A Chicle a day through the end of May

[jefferyepayne]

Card #21 in the Chicle set is Cliff Montgomery. Cliff "Monty" Montgomery grew up in Pennsylvania and attended Columbia University. After captaining the freshman squad, he became a 3 year varsity starter at quarterback and led the Columbia Lions to a 22-3-2 record. In what is widely regarded as one of the greatest upsets of the twentieth century, Montgomery led Columbia to a 7 - 0 Rose Bowl victory over Stanford in 1934. Montgomery majored in history at Columbia.

The '34 Rose Bowl was played on a field that had had to withstand 3 days of heavy rain. Fireman pumped two and a half million gallons of water out of the stadium on game day but it immediately began to rain again. Many considered this to favor Stanford as they had a 17 pound per person weight advantage over Columbia. In a play that will be remembered forever, Montgomery executed a trick play, known as KF-79, for the winning score. Reminiscent of the Boise State vs. Oklahoma play in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, Montgomery slipped the ball to Al Barabas while faking to another back and racing around the end himself. As the entire Stanford team followed the fake hand-off and also Montgomery, Barabas executed a naked bootleg to the blind side with the ball on his back hip for a touchdown. Stanford had been scored upon only four times the entire season. Columbia won the game 7 - 0 and Montgomery was named MVP.

Montgomery played only one year in the NFL for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1935) and played tailback. He only started three of eleven games that season and decided to move on from football thereafter.

Following a stint in business, Montgomery served with the United States Navy during World War II. He earned the Silver Star during the 1945 invasion of Okinawa, saving the lives of 400 sailors when he rescued them from a burning destroyer in rough seas.

Montgomery returned to business after WWII and had a successful career working at McGraw Hill while also spending 25 years as a college football official. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and was named Columbia athlete of the century.

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And from the days when cigarette smoking was cool ...

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jeff