National Football Foundation

The 1964 season was an important turning point in the history of college football, as it marked the return of two-platoon football. The resulting specialization led to wide-open football and increased passing. Standing firm against this change was Princeton's Cosmo Iacavazzi. The first team All-America continued to play both ways and flourished as a hard-running fullback in the antiquated single-wing offense. That year Coach Dick Colman's Tigers won their second consecutive Ivy League championship and posted an undefeated season placing 13th in the final rankings, one of the last Ivy League teams to finish among the nation's top 20 squads. In addition to winning All-Ivy honors for the second time, Iacavazzi placed ninth in the Heisman voting. The previous season, Cosmo led the nation in scoring with 14 touchdowns. He finished his career with 31 scores and 1895 yards rushing. After graduation he played one season of professional football with the New York Jets before launching a sucessfull business career. Iacavazzi chose Princeton over numerous other scholarship offers from schools with a higher football profile. His selection was based on education and not football. He became a National Football Foundation Scholar Athlete graduating with a degree in aero engineering.

After graduating from Princeton, he was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL but played professionally in the American Football League for the New York Jets in 1965. He also played for the Scranton Miners of the Atlantic Coast Football League in 1965 and the Seattle Rangers of the Continental Football League in 1967. In 2002, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.