Amidst the celebration and camaraderie of Jubilee Weekend 2008, the University paused to honor the greatest heroes of its first 100 years.
Eighteen names—those belonging to Fordham’s founder, its first president and 16 alumni and other notables—comprised the first set of inductees into the University’s Hall of Honor.
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The hall is located in the main corridor of the administration building on the Rose Hill campus. It was dedicated on Saturday, May 31, by Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, and a small gathering of trustees, alumni and guests.
“The hall was established to recognize alumni and alumnae whose lives have exemplified and brought recognition to the ideals to which the University is devoted,” said Trustee John P. Kehoe (FCLC ’85, FCRH ’60), “ideals which are manifested in its enduring commitment to educating men and women for others.”
The names included giants of sport, archbishops and cardinals of the church, military leaders, men of arts, letters and science, influential politicians and business leaders.
Calling Fordham a “strangely humble institution,” Father McShane noted that “despite the fact that our story is extraordinary, we have never had a hall of fame at Fordham.”
He explained that the inductees consisted entirely of men because they were culled from Fordham’s first century, and the University didn’t admit women until the 1960s. The dearth of women in the hall would be rectified with next year’s class, Father McShane assured the audience.
Family members of two honorees attended the ceremony, those of New York Giants owner Wellington Mara (FCRH ’37), and the daughter of the Hon. Malcolm Wilson (FCRH ’33, LAW ’36), former governor of New York.
“Each year we will recognize others who sought to serve at that high standard—on the strength of the values that were shaped irrevocably and reinforced firmly by their Fordham educations,” Kehoe said.
“We honor them; we are in their debt.”
Inaugural Class of the Fordham University Hall of Honor
Archbishop John Hughes
Founder of St. John’s College
First Archbishop of New York
John Cardinal McCloskey
First President of St. John’s College
Archbishop of New York
First American Named to the College of Cardinals
Col. Robert Gould Shaw
Commander of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment in the Civil War
Gen. James R. O’Beirne
Civil War Hero
Provost Marshal of Washington, D.C. at the death of President Lincoln
John LaFarge
Artist
John Cardinal Farley
Archbishop of New York
Esteban Bellán
First Caribbean Major League Baseball Player
John Gilmary Shea
Author and Historian
James J. Walsh
Author and Historian
Clarence R. Edwards
Brigadier General U.S. Army
John Francis “Jack” Coffey
Athlete, Coach and Graduate Manager
Francis Cardinal Spellman
Archbishop of New York
Frank Frisch
Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame
The Hon. Malcolm Wilson
Governor of the State of New York
Victor Francis Hess
Nobel Laureate in Physics, 1936
Vincent T. “Vince” Lombardi
Legendary Coach of the Green Bay Packers
Wellington Mara
Owner of the New York Giants
Richard J. Bennett
Chief Executive Officer, Schering-Plough Corporation
George E. Doty
Managing Partner, Goldman Sachs
