Columbia's Bill Wazevich: An All-Time Great

Bill Wazevich never joined Marty Domres in the NFL...but he should have

DAY 96: Bill Wazevich

No discussion of wide receivers in Columbia history should exclude Bill Wazevich '70.

Wazevich was QB Marty Domres' favorite target for two seasons, but he was much more than just a small cog in a combo.

Wazevich caught forty five passes for 593 yards in 1967. In his varsity career he caught 102 passes for 1,336 yards, then an Ivy League record. His 214 receiving yards against Princeton in 1967, still is a Columbia record and was an Ivy League record at the time. That game was a heartbreaking loss, as it came during Columbia's long losing streak to the Tigers that stretched from 1946 until 1971.

The Ohio native then made the jump to the NFL. He got signed by the Cleveland Browns and put up a hell of a fight to get a slot on the team before he was finally cut. 

Here's a fantastic local newspaper piece about Wazevich's struggle to make the Browns that I recently found.

Wazevich went into finance instead, becoming a vice president at Merrill Lynch.

In 2002, he died before his time, at age fifty four. When I interviewed Domres during the 2007 season, Marty said Wazevich's death was still too new, painful, and raw to talk about.

It's easier to talk about what he did as a student, athlete and an alum. He excelled at all of those roles. 

After football, he still had a career in sports. He was a very well-respected high school basketball official for boys’ and girls’ games. He worked district and regional tournaments and officiated in three state tournaments in Ohio.