Combining the rigor and tradition of Ivy League athletics with the distinctive format of sprint football, which emphasizes speed, skill, and strategy over size, Cornell is one of the original members of the Collegiate Sprint Football League. As part of the sport’s legacy since its inception in 1937, the Big Red has long offered student-athletes a competitive football experience with a tight-knit team culture.
The Cornell sprint football team entered the 1998 season with a new name but the same philosophy which has kept it going for so many years. In 1998, the athletic directors of the Eastern Lightweight Football League voted to officially change the name to the Collegiate Sprint Football League in a renewed effort to increase expansion opportunities.
Since it joined the league in 1937 through today, the spirit and purpose of Big Red sprint football has always remained the same — a varsity football program for the average-size American male. It is collegiate football with one restriction, every player must weigh 172 pounds or less on Wednesday of a game week.
Sprint football had a humble beginning, as Harvard and Yale fielded teams to provide additional entertainment before the varsity Harvard-Yale game. Penn was the school to popularize the sport, however, as its president coined the term “Football for All,” and encouraged participation in this unique game. Eight lightweight teams competed in 1931, but only two of these remain in existence today — Princeton and Penn. The Eastern Lightweight Football League was launched in 1934 with Yale, Penn, Rutgers, Lafayette and Princeton competing. Cornell joined the league in 1936.
Playing under Alfred Wolff, Cornell recorded a 3-2 record in 1937, its first season of league competition. Wolff coached for the first five seasons of the lightweights, and Bob Grant took over in 1942 before World War II caused the lightweights to take a three-year break. In 1946, Bob Cullen revived the lightweight program and coached the team for one season. No one knew then how popular both the lightweight program, and its 1946 coach, would become.
From 1947-57, Cornell had eight different coaches and not much of a stab at the league title as Navy dominated the conference. In 1958, Cullen returned to the helm and became one of the greatest contributors to the sport of lightweight football. His teams were outstanding — between 1958 and 1975 the Big Red recorded 14 second- or third-place finishes in the league, and in 1975 won its first ELFL title with a 5-1 record that tied Princeton for a share of the top spot. Bob’s achievements were recognized in 1984 when he was inducted into the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame.
Bob’s son, Terry, served as the team’s offensive coordinator from 1965 until the 1970s when he joined his father at the helm as co-head coach of the team. Terry continued to serve as head coach until 2022, and when the position was endowed in 2001, Terry officially became the first Terry Cullen Head Coach of Sprint Football.
Cornell won the league championship outright in 1978 (going 5-0 overall), 1982 (7-0 overall and 5-0 league record) and repeated the feat in 2006 (6-0 overall and 4-0 league record). In both 1984 and 1986 the team shared a three-way tie for the title with Army and Navy.
The past 80 seasons have held a lot of memories for the Cullens and their players, but perhaps no memory is as unique as the Cornell lightweight’s 1976 Christmas trip to Japan. The American Football Association of Japan had imported several U.S. pro and college teams to Japan for exhibition games to build support for the sport. However, when playing against the Japanese All-Stars, the U.S. squads had advantages in size, experience and coaching. During a visit to Japan for his son Tom’s wedding, Coach Cullen suggested that the Japanese invite a lightweight team to compete to ensure a close game that would be a beneficial publicity event. After much correspondence and the efforts of Cornell alumni in Japan, the Big Red lightweight football squad received an invitation to compete in the Japanese Silk Bowl. Treated to gala receptions and a whirlwind tour of the country, 57 Cornell players not only had an amazing cultural experience that covered a span of 15 days, but recorded an amicable 1-1 record against the Japanese All-Stars with a 9-0 win on Christmas Day in Tokyo and a 17-16 loss one week later in Nagoya.
With the retirement of Terry Cullen following the 2022 season, veteran college coach Nick Quartaro spent one season in charge of the program before handing the reigns to Michael Huyghue '83.
Though the sprint football team hasn’t offered its players trips to Japan every season, the team’s popularity is still enormous. The reason comes down to the philosophy that has kept the team alive for over 70 years. This sport is a unique opportunity for everyone to play — the lightweights deny no one. With the emphasis on larger players in the varsity program, this sport serves a deserving group of the student population that would not have the opportunity to compete on the collegiate level in football.
