With the 2020 spring sports season canceled by the COVID-19 outbreak, we at Fordham have decided to dig back through our archives and provide our fans with content on some of the outstanding teams and student-athletes who have graced Rose Hill over the years
 
Bronx, N.Y. – It's not very common for an NCAA Division I student-athlete to play two sports. It's even rarer for a Division 1 student-athlete to earn All-America honors in two sports. Meet Fordham's Barry Cantrell, a 1998 graduate of the Gabelli School of Business, a standout on both the football field as a punter and on the track as a high jumper.
 
Cantrell earned All-America honors in both sports as a senior in 1997-1998. He was named First Team All-America in football by the Associated Press in 1997 as well as a First Team Burger King All-America and Second Team All-America by the Sports Network. As a senior, he led the NCAA I-AA (now FCS) and set a school record with a 45.8 yards/punt average.


Cantrell graduated with numerous school punting records including most career punts (267), career punting yards (10,649) and career punting average (39.9) as well as the Patriot League record for best season and career averages.
 
On the track in 1997-1998, Cantrell won the high jump competition at the 1998 Atlantic 10 Indoor Championships and earned 1998 Indoor All-America honors by placing eleventh at the NCAA National Championships. He also won the high jump at the 1998 Atlantic 10 Indoor Championships with a meet record jump of 7' 1.75", a record that stills stands. Cantrell graduated with the school indoor and outdoor high jump records with the outdoor mark still standing today.
 
Cantrell was just as successful in the classroom, earning Academic All-America® in both sports as a senior in 1997-1998 as well as being named Patriot League Scholar Athlete of the Year for football in 1996 and 1997.
 
The 1998 Vincent T. Lombardi Award winner, Cantrell was named to the Patriot League All-Anniversary Team in 2001 and inducted into the Fordham Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004.
 
Following graduation, Cantrell signed a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Eagles and was assigned to play for the Frankfurt Galaxy of the World League, winning the 1999 World Bowl championship. He would later appear in two games for the Dallas Cowboys in 2000.
 
He currently resides in Florida where he serves as the director of financial planning for Edelman Financial Engines in Tampa.