NY sports history: Jan. 12, 1957

THIS DAY IN NY SPORTS HISTORY

Saturday, Jan. 12, 1957

Columbia's Forte sets mark

Chet Forte set a Columbia single-game record with 44 points in the Lions' 93-82 road win against Rutgers. On Feb. 13, Forte dropped 45 points in a 93-75 Ivy League victory over Penn. The record would hold up for 34 years. Columbia sophomore Buck Jenkins scored 47 points in a 92-77 win over Harvard on Feb. 15, 1991, a mark that still stands. "Chet the Jet" played at Columbia from 1954-57 and is third all-time with 1,611 career points, and tops with a 24.8-point average. The 5-7 Forte, a 1957 All-American guard, is better known as being the first director of "Monday Night Football." He won 11 Emmys in a 25-year career at ABC. He died in 1996 of a heart attack. He was 60.