Jan. 3, 2011

Bronx, N.Y. - The Fordham University community lost a valuable member on Monday with the passing of Athletic Hall of Famer Larry Higgins, FCRH '51, a former football Ram, at his home in California at the age of 84.

A graduate of St. Cecilia High School in Englewood, New Jersey, where he played for Fordham great Vince Lombardi, Higgins joined the Army after high school, serving in World War II, and didn't enroll at Fordham until 1947. That year he played on the Fordham freshman team for Lombardi along with future Fordham Hall of Famers Herb Seidell, Andy Lukac, Dick Doheny, Tom Mareski and Alan Pfeifer.

As a freshman, he would become known as the player who inspired Lombardi's "Run to Daylight" instructions, a phrase that Lombardi used as the title for a 1963 book he penned. It seems that Lombardi decided to feature Higgins in the red zone as the Rams were having problems putting the ball in the end zone. They would practice off tackle plays, 34 to the right and 33 to the left, into the early evening. The only problem was the setting sun was making it difficult for Higgins to find the hole on the left created by the line but not on the right. When asked by Lombardi why he fouled up every time he ran to the left but was successful on every run to the right, Higgins explained that it was too dark on the left but on the right he could see the hole and "just ran to daylight". Higgins claimed Lombardi laughed and said "we would only `run to daylight' for the rest of the practice."

After the Rams posted a dismal 3-6 mark in 1948 during his sophomore year, Higgins had an explosive junior season, helping the Maroon to a much improved 5-3 record in 1949. He led the Rams in rushing with 446 yards, gaining 4.1 yards per carry and scored eight touchdowns. His 48 points tied Pfeifer for the team lead in that category.

Higgins, who was known as Mr. Inside during his Fordham days, was also a key player the following year, his senior season, when the Maroon produced a sterling 8-1 record. The 1950 squad would rank up there with the Fordham teams of the 1930's and early 1940's as the Rams just missed out on being invited to a bowl game. Fordham registered wins over powerhouses such as Boston College, West Virginia and Syracuse with the only blemish on the schedule being a 21-14 loss to Yale, a game which had been postponed the previous year due to a polio outbreak on the Yale campus. The eight wins tied with the 1930 and 1941 teams for the school record.

Following graduation, Higgins was drafted by the Chicago Bears. He was inducted into the Fordham Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991, along with former teammates Doheny and Mareski.