Ithaca College will induct its 1991 football team into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame on Oct. 9, recognizing a national championship season that ended with coach Jim Butterfield's third Stagg Bowl title. The team is being honored together 35 years after its 34-20 championship win over Dayton.
The college's account of the 1991 team describes a season that survived a midyear scare, a demanding playoff run and an in-game defensive adjustment in the final. Several players and coaches had previously entered the Hall of Fame individually, but this induction recognizes the full squad.
Starting quarterback Todd Wilkowski said the team honor carries a different meaning from his own induction in 2002. He was a senior in 1991 and had shared quarterback duties with Tom Pasquale on Ithaca's 1988 title team.
Receiver Nick Ismailoff said the ceremony will also bring together former teammates who have remained close and others he has not seen in years. He recalled the group's camaraderie as one of its distinguishing qualities.
A comeback preserved the season
Expectations were high entering 1991 despite Ithaca missing the playoffs in 1989 and exiting in the first round in 1990. The Bombers had Wilkowski at quarterback, returning first-team All-American fullback Jeff Wittman and an experienced coaching staff led by Butterfield.
Linebackers coach Mike Welch was entering his eighth year, and defensive backfield coach Tim Faulkner had been on staff since 1969. Butterfield would finish with 207 head-coaching wins and later enter the College Football Hall of Fame, according to Ithaca College.
Ithaca won its first three games by a combined 144-22 before losing 14-10 to Division II Springfield College. The following game against another Division II opponent, American International College, nearly put the Bombers' postseason hopes out of reach.
Trailing AIC 20-10 late in the fourth quarter at South Hill Field, Wilkowski connected with flanker Jim Slayton for two touchdowns in the final 3:04. The winning score came with 21 seconds remaining. Slayton caught only 12 passes during the regular season, a detail Wilkowski cited in recalling how a teammate stepped forward at a decisive moment.
The Bombers closed the regular season with five straight wins. They then beat Glassboro State, now Rowan University, Union College and Susquehanna University to make what was then a Division III-record seventh Stagg Bowl appearance.
Defense shifts course of title game
Dayton led Ithaca 17-6 in the second quarter of the championship game. Welch said the Flyers were completing passes until he and Faulkner changed the Bombers' coverage and moved safeties toward the areas Dayton was attacking.
Ithaca allowed only three more points. All-Americans Billie Mays Jr. and Joe Palladino helped lead the defense, while Wittman carried 30 times for 159 yards behind a line that included All-Americans Keith Linsey and Chris White.
Ismailoff caught 10 passes for 193 yards and two touchdowns in the final. Over the four-game playoff run, he totaled 39 receptions for 599 yards, then an NCAA playoff record, the college said. He finished the full season with 93 catches for 1,435 yards.
The 34-20 victory gave Butterfield his third national title. It was the second for Ismailoff, Wilkowski and senior kicker Matt Sullivan. Faulkner and Welch later described the team not only by its results but by the lasting relationships Butterfield's program had built.
The Oct. 9 induction will formally add the 1991 roster as a team to the Hall of Fame, giving its members a shared recognition of the season that closed Butterfield's championship run.
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