I have a collection of past yearbooks and media guides. I have a few from the late 60's Then i stopped buying them for some reason, (it might have to do with my parents not paying for them any longer). I then started buying them when the Dome opened and I bought season tickets for the first time. the earliest one I have from that period is the 1981 yearbook. it contains a thumbnail picture portrait of each player of each player, his position, height, weight, class, hometown and a one-paragraph description.
John Lally is on page 27. He looks something like this:
except that his hair is very curly, (almost an afro look), the picture is just from the neck up and taken out door. he also has neck pad on and a big smile, no doubt anticipating all the millions he will make after he graduates.
He's listed as a senior offensive guard, 6-2, 251, from Clarence, NY
The bio:
"One of the men up front who makes the offense go. won a starting job last season but was slowed by injuries. Also missed spring practice. Will be ready to provide protection and open up the holes this fall."
He's still up front and making things possible.
I looked at his teammates. Joe Morris is the featured one with a page all to himself,Joe was 5-7 and 182 back then. He's rushed for 1,000 yards as a freshman, despite barely in three games. he averaged 5.8 yards per carry. His second year was his biggest as the 1979 went to the first bowl game in 12 years, (and the last for another 6). he rushed for 1,372 yards at 5.7 per carry, including 252 vs. Kansas, still the school record. He then missed five games to injury in 1980 but still gained 732 yards at 5 a pop. he was already the school's career rushing leader.
the other name that jumps out is Mike Zunic, who died with his wife in that plane crash and after whom the award is named. He was a 5-11 214 senior linebacker from Pittsburgh. he's in a similar pose to Lally, even to the neck pad, although his hair is long and kind of disheveled. "Blends the experience of three years as a starter with natural physical ability. Second leading tackler among returnees with 47 solos and 63 assists. had two interceptions last year, including one for a touchdown against Penn State. honorable mention AP All-East. should have an outstanding senior campaign." honorable mention, indeed.
Then there's Gary Anderson, later to become the NFL's all-time leading scorer. he was coming off a season where he was 22 for 22 on extra points and 9 for 16 on field goal attempts. He was about to have a season where he made 18 of 19 field goals, still the SU record for accuracy. Something for Andre Szymt to shoot for.
The raw material for "Four Wheel Drive" was there: Bill Pendock, Blaise Winter and Jamie Kimmel were all sophomores. The missing piece : Tim green who was still tearing it up at Liverpool High School.
Then there's Jamie Covington, who in 1982 would make an epic run against #2 ranked Pittsburgh to tie the game late in the second half - only to have it negated by a phantom holding call. Dan Marino then hit a long one to salt it away, 0-14.
Easily the biggest player on the team was Mike Charles , a 6-4 273 junior defensive tackle. No one else was even 260 pounds.
Then there's Marty Chalk who came from Elmira like Ernie Davis - and Pete Curkendall whom Coiach mac badly wanted to come here. Mac kept talking about Davis and Chlak but Pete wanted to win so he went to Penn State. He got what he wanted but he was also on the field for the '87 which was sweet revenge.
then there's Gordon Gronkowski, a senior guard from west Seneca, NY. Yup, he's Rob's father and boy didn't G-Rob want him come here. Gronk could have said that he played both the best coach ever and the worst.
We had a pretty good couch at that time. It was going to be Dick MacPherson's first year and he was posing in from of the famous Ernie Davis painting. His hair is still mostly dark and mostly there. he was 50 years old. Jake Crouthamel was 43 and is shown with a confident, determined look on his face, foreseeing the impact of the Dome, the Big east, ESPN, and having Jim Boeheim and Coach mac working for him.
Heck, I was just 27 years old myself. Hit the rewind button. Let's do it all again! (Or most of it, anyway.)