Sports

Chaminade Alum Inducted into Fordham Baseball Hall of Fame

Former Flyer relief pitcher Bob Cole one of eight former university standouts to be honored.

Three decades after his stellar campaign for the 1978 Fordham Rams Metropolitan Conference Championship baseball squad, ace relief pitcher Bobby Cole (1078) led the  on February 25.

Cole is a native of Floral Park and now resides in Garden City. A product of , Cole was one of eight former athletic standouts inducted into the Fordham pantheon, joining such Rams sports icons as Vince Lombardi, Frankie Frisch, Wellington Mara and Vin Scully.

The eight were enshrined into the Fordham Hall of Fame in ceremonies at McGinley Center by university president Fr. Joseph McShane and executive athletic director Frank McLaughlin along with fellow baseball alum Bob Cooney (‘29), rower Dan Wolleben (‘04), softball’s Katie Davis (‘06), swimmers Maik Wiedenbach (‘01) and Erika Newell (‘05) and runners Deric Zaphire (‘03) and Maureen Zivic (‘06).

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While Cole ranks fifth on the Fordham career saves list (13) and currently sits in sixth on the all-time ERA list (2.63), he stands out most in the program’s history for his role in Fordham’s historic 1978 campaign. That year, Cole compiled a 5-0 record and recorded seven saves with a 2.11 ERA, helping the Rams capture the ‘78 Met title while contributing to an amazing 40 percent of the squad’s victories during a 30-15 campaign.

“Growing up on Long Island, baseball was truly America’s pastime,” said Cole, now senior vice president, media, for News America Marketing. “No matter what level, you played whiffle ball, stickball, everyone played Little League. That’s just what you did. You just got up in the morning, grabbed your mitt,  and went out and played ball.”

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Said Hall of Fame basketball writer Jim O’Connell of the Associated Press, who was Fordham’s S.I.D. while Cole flourished: “What made Bob Cole different is that he was the first real closer Fordham had and he was one of the few in college baseball at the time, when starters were expected to go nine innings. Being on that bench for two season, scorebook in hand, I saw what he meant to that team. When the Rams had a late lead, the game was over. Bob was coach Jack Lyons' equivalent of Red Auerbach's victory cigar with the Boston Celtics.”

Bob and his wife Mary have four children: daughters Ashley and Emily, sons Billy and Scott, his wife Katy and their children, the Cole grandkids, Griffin and Kaitlyn.


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