Early Life
Luckman was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish immigrants from Germany. His father sparked his interest in American football at age eight, by giving him a football to play with. He and his parents lived in a residence near Prospect Park and it was here as a youngster that Sid first started throwing the football around.
He played both baseball and football for Erasmus Hall High School, with his football skills impressing recruiters from about 40 colleges. Luckman chose Columbia University after meeting Lions coach Lou Little during a Columbia/Navy game at the university's Baker Field athletic facility. Luckman was not admitted to Columbia College; instead, he attended the New College for the Education of Teachers, an undergraduate school, which was within Teachers College at Columbia. He competed on the football team from 1936 until the New College closed in 1939, when he transferred to Columbia College. Coach Little had a problem of getting good high school athletes because of the entrance requirements at Columbia, and Columbia didn’t have any physical education undergraduate program, and so, when New College was started Lou Little was happy because they had a P. E. Department. In fact, the 1936 varsity football squad had five other New College students, Hubert Schulze, Edward Stanzyk, Oscar Bonom, Harry Ream, and Antoni Mareski.
At Columbia he was a member of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. Sid, keen to remain in Columbia to stay close to his family, took on jobs such as dish-washing, baby-sitting, and messenger delivery around the campus. At Columbia, as a part of the football team, he completed 180 of 376 passes for 2,413 yards and 20 touchdowns and finished third in the 1938 Heisman Trophy voting, behind Davey O'Brien and Marshall Goldberg.
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