Flutie had his “Hail Mary” against Miami. Bill Cronin will always have “the catch” against Syracuse. Sub Turri photo.

On this date in 1964, members of the Class of 1968 attended their first Boston College football game, at least as BC students. For me, it was the first ever and, to me, the best game I saw while a student at BC. And it’s top 10 among all the BC football games I’ve seen.

BC played Syracuse. The Orangemen were ranked in the top 10 pre-season and featured two future hall-of-fame running backs — Floyd Little and Jim Nance.

It was a nice September Saturday. Lots of excitement and cheering and a card stunt performed by the freshman class. At least, I remember being among freshmen training for it and doing it. I don’t know if other classes were involved. I also don’t remember ever doing it again. And don’t remember seeing any photographic evidence it happened. Anybody else remember?

Something worked for the Eagles. We’ll let classmate Reid Oslin (A&S), former BC Sports Information Director and BC sports historian, tell the story in an article he prepared for a reunion of that 1964 team.

“Boston College – like almost every college team in 1964 – opened its schedule on September 19. ‘Back then, college football teams could not even start football practice until after Labor Day,’ recalled Charlie Smith, an end on the ’64 club who would captain the BC team the following year. ‘Double sessions started the day after Labor Day and you had your first game three weeks later.’

“Smith noted that college football was a far different game back then. Not only were all fields made of natural grass, and Alumni Stadium was a wooden bleacher-type structure that held but 26,000 fans – but most players were expected to play BOTH offense and defense.  Specialists were few and far between – BC’s kicker of the day was Marty DiMezza, a hulking guard who kicked placements in between his blocking assignments.

Dick Powers (70) flanks an upended Syracuse player on the approach to Floyd Little. Sub Turri photo.

“The Syracuse team came into the opener ranked No. 9 in the national polls. And why not? The Orangemen had a dream backfield of Jim Nance and Floyd Little – each of whom would go on to a starry pro football career. (Freshmen running back Larry Csonka and a wingback named Tom Coughlin [editor’s note: BC football coach 1991-93] did not play in the game for SU.)

“The teams battled back and forth throughout the game, with the tough BC defense yielding but 2 touchdowns to the high-octane Orangemen. BC quarterback Larry Marzetti threw a 26-yard scoring pass to Bob Budzinski and fullback Don Moran bulled into the endzone from 4 yards out to give the Eagles a 14-7 advantage in the 4th quarter.

QB Larry Marzetti is tackled by Syracuse. Note the “height” of the Alumni Field stands. Sub Turri photo.

“Late in the game, Syracuse quarterback Wally Mahle scored on a 1-yard plunge to pull the Orangemen even at 14-14. BC got the ball on the ensuing kickoff with time slipping away, and BC coach Jim Miller mulled the possibility of running out the clock and escaping with an unexpected tie [editor’s note: no overtime then]. On the sideline, team captain Bill Cronin yelled to Miller, ‘Are we going to try to win this thing or not?’

Coach Jim Miller expresses his affection for Bill Cronin.

“In the meantime, Marzetti was driving the team up the field. With just seconds remaining and the ball 55 yards away from paydirt, Marzetti called his own play and lofted a ‘Hail Mary’ to Cronin, a lanky former high school basketball star from Reading, Mass., who leaped into the air to make the catch. Syracuse’s two deep defenders, Charlie Brown and Mahle, collided as they tried to defend Cronin. The SU players fell to the ground and Cronin caught the ball unimpeded, staggering into the endzone for the winning score just as the old Alumni Stadium analog clock circled to zero.

“Delighted fans, led by the BC Band, raced out on the field. The wooden goalposts were torn down. BC had a victory for the ages.”

Other recollections
Steve McCabe (A&S): “Coming to BC, I didn’t know a lot about college football, but I did know that Syracuse was a powerhouse with a great coach and was known for graduating great running backs like Ernie Davis and Jim Brown. I was in heaven when we won that game, and always felt that although the football season was a ton of fun, that first game was the highlight of our four years of football, and it was all downhill from there. I don’t remember any of the details, only that we won. Twenty years later, we were fortunate enough to have the ‘Hail Mary’ pass enter sports legend and to see it played over and over during subsequent televised BC games. BC football made me an advocate of ‘big time’ football at Rutgers, where I met my wife, and where my son David attended. It can change the fortune of a school for the better, as I believe Doug Flutie’s game did for BC, and it can be done without sacrificing academic standards. Just as important, it can make Fall a lot of fun for a campus town and its students and graduates.”

Tom Sugrue (A&S): “That was an amazing game — a great way to start our ‘careers’ as BC sports fans. Of course, we lost the next weekend against Army — I was at the game. I was so excited from the Syracuse win, I went home the next weekend and convinced my Dad to go up to West Point with me. So this too was a good lesson for 50+ years of BC fandom. As soon as they lift you up, the bottom can fall out! :)”

Here’s the article about the game that appeared in the next Friday’s Heights. There are other articles and columns related to the game in the same issue.