When Dr. Jack Shepard was seen playing football in Episode 313 of Lost's third season, fans of the television series should not have been surprised. The popular actor Matthew Fox did, after all, played college football at Columbia University. In fact he played in one of the most famous games in college football history.
Jack Seen Playing Football
Early on in the 13th episode of the third season of Lost, John Locke, Sayid Jarrah, Kate Austen and Danielle Rousseau are outside the Others' compound and see Dr. Jack Shepard running towards them, worried something may be wrong. And then he is seen catching a football. And then viewers see Jack playing catch with Tom in a friendly manner.
Matthew Fox Played Wide Receiver In College
That is probably because Matthew Fox, the actor who plays Jack Shepard, was likely having real fun with the chance to throw around the pigskin. Fox, who played varsity basketball in high school, played wide receiver while attending Columbia University in the late 1980s.
Took Part In Historic Victory
Fox also played in a very historic college football game. On October 8, 1988 - 8/8/88 - Fox's Columbia beat Princeton 16-13 to snap Columbia's 44-game winless streak, which dated back five years to October 15, 1983 and included ties against Bucknell and Dartmouth in 1983. The streak still remains the longest in Division I history, ahead of Northwestern's 34-game losing streak from 1979-82.
Fox Caught Touchdown In Game
Fox, a senior at the time, recalled in a Sports Illustrated interview in November 2006 that he caught and scored a 40-yard touchdown which was called back, saying: "It was a rainy day and the sidelines were muddy, and I got chucked coming off the line and apparently went out-of-bounds. I thought I scored, but it was called back."
Two Days Off Celebrations
More than 5,000 fans and the players rushed onto the field in celebration and both goal posts were torn down. The victory also set off two days of partying on the campus, to which Fox said in the SI interview: "More than anything, I remember the immense relief and euphoria that win brought. We had gotten the crap knocked out of us for a long time. Every week we lost, we were news. Then the goal posts came down, and the campus partied for two days. It was a great day."
Big Football Fan
Fox, who was the middle of three brothers and grew up on the family’s long-horn cattle ranch, is an admitted die-hard football fan, saying he loves watching college and professional football despite his busy schedule. And he said in the November 2006 SI interview that the athlete with whom he would switch places for one day would be Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison, adding: "Catching balls from freaking Peyton Manning! Man, just to be in his shoes and to run routes with the way Manning knows the game and throws the ball. That would be amazing."
Football Film
Fox had the chance in 2006 to merge his two loves, acting and football, when he made the movie We Are Marshall, the story about Marshall assistant football coach Red Dawson. A plane carrying the Marshall team crashed in 1970 and killed 75 people on board. Dawson was not on board because he was on a recruiting trip.
