Football Holds 25th Annual Fordham Gridiron Club Golf Outing

      The Costantino, Lumelleau, and Zizzo Football Office Challenge

Eastchester, N.Y. – With the spring semester just about complete and graduation quickly approaching, the Fordham University football program held its 25th Annual Fordham Football Gridiron Club Golf Outing on Monday, May 14, at the Leewood Golf Club.
 
Following a day on the links, the group enjoyed dinner in the clubhouse and heard from Gridiron Club President, Jack Pieracini, FCRH '98, along with head coach Joe Conlin, who both stressed the need for support of the program.
 
Former Gridiron Club president Judge Robert Holdman, FCRH '86, LAW '91, started the night with an annual tradition of a toast to the late Rich Marrin, FCRH '67, LAW '70, a former Ram and founder of the Fordham Gridiron Club.
 

Holdman brought up Pieracini, who encouraged the group to be more active with the Gridiron Club and announced that Chip Smith, FCRH '91, would follow him as Gridiron president after the 2018-2019 term.
 
Following dinner, Conlin took the podium and detailed his ideas on how he will improve the Fordham football program.
 
"First and foremost, I'm humbled and honored to be the head football coach at Fordham," said Conlin. "I am ready to move this program in the right direction and, to me, the two most important things are recruiting and practice."
 
Conlin mentioned that the Rams will have 19 open spots for the 2019 recruiting class and that he and his staff have been busy over the past few weeks identifying potential student-athletes who will be a good fit for Fordham. He also mentioned that Fordham has held six junior days and will have five prospect camps on Rose Hill in June along with a 7-on-7 and city camp.
 
"The response we've been getting from our recruits has been fantastic," said Conlin. "We have to recruit to be a dominant rushing team behind a very physical line and on defense we need more speed and strength."
 
The head coach also mentioned that he's looking for dynamic wide receivers who can block downfield and a distributing quarterback who can move the chains.
 
"I don't go into a game thinking I'm smarter than the other team's coordinator," said Conlin. "I just know that we will have the right players line up for us who will play harder than his players."
 
On defense, Conlin mentioned that he believes strongly in a downhill attack which will dictate to the offense what the offense can do.
 
As for the just completed spring season, Conlin said he was "proud of the effort given by the Rams. We put a lot of money in the bank but we're not close to being finished."
 

Looking ahead to the 2018 season, Conlin said that the schedule will be tough but that the Patriot League is wide open. But he also mentioned how the Rams are falling behind other Patriot League members when it comes to facilities.
 
"Other Patriot League schools have caught up to us with scholarships and some have surpassed us in facilities," said Conlin. "We don't need a lot but it's imperative that we get the new office project started as soon as possible as well as upgrades to the weight room."
 
The Rams open the 2018 season on Saturday, September 1, as they travel to Charlotte, N.C., to face the Charlotte 49ers from the NCAA FCS Sun Belt Conference.
  
Winners of the golf contests:
 






First Place (Foursome) – 62
Brett Biestek
Kurt Sundberg
Will Biestek
Taylor Davenport
 
Closest to Pin
Hole 11 – Griffin Murphy (6' 1")
 
Longest Drive
Hole 14 – John Potamousis
 
The Fordham Football program and Maroon Club would also like to thank the following sponsors for their support at the 2018 Fordham Gridiron Club Golf Outing:
 
Blocks of Granite Sponsor:
Bill Conley, PAR '21
Jim Galowski, GABELLI '96
 
Hall of Fame Sponsor:
Frank Sacco, FCRH '87
 
Captain Sponsor:
Robert Holdman, FCRH '86, LAW '91
BODYARMOR
Coca-Cola
HIPPEAS
Under Armour
 
Varsity Sponsor:
Barry Williams, PAR '21
Dominic Curcio, FCRH '88, LAW '91
Jack Pieracini, FCRH '98
 
JV Sponsor:
Michael Andrews, GABELLI '09, '19
Albert Chianese, FCRH '69
Frank D'Alessio, FCRH '90, GABELLI '92
Robert Hollweg, FCRH '64, LAW '67
Robert Rynkar, FCRH '66
Greg and Kristen Cunningham, PAR '21
 
Freshman Sponsor:
Ralph Dengler, LAW '96
Ryan Kirwan