From homemade skirts and custom designs to hockey jerseys and classic sweaters, Fordham gear of all types and eras was on display at Homecoming on October 18.
A Fighting Ram with a Mid-Century Vibe
Laura Kelly showed off a sweatshirt that she got from Etsy featuring a throwback Fordham mascot with a sailor’s cap and a snarl. Kelly, a 2023 grad who works in marketing, also sported a brand-new hat featuring the Gothic F that is part of Fordham’s latest brand evolution. She said she loves seeing how brands grow over the years. And for Homecoming, she couldn’t resist pairing the new hat with the old-school “image of the Ram that is aggressive” for athletics.
Ram Pride Runs Deep
Pajamas that her daughter outgrew. A men’s basketball T-shirt. One of her daughter’s old lanyards. These are just a few items that Vicky Waxman stitched together to create a one-of-a-kind Fordham skirt.
“Spirit is my thing,” said Waxman, pictured above alongside her daughter Tatiana, a Fordham senior on the dance team, and her husband Adam, sporting his own maroon pride.
“We collected some things, some of the giveaways. I stole some of her stuff that she wasn’t wearing anymore and sewed it together, and it’s fun,” she said with a smile.
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A Club Hockey Booster
Fordham grad Rob Pecci joked that he wasn’t athletically gifted to play sports for the Rams, but he’s always been a huge supporter. That’s why when he started following Fordham club hockey on Instagram last year and saw they were selling jerseys to support the team, he knew he had to buy one. He picked “08” to sport his graduation year.
Pecci said he and his wife, Christine Schwall-Pecci, a 2009 grad, love coming back to Fordham events like Homecoming and were excited to bring their daughter, Hunter, to campus this fall.
An Old-School Sweatshirt and a Stylish Custom Jacket
Joseph Ingersoll (right), a 1959 grad, said that he’s had his Fordham sweatshirt for as long as he could remember and probably got it at the bookstore one year, as frequently returns to campus for events. His wife’s jacket, however, bearing a Fordham athletics logo, can’t be found in any store.
“My daughter made this,” Rosemarie Ingersoll said proudly, pointing to the Ram patch on her gray Cutter & Buck jacket. Her daughter, Monica Ingersoll, a 1999 Fordham grad, works for the fashion brand. “People always compliment me on it.”
Vintage Wear on Display
Gerard Meagher, a 1974 grad, says he wears his vintage sweater to “special Fordham events.”
“Probably Susan, my girlfriend, got it done for me—she worked for Ralph Lauren and she tries to dress me up,” he said laughing, when asked where he got it.
Meagher, the owner of Old Town Bar, a classic New York institution, said he tries to come back as much as possible.
“It’s such a beautiful place, strikingly beautiful, and I come to every Homecoming—I like the football, and I like the people around football. I was the sports editor of the newspaper here, so I’ve always been in sports around here.”
Always Coming Home
Jade Petalcorin (center) said she thinks her T-shirt defining Fordham as “home” is one-of-a-kind. The 2025 grad got it from Jose-Luis “Lito” Salazar, S.J.,former executive director of campus ministry.
“Father Lito gave it to me for Christmas my freshman year,” she said, noting that he was the resident Jesuit in Loyola Hall when she lived there.
She joked that it is “the only Fordham shirt I’ll wear, because I feel like no one else has it.”
“And also because it’s home,” she added.
Showing off Fordham’s History
Emma Schmitchel (left) and Gemma Fahy (right), both 2023 grads, showed off gear that features the University seal and the year of Fordham’s founding.
Schmitchel said she was a history major so she “loves the history and tradition of Fordham.” Fahy said her sweatshirt belonged to her mom, Rosanna Fahy, a 1992 grad, but she’s been wearing it since she was a middle schooler, hoping to follow in her mom’s footsteps.
Additional reporting by Rafael Villa
