Day 80: Honors for Jackie Blackett and Remembering Rory Wilfork

In all my years of interacting with Columbia's athletic department, no one has been more warm and welcoming than Associate Athletics Director Jackie Blackett.

And in all my conversations with Columbia athletes and their families, all I ever hear are nice words about Jackie.

So I was very happy to see that she is being named the Jostens Administrator of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA) in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision.

I think I can speak for all the readers here when I send my congratulations to Jackie.

Speaking of administrators, the Ivy League's new Executive Director officially took over today. We wish Robin Harris good luck and the wisdom with which to make the best decisions for our league.

100 Players in 100 Days: The Linebackers

Moving from the defensive backfield to the linebacking corps, I'd like to focus on 10 memorable Lion linebackers in the next 10 days, beginning with the great Rory Wilfork.

Wilfork came to Columbia from Miami with good football blood flowing in his veins. His dad Roy was star linebacker for Mississippi Valley State and played with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969 and 1970.

As a freshman in 1993, he was among the first Ivy League footballers to be allowed to play for the varsity as a freshman. He made a bit of a splash in Week 9 with a big tackle to help preserve a 29-24 win over Cornell in Ithaca.

But Wilfork broke out big time as a sophomore in the 1994 season. He exploded for 127 tackles, 16 of them for a loss. He was an easy choice for First-Team All-Ivy, as the Lions posted their first winning season in 23 years.

Wilfork's presence on and off the field were good enough to earn a spot as co-captain of the team as a junior in 1995—he was the first junior captain in 59 years at Columbia.

The 1995 season was really a testament to Wilfork, as fellow star Marcellus Wiley sat out the season. That put a huge degree of the defensive pressure on Wilfork, and he responded with 141 tackles.

With Wiley back in the fold in 1996, Wilfork could "relax" as a senior, as he posted 103 tackles and 15 for a loss in that final season.

When he was done, Wilfork would be named as a First-Team All-Ivy member all three of his final years, only the 13th player in Ivy history at the time to achieve that feat.

What set Wilfork apart was his speed, the kind of speed that current standout linebacker Alex Gross exhibits, but Wilfork was just as fast and with more size on him.

Wilfork is now a managing director at Goldman Sachs.