1959

[Orangeyes]

In June of 1959 my godfather died of a heart attack at the age of 44. It was a devastating blow as he was the driving force for our entire family. He gave me my first baseball glove and a Big Ben pocket watch. He organized all of the picnics, parties and weekends at his camp on Oneida Lake. Even though I had 19 other uncles and aunts, the void left by Uncle Eddie's passing was never filled.

The heaviness I felt in my heart that summer would eventually be somewhat lifted with the passage of time and Syracuse University's national championship football season. The role of sports during stressful times has been cited as a healing force. The SU-Auburn game at the Dome in 2001, the weekend after 9/11 was one such example. It helped all of us to be together as one, Americans and SU fans at the same time.

I digress, here's a look back at 1959 at the movies we liked, the music we listened to, the food we ate and the world events which were shaping our lives.

Marylin Monroe and Jack Lemon were at the top of their game in "Some Like It Hot." Master spell-binder Alfred Hitchcock produced his classic thriller "North By Northwest" starring the debonaire Cary Grant and the beautiful Eva Marie Saint. The epic "Ben Hur" roared across the screen starring the iconic Charleston Heston.

John Wayne was sheriff John T. Chance, Walter Brennan played Stumpy and singers Ricky Nelson and Dean Martin in Rio Bravo a rough and ready western produced by the legendary Howard Hawks. The steamy "Room At The Top" starring Simone Signoret and Laurence Harvey.

The movie that opened our eyes to the true story of a young girls struggle to survive during WWII hiding from the German's "The Diary Of Anne Frank." Other outstanding movie's of the year included "On The Beach", "Porgy and Bess", "Pillow Talk', "Suddenly Last Summer" and the popular "A Summer's Place.

On the radio we were listening to Bobby Darin's "Mack The Knife", "The Battle Of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton, "Venus" by Frankie Avalon and "Stagger Lee" by Lloyd Price. The Platters, Paul Anka, The Fleetwoods, and of course Elvis dotted the charts. One of the stars who went down in the plane crash the day the music died, Ritche Valens had the #18 song of the year "Donna". On February 3rd he, Buddy Holly and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) are killed in a plane crash near Mason City, Iowa.

In 1959 Maxwell House Coffee came up with the "Good to the last drop" campaign. Danny's Coffee Shops were renamed Denny's, Bic pens were introduced. The one billionth can of Spam was sold, McDonald's opened it's 100th restaurant. The St. Lawrence Seaway opens, a 1.8 million year old skull is discovered in Tanzania, Nixon and Khruschev embark on their "Kitchen Debates."

Congress passes the Food Stamp bill, the TV show Bonanza premiers, Emeril Lagasse is born, Haagan Dazs is created, "Little Caesar's Pizza" opens first store.

Batista flees Cuba, the Russian's launch Luna 1, Alaska is admitted as the 49th state, Bozo The Clown premier's on TV, the US recognizes Fidel Castro's Cuban government, Charles de Gauelle takes over the reigns in France, Russia beats the US in basketball for the first time ever 62-37 , Vince Lombari signs 5 year deal with the Packer's, 1st successful test fire of the Titan ICBM, Bob Cousy sets assist record with 28, Iran & US sign economic & military treaty

Barbie, the popular girls' doll, debuted, over 800 million sold, Eisenhower signs Hawaii statehood bill, "Roy Campanella Night" Largest baseball crowd (93,103 in LA Coliseum), Soviet forces arrive in Afghanistan, 1st house with built-in bomb shelter exhibited (Pleasant Hills Pa), 1st nuclear powered merchant ship, NS Savannah, christened, Camden NJ, William Shea announces he plans to have a baseball team in NYC in 1961, Explorer 6 transmits 1st TV photo of Earth from space, USSR & Iraq signs contract for building Iraqi nuclear reactor

Sandy Koufax breaks Dizzy Dean's NL mark of 18 strikeouts in a game, Elroy Face's 22 game win streak ends as Dodgers beat Pirates 5-4, Oriole Jerry Walker pitches 16 inn beating White Sox 1-0, Soviet Union's Luna-2 is 1st spacecraft to land on the Moon, Nikita Khrushchev is denied access to Disneyland, Cleveland Browns' Jim Brown makes club record 37 rushing attempts, Single game World Series attendence record set (92,706 in LA), Lee Harvey Oswald signs guestbook in hotel Helsinki, Buffalo Bills enter AFL, Lee Harvey Oswald announces in Moscow he will never return to US, USSR & Egypt sign contracts for building Aswan Dam

Charles Van Doren confesses, TV quiz show-"21," was fixed, Ernie Banks, Cubs shortstop, wins 2nd consecutive NL MVP, AFL announced with 8 teams, "Sound of Music" opens at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC for 1443 perfs, Ford cancels Edsel, WABC fires Alan Freed over payola scandal, Tom Landry accepts coaching job with Dallas Cowboys, Richard Starkey receives his 1st drum set December 25

Syracuse beats Texas 23-14 in the Cotton Bowl January 1st 1960 to be crowned the national champions for the 1959 season, Ernie Davis was named MVP

 

[All4SU]

Good look-back. What a year!

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Great post. Sorry about your uncle. I was born in August 1959 and I always liked Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens due to their ill fated plane crash that year. At one time I thought maybe I was reincarnated from one of them but not being able to carry a tune eliminated those thoughts from my head. Maybe I have some of your uncle in me. How was he as a singer.

Years later, when I realized the football team won the National Championship in 1959, that was part of my new connection. Then the year I turned 44, in 2003, I finally had something of my own to celebrate.

Hopefully we can crown another NC in 2014. Hard to believe I will be 55 next year. Damn!!! Amazing how time flies.

 

['72 Orange]

As Bob Hope would say: Thanks for the memories!

 

[SWC75]

I wrote this up some years ago. I was watching Bonanza on a cable channel and posting on a Bonanza board when I realized that the show began on Saturdays nights, for the first two years before moving to Sunday night and that it began in 1959. Thus, it's earliest episodes were shown the night of SU's 1959 games. If you can find these episodes on cable, (TVLand has been showing them) or can get them from Hulu, Netflicks or have the DVDs, you can watch them and remember what happened in the SU game that afternoon:

A STRANGE SORT OF NOSTALGIA

As a kid, our family always watched Gunsmoke on Saturday nights and Bonanza on Sunday nights. I have been watching Bonanza on PAX TV at 5:00 for some months now. They show the episodes in date order and have just completed a run-through of the first season.

Bonanza debuted in the fall of 1959. I have a special affinity for the fall of 1959, as do most SU fans. Bonanza originated on Saturdays, (it became a Sunday fixture when it moved there in 1961). That means, folks, that the Bonanza episodes from the early part of the first season were shown on the same days that SU's most glorious football victories would have been won. I believe PAX will get around to the first season again about September, (unless they change their schedule). It might be fun for SU fans to warm up for the new season by watching TV shows that were shown the night of these famous victories:

9/26/59 SU beats Kansas 35-21 in Archbold Stadium. SU was actually behind 12-15 in the third period thanks to heroics by Kansas, (and future Chargers) star John Hadl but the home team was dominating play. Outgaining the Jayhawks, 491-67, SU wore out the visitors and were in total charge at the end. Dave Sarette completed 9 of 13 passes for 177 yards after replacing Ger Schwedes at quarterback to break the game open. Schwedes moved over to tailback. He had two rushing touchdowns in the game- one as a QB and one as a TB. That night...

Bonanza showed it's first really great episode, THE NEWCOMERS. Hoss falls in love with the dying Inger Stevens and helps brighten her final days. The episode made a star out of Dan Blocker. It's doubly haunting now when you consider that Inger killed herself at the age of 35 and Dan died on the operating table at the age of 43, (and I am now older than either ever got to be).

10/3/59 SU clobbered Maryland at Archbold, 29-0. Ernie Davis rushed for 77 yards. Maryland had 21 yards total offense, 8 on the ground and 13 in the air. It was their worst offensive day in their history, but just another day's work for "The Sizeable Seven". That night...

Bonanza staged a mini-epic called THE PAIUTE WAR. Jack Warden played a wonderfully loathsome villain. All he does is rape an Indian maiden, get a couple guys killed, blame Adam Cartwright for it and start a war that leads to a massacre. For some reason, the Cartwrights don't seem to like the guy.

10/10/59 SU plays Navy for the first time at "The Oyster Bowl" in Norfolk. SU is the pearl that kills the Oyster, 32-6. It's the first time that black players had been allowed to perform in that stadium and it's fitting that Art Baker, our African-American fullback, was given a trophy as the game's MVP. SU intercepted 5 passes, on of which Baker took 97 yards for a TD. It was indicative of the season that that would be SU's SECOND longest interception return of the year. That night...

The Cartwrights met up with Mark Twain, played by Howard Duff in ENTER MARK TWAIN. Several of the early Bonanza episodes were based on actual historical events and Mark Twain was a reporter for the Virginia City newspaper in the 1860's. Little Joe gives Samuel Clemens the idea of using a pen name and Clemens decides that Mark Twain has a nice ring to it.

10/17/59 SU was now leading the nation in scoring and rushing defense. They took on an undefeated Holy Cross team. That might now sound like much today, as The Crusaders are now Division I-AA but in 1958 they had been the only team to beat SU in the regular season and they did it by just one point, 13-14. They jumped on SU for an early 0-6 lead but then SU jumped on them for a 42-6 finish. Schwedes ran for 97 yards, caught 82 yards worth of passes, threw for 10 yards and scored twice. The Crusaders had -28 yards "rushing", (actually being chased around). The game was played in Archbold. That night...

Little Joe fell in love with the owner of a Virginia City saloon in the Julia Bulette Story, (think Miss Kitty). Pa Cartwright is against the union. Joe's only 17 and besides, what will the town think? The problem is solved when Julia's former lover sticks a knife in her. It didn't pay to fall in love with a Cartwright.

10/24/59 Again at Archie, SU blitzed the West Virginia Mountineers, 44-0, outgaining them 589 yards to 109. Davis only carried the ball nine times but gets 141 yards, one of several times he outgained the entire opposing team. His best play was the "sissors" play, an inside reverse that became a staple of the SU offense for years. That night...

THE SAGA OF ANNIE O'TOOLE was that her father had inherited part of the Comstock Lode and died on the way to claim it. Adam decides to help her out. She buries her father on what seems an innocuous piece of it and it turns out to be the richest part of the lode. But is it right to unearth the old man to get at the stuff?

10/31/59 SU traveled to Pittsburgh for a day fourth string quarterback Dan Rackiewicz will never forget. He was in on defense in those one-platoon days when Pitt was threatening the SU goal line. Danny intercepted a pass one yard into the SU end zone and never stopped traveling until he had reached the goal line. It's still the longest TD in SU history. Pitt never did score, losing 35-0. Pitt had -6 yards "rushing". That night...

THE PHILIP DIEDESHIEMER STORY was that he had come up with a new, but expensive way of shoring up mine shafts to prevent cave-ins. None of the Comstock bosses wanted him to prove it could work because they'd be pressured to spend the money to install the system in their mines. What did they care if a few miner's got killed? There were always more where they came from. The Cartwrights cared and set up their own mine and a demonstration, (with the bosses inside), to prove it works.

11/7/59 At University Park there occurred the greatest and most important match-up ever between the Orangmen of Syracuse and the Nittany Lions of Penn State. Both teams were undefeated and ranked in the top five. The winner would make a run for the national title, which had not been won by an eastern team since the wartime Army teams.

Penn State made the first drive but it was halted when Dick Hoak dropped a pass on SU's one yard line. After an SU fumble, speedy PSU halfback Roger Kochman bolted 17 yards to score. The conversion by Sam Stellatella was wide. The first quarter ended 0-6, Lions. In the second quarter, Hoak intercepted a pass in the end zone. But the Orange got the ball back and a 22 yard pass from Sarette to All-America end Fred Mautino set up a 6 yard Schwedes run for the score. Bob Yates' foot made it 7-6, SU, which was the halftime score.

In the third period, the Sizeable Seven took over, stopping Penn State cold and spearheading a 56 yard drive for a second TD. On fourth and goal from the 5, Sarette faked to Baker, then to Davis, before finding Baker with a pass at the goal line. Yates made it 14-6. SU was driving again as the period ended and Davis opened the fourth quarter scoring with a one yard run with 11:20 left. This time the kick failed but we were in pretty good shape, 20-6.

Kochman caught the kick-off at the goal line and ran right up the middle of the field. A terrific block by end Norm Neff, (where do they get these names?), sprung him for a stunning 100 yard return. This was the first year of the two point conversion. But you have to catch the ball to get one and the Lions didn't. 20-12.

SU was forced to punt form its own 10 with 5:25 left. Andy Stynchula broke through to block Yates' punt. The ball was recovered on the one yard line and PSU pushed it across on the next play. The Lions then lined up for a two point conversion attempt. But Kochman was stopped just short of the goal line. SU got the kick-off and chewed up the last five minutes of the game on the ground, still in possession deep in Penn State territory when the clock ran out. "That was it.", Al Bemiller later said. "After we beat them, we figured we could go all the way then." That night...

MR. HENRY P. COMSTOCK visited the Ponderosa. This was flash-back episode explaining how the Comstock Lode got to be named after con-man Comstock, played with a W.C. Fields imitation by the late, great Jack Carson.

11/14/59 You would expect a let-down after the incredible Penn State game. Poor old Colgate wished there was one, as SU demolished then, 71-0. 8 Orangemen scored, 6 by catching touchdown passes, (SU lead the nation in that category that year, while also leading it in rushing!). One newspaper report said "Statisticians reeled at the carnage". My Dad remembers some old grads in the stands demanding more, recalling the days of the old "hoodoo" curse, when Colgate went undefeated for 13 years against SU, spoiling no less than three undefeated seasons and letting us know about it in every way possible. That night...

It was Ben's turn to fall in love, with time with THE MAGNIFICENT ADAH, the actress Adah Isaacs Menken, who used to act in such abbreviated costumes that women were scandalized and men, of course, fascinated. Adah wore flesh colored tights in a famous riding scene and the men saw what they wanted to see. The boys are worried about heir Pa. They should have realized how he became their Pa.

11/21/59 at Boston U. SU put on its greatest defensive performance of the year and, of course, of all time. The Terriers actually passed for 106 yards but they were thrown for 88 yards in losses. SU squeaked by, 46-0, gaining 510 yards of their own. Schwedes ran for 98 yards, caught 4 passes for 54 yards and scored three times. Davis ran for 81 yards of his own. That night...

A feud develops between the Cartwrights and a neighbor along THE TRUCKEE STRIP. It didn't prevent Little Joe from falling in love again, this time with the neighbor's daughter. It's a little known historical fact that William Shakespeare got the idea for Romeo and Juliet from this episode.

12/5/59 After Thanksgiving, SU traveled out to the West Coast, (spending some time at the Ponderosa as a guest of the Cartwrights) to play UCLA. This was only a fair UCLA team at 5-3-1 but they had just taken care of one of SU's rivals for the national title, Southern California, 10-3 and they expect to do the same thing to the Orange. Most west coast and national sportswriters expected the same. UCLA was simply going to prove too fast for SU. SU totally dominated the Bruins, rushing for 354 yards and outgaining them 460-106. The final score was 36-8. Even Hoss couldn't have stopped them. Schwedes carried only 9 times for 99 yards and scored his 16th touchdown of the year, a new SU record. Sarette and his back-up, Dick Easterly, threw three TD passes. SU had scoring drives of 81,72 and 69 yards and set up two other scores with interceptions. When it was over, nobody had any questions as to who the #1 team in the country was. As Bruce Tarbox said, "That was the time when we showed the country we belonged". That night...

The Cartwrights got back from the game in time to deal with THE HANGING POSSE, in which Adam and Joe join a group of vigilantes after the gang that killed the wife of it's leader, to try to stop a lynching. They showed the country that they belonged and Bonanza went on for another 14 years.

So did the Schwartzwalder era at SU. The Orange ended the season beating Texas in the Cotton Bowl, 23-14. That clinched the national title to modern eyes but they'd actually already won it as the last poll was after the regular season in those days.

That game was on a Friday. The next night, Bonanza showed EL TORO GRANDE, in which Hoss and Little Joe go to Monterrey to purchase a prize bull. SU already had won the big prize by then.

 

[OrangePA]

Dan - As you know my dad passed in June.

He lived and loved SU Football.

I'm hoping that 2013 brings him happiness.

Thanks for the great post.