning. Even if you go through the Cornell Hall of Fame, you see very few inducted for those sports.

The lack of notable baseball and basketball alumni short-circuited my planned response to Posnanski's blog post. Too bad, really, because off the top of my head I'd say our football and wild card entries stack up pretty favorably with just about everyone the Ivy League can throw out there except probably Chuck Bednarik.

Sid Luckman? Calvin Hill? Mike Pyle? Gary Fencik? Three Ivy Heisman winners: Larry Kelley, Clint Frank, Dick Kazmaier?

Bill Bradley?

I think Josh had given up on Cornell notables in baseball and basketball, and was saying Cornell could match up well in sports other than those. There was certainly a good representation of football All-Americans in the 20s and 30s (e.g., Kaw, Pfann, Holland).

Jeff Hopkins '82
I posted to the blog:

Football: Pop Warner (alt. Marinaro)
Wildcards: Dryden, Nieuwendyk, Bruce Arena, Schaap, Robert Trent Jones.

While Robert Trent Jones was certainly a great golf course architect, and the RTJ Trail in Alabama is a fun set of courses, he's not notable as a player. Robert Tyre Jones Jr. (or Bobby), on the other hand, played for Georgia Tech, and coached the Harvard team since his eligibility was used up, before winning the U.S. Amateur, British Amateur, U.S. Open, and British Open in 1930. Similar names, both involved in golf, but sadly Bobby was a Crimson man, technically.

vance0?

Jeff Hopkins '82
I posted to the blog:

Football: Pop Warner (alt. Marinaro)
Wildcards: Dryden, Nieuwendyk, Bruce Arena, Schaap, Robert Trent Jones.

While Robert Trent Jones was certainly a great golf course architect, and the RTJ Trail in Alabama is a fun set of courses, he's not notable as a player. Robert Tyre Jones Jr. (or Bobby), on the other hand, played for Georgia Tech, and coached the Harvard team since his eligibility was used up, before winning the U.S. Amateur, British Amateur, U.S. Open, and British Open in 1930. Similar names, both involved in golf, but sadly Bobby was a Crimson man, technically.

Well since people were tossing out sportscasters, coaches, commissioners, etc. on the blog, I tossed out RT Jones.

Jeff Hopkins '82

vance0?

Jeff Hopkins '82
I posted to the blog:

Football: Pop Warner (alt. Marinaro)
Wildcards: Dryden, Nieuwendyk, Bruce Arena, Schaap, Robert Trent Jones.

While Robert Trent Jones was certainly a great golf course architect, and the RTJ Trail in Alabama is a fun set of courses, he's not notable as a player. Robert Tyre Jones Jr. (or Bobby), on the other hand, played for Georgia Tech, and coached the Harvard team since his eligibility was used up, before winning the U.S. Amateur, British Amateur, U.S. Open, and British Open in 1930. Similar names, both involved in golf, but sadly Bobby was a Crimson man, technically.

Well since people were tossing out sportscasters, coaches, commissioners, etc. on the blog, I tossed out RT Jones.

Definitely a solid wildcard choice, based on the way the question was posted. The wildcards focused on athletic contributors, not necessarily athletes.