Lions' Reese reminder of what could have been

Sylvester Reese always wanted his son to go to Yale. "It was pretty much the only college I heard about from him," said current Columbia running back, Jonathan Reese '02, of his high school years in St. Louis, Mo. "I think it was the name, the prestige, the Ivy League education—he stressed that a lot." In accordance with his father's wishes, Reese visited Yale on two separate occasions, and came away with a positive image of the program. After being actively recruited, Reese applied early to Yale.

COURTESY SPORTS PUBLICITY Columbia running back John Reese.

It was then that the harsh reality of the Academic Index (AI) set in. The AI is composed of a combination of high school GPA and SAT I and II scores. Applicants recruited to Ivy League schools in football, basketball, and men's ice hockey must have a minimum AI, which is determined differently for each university based on the average index scores of its incoming class. "We recruited Reese very hard, and he was not rejected by our admissions office," Yale Coach Jack Seidlecki said. "But he did not meet our AI requirements at that time."

When he found out that he was not going to be accepted to play for the Bulldogs, Reese turned to another Ivy school that was recruiting him—Columbia, whose lower AI requirements he met. Now, instead of wearing Bulldog Blue and splitting time with Rashad Bartholomew, MC '01, he will be playing against the Elis this Sat., Oct. 28, at the Yale Bowl.

"While I would love to have Reese and Rashad at Yale, there are many who would argue that this league is the most competitive league in the country because that did not happen," Siedlecki said. The AI has functioned to prevent any one team from accruing more than its fair sharing of top-notch student athletes. As Siedlecki pointed out, six schools have won or tied for the league championship in the last five years, and there is currently a five-team logjam at the top of the Ivy standings. Columbia has not benefited from the spreading of the wealth yet—managing only one winning Ivy season in the last 28 years—but the acquisition of Reese is definitely a step in the right direction.

Reese is currently the top rusher in the Ivy League (averaging six more yards per game than Bartholomew), and he also leads the league in all-purpose yards per game, average kickoff return yardage, and points per game. Last weekend, in a 49-21 victory over Dartmouth, Reese scampered for 236 yards on only 25 carries, breaking the Columbia records for yards per game and single-season rushing in the process. Reese needs to gain only three more yards to break the Lions' all-time career rushing mark. He will no doubt accomplish this feat this weekend in New Haven, where, ironically, he thought he would be doing most of his record-breaking in the first place.

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