In This Town, No. 1 Is No. 2

Quiz time. Far above Cayuga's waters in central New York, what's the news of the hour?

1) Apple cider is now selling for 70� a gallon.

2) The Cayuga Indians are campaigning for the return of land they say their ancestors turned over to the state in violation of the Federal Non-intercourse Act of 1790.

3) In Cornell's traditional game with Penn on Saturday, the Big Red beat the Quakers 31-9.

4) None of the above.

You may be summa cum laude material if you picked No. 4. The big story in Cayugaland is that Ithaca's "other" school, Ithaca College, routed Wagner College of Staten Island, N.Y. 41-13 last week in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. What's more, Ithaca's Bombers are favored to beat Minnesota-Morris in Saturday's semifinals and, on Dec. 6, to repeat as the Division III national champions.

The predominant bumper sticker in the area says ITHACA IS GORGES. For Ithaca College and Cornell, it's fair to say that deep gorges make good neighbors. The teams have never played each other, although they used to scrimmage in preseason. That ended in 1977 because Cornell had been getting the worst of it and the workouts became too rough, "exactly what you don't want a scrimmage to be," says Ithaca's coach, Jim Butterfield.

Ithaca was founded in 1892, 27 years after Cornell, as a conservatory of music, and while Cornell has always had its stately perch far above you know what, the Ithaca College campus was scattered above downtown shops until the mid-'60s.

The ground on which the present campus is situated once served as an encampment for the Cayugas. It was purchased during the administration of Leonard Job, Ithaca's president from 1932 to '57. Job not only designed the school's football field himself, but leveled it as well from his seat on a bulldozer.

While Cornell football dates back to 1887 and boasts Coaches Glenn (Pop) Warner, Gloomy Gil Dobie and Carl Snavely, the Bombers didn't play an intercollegiate game until 1930. The most renowned Ithaca alumnus—athletically, at least—may be professional wrestler Bob (Gorilla Monsoon) Marella.