Lehigh University Athletics
Lehigh welcomes back 1957 Lambert champs
10/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
Lambert-Cup Winning 1957 Lehigh Football Team Reunion
By Brian Sandelovsky
On the day of the 1957 Lambert Cup Champion Lehigh football team reunion, the 2007 version of the team accomplished one of the only things that their earlier counterparts failed to do. They beat the Virginia Military Institute Keydets.
Who knew, 50 years ago, that the Lehigh University Engineers’ winning of the inaugural Lambert Cup in 1957 would be the first of many Lambert Cup Championships (’61, ’75, ’77, ’80, ’01) for Lehigh? Led by legendary coach Bill Leckonby and Lehigh Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Nolan, ‘58, the Engineers had one of the most successful runs in Lehigh’s entire athletic history.
After an impressive 3-0 start to the season, the ’57 Engineers went on the road to earn two prestigious victories over powerhouses Rutgers and Columbia on successive Saturdays.
Len Elliot, the Newark Evening News sports editor, said, “In all fairness to Nolan and Lehigh, the general opinion is that [the] Scarlet [Knights] have too many guns for Lehigh.” The Engineers went on to post a 13-7 win, which included several impressive goal-line stops.
“Little Oklahoma” became the Engineers’ new nickname in the papers, easily one of the greatest compliment ever bestowed upon a Lehigh football team.
The ’57 squad has become a part of Lehigh folklore, with Nolan being inducted into the Lehigh Athletics/Penske Hall of Fame class of 1996, and several other players going on to enjoy professional careers in football, a feat rarely accomplished nowadays. However, the most influential character on that team—and Lehigh athletics in general—never played a down for Lehigh.
Coach Leckonby, according to fullback Walter Pijawka, ’58, was an inspiration “for his knowledge of the game, teaching ability, organization skills and calmness under pressure.” He was the heart of that Cup-winning team and eventually moved on to serve as Lehigh Athletic Director, at which time he oversaw the creation and development of women’s sports at Lehigh and now has the locker rooms at the A. Haigh Cundey Varsity House named in his honor.
While life took these men in different directions after graduation, including the NFL, the Defense Department and even Asia, they were back together at Lehigh for a memorable and special weekend.
The players showed up at the Friday night dinner to find their place-cards and nametags were attached to their ’57 Lehigh football program pictures. Some teammates who had not seen each other since graduating from Lehigh commented on how they recognized their long-lost colleagues solely by their pictures!
1957 co-captain and starting tackle Pete Williams reminisced about old times with the guys. “My favorite memories [involve] the fun and camaraderie I had with my teammates,” he said. “While you may miss playing the games; you mainly miss the many things that happened on and off the playing field with your team.”
Having an entire campus’ support is also a once-in-a-lifetime feeling. “One of the things that standout [in my memory] was the day before the VMI game,” Williams recalled. “One of the Physics professors…stopped me to tell me that the entire Physics staff was rooting for us…he wished me the best of luck.” It is a rare sight outside a college campus to find such a tight-knit community of loyal supporters.
Many of the attendees of the reunion expressed appreciation for what they had learned at Lehigh, not only in the classroom, but also on the football field.
One of the greatest lessons I learned was “the direct coupling of effort, both personal and teamwork, to success,” Pijawka said.
In their return to Lehigh 50 years later, the members of the 1957 Lehigh football team were able to watch their younger counterparts exact a little bit of revenge and once again enjoyed the comradeship and excitement of their famed gridiron squad.
