The Bold Brave Men of Archbold 1954: Holy Cross

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In the days of old, when knights were bold
Every city had its warrior man.
In the days of new, when fights are few
You will view them from a big grandstand.
In our college town one has great renown
If the game of football he should play.
With his pig-skin ball he is cheered by all,
He's the Saltine Warrior of today.
The Saltine Warrior is a bold, bad man,
And his weapon is a pigskin ball,
When on the field he takes a good, firm stand,
He's the hero of large and small.
He will rush toward the goal with might and main
His opponents all fight, but they fight in vain,
Because the Saltine Warrior is a bold, bad man,
And victorious over all.

We are early in a new era in SU football- the Doug Marrone era. 60 years ago, another era began- the Ben Schwartzwalder Era, during which SU rose from its greatest depths to its greatest heights, and then all the way back down again. It was the era into which I was born, the one I remember from my youth. I can still recall listening to the games on the radio and waiting until Tuesday to see the grainy black and white films of the previous Saturday’s games on the local news. The music played over these highlights was not “Down, Down the Field”. It was “The Saltine Warrior”. My Dad thought he knew the beginning of it and would sing “The Saltine Warrior was a bold, brave man”. I later found that the line was “bold, bad, man”. But that’s not the way I learned it and it’s not the way I like it. My heroes were not “bad” men. They were “brave” men. They were the “Bold, Brave Men of Archbold”.

 

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Note: my primary souce is the Post Standard Archive but I also have the NCAA Guide and Street & Smiths for 1954 and also consulted Upperdecks' site for some roster numbers)

The Build-Up

There was a wave of discontent with the three consecutive losses starting to rise. Jack Slattery said “The big, strong veterans, (of the previous year’s team), were graduated. In their places are green lads who are making mistakes and losing games. So the quick-to-quit, the stomp-him-while-he’s-down clique are already starting to scream. I don’t know where this particular brand of pseudo football fan holes up when a coach is winning, but when a team comes on adverse days they emerge from some dark spot and scream bloody murder….Each time a situation like this arises I vow to myself that I won’t give two seconds attention to this particular brand of empty headedness. But then some spineless critter sends me a letter or a card with no signature on it and he or she proceeds to babble a lot of groundless nonsense and get hot under the collar.”

“Ben claims the team is confused and seems unable to snap out of their doldrums. Each week they manage to make mistakes that they are not strong enough to overcome….It is difficult to explain how a team can beat Army, which is now the best team in the East and possibly one of the best in the country, drub Bucknell, which is to date undefeated, (of course these were scrimmages), and then drop successive games to Penn State, Boston University and Illinois. But there are a lot of people who know more about football that I, unable to explain it. And there are a lot of people with less knowledge of football than I who will explain it.” The more things change…

Bill Reddy described Syracuse’s problems succinctly: “Syracuse was beaten because it’s pass defense was leaky and it’s passing attack ineffective….The difficulty manning a passing attack hasn’t been entirely on the throwing end. The receivers haven’t been clicking. Illinois intercepted three Syracuse passes but two of the interceptions came when the ball bounced out of a Syracuse receiver’s hands.” Another article described the SU passing game as being “as ineffective as Grandma Moses against Rocky Marciano“. Compounding the Orange’s troubles is that Dr. Eddie Anderson’s Crusaders are a passing team. They have two ace quarterbacks in Tom Roberts and Jack Stephens. They have elusive, speedy receivers led by Captain Lou Hettinger, clutch catcher in Saturday’s TV conquest of BU, (14-13). And to matters even worse, SU’s future foes- Cornell, Colgate and Fordham- are all potent overhead with the likes of Bill DeGraff, Dick Lalla and Guy Martin and Gene Callahan pitching.”

Line coaches Rocky Pirro and Ted Dailey were congratulated in putting together an effective line that allowed SU to run the ball using inexperienced and undersized players. The same players also performed well on defense but “how long can this forward wall keep seeing touchdowns given up by the secretary before becoming discouraged?”

Ray Perkins and Art Troilo, who were unable to play against Illinois due to running fevers at the time, were welcomed back. The paper called them the “V” boys for the viruses that kept them out. Perkins was aid to still be underweight. Trolio had an incredible rushing average of 11.5 yards per carry. There was speculation that Bill Wetzel might be finally ready to play again after fracturing a rib. Ronny Tyler, who had made his varsity debut in their place, received some plaudits for his work. So did Jimmy Brown, who “played a good first half”.

Holy Cross “boasted” a 203 pounds per man line, (about 9 more than SU). They had looked bad losing to Colgate earlier in the season but had lost by only 20-26 to Miami of Florida, who them beat major power Maryland, 9-7, (and the Canes would go on to an 8-1 season). Rocky Pirro reported “They’ve come a long way.” Colgate Coach Hal Lahar said “It was just a matter of time until the team jelled.. Dr. Anderson said “We have been a football team that has been making mistakes in bunches. Last Saturday we only made a few errors and hence we were able to pull out with our first win. I still wish we had a strong running game to go with our passing. ”The Crusaders were getting back Bill Smithers, “the most heralded Boston schoolboy of recent years” at fullback. Besides passers Johnny Stephens and Tommy Roberts there were fullback Gerry O’Leary and halfback Larry Travers, both coming back from 1953 injuries, and halfback Dale Hohl.

One odd strategical aspect of the game is that Dr. Anderson‘s team normally used the “T“ formation, with the quarterback under center.” but occasionally switched into the single wing, in which the ball could be snapped to any back, to try to cross up the defense. (The “Wildcat“).

Holy Cross had the reputation of a hard-hitting and opportunistic team. In five games, they’d forced 33 fumbles and recovered 22 of them. Their best linemen was “Jarrin’ Jim” Buonopane, of Malden Massachusetts, who had gone to Manlius military academy with Bob Fleck. “Hal Lahar, Colgate mentor, described his play in two words: ‘big league’”. He’d recovered a fumble and picked off a pass against Marquette and then recovered two more fumbles against Boston U. Rocky Pirro reported: He hits hard, plays in the line , drops back on occasions and is hard to fool. ”He’d hit BU’s Ken Hagerstrom, who had scored twice against SU, so hard that he knocked out two of Ken’s teeth, which occasioned some comment. Bill Crowley the SID at Holy Cross, dismissed the incident as “part of the game”. It was when the game was against Jarrin’ Jim.

Ben had his men scrimmaging behind locked doors for the last practice. “We need the work and today is the last day we can get it. So I guess we better hit.” Observers of practices from earlier in the week were encouraged. “Sam Alexander and Jimmy Brown and Ronny Tyler were covering short and long receivers alike and this was an encouraging sign…Offensively, the Orange seemed to have just a little more zip than they have shown in recent weeks. The spirit is still top-flight despite the last three losses and the veterans are all certain that with some breaks this weekend, they will give Holy Cross partisans an unhappy afternoon.” Another report declared: “Jim Brown, a replacement for Alexander, has been the fleetest performer in previous games but has failed to break away for long runs.”

 

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The Game

You know how you never feel better than when your fever breaks? Ray Perkins, after missing the Illinois game because of a fever, broke out in a big way with three first half touchdowns against the Crusaders before 20,000 fans at Archbold Stadium.
On the third play of the game Ray swept around right end and didn’t stop churning until he’d crossed the goal line 66 yards form the line of scrimmage. “Perkins took a Rich pitch-out, raced wide to his right and outran the Crusader secondary as he hugged the sideline for a 66 yard scoring dash.” The extra point was blocked but SU was up 6-0. After a trend of getting off to terrible starts, it was refreshing to have the first lead since the opening game of the season.

It didn’t last long. On their first play from scrimmage, Frank Nealon “swept wide to his left behind a wave of blockers and by the time he’d gone 15 yards he had only one defender Bob Dee came through with the needed block and Nealon made it a 74 yard touchdown jaunt. And the Crusaders made their extra point and the Orange was back in familiar territory, down 6-7 with only 2:44 gone.

After the kickoff Syracuse had the ball on it’s own 35 when a botched play produced a fumble that Don Laacksonen managed to fall on way back at the 8 so he could punt the ball out to the SU 47. The rest of the first period was a series of punts. The futility continued, with an interception and fumble mixed in, until SU finally got a drive going midway through the second period.

Art Trolio returned a punt five yard to the SU 19, the made it to the 35 on a running play. Perkins and Trolio had two more gains to the 50. Then Art fumbled the ball but Paul Kernaklian fell on it for the Orange. Then Mickey Rich threw a pass, (yes- a pass!) to Pete Schwert at the Crusader 30. Pete was able to advance the ball another 12 yards to the 18. Then Perkins struck again: taking a pitch-out he “shook off a tackler at the line of scrimmage, then picked up a bevy of blockers as he cut inside tackle and went all the way to score.” Ray then kicked the point to make it 13-7.

SUI got the ball right back when Hettinger fumbled at the HC 35. Rich again dropped back to pass and found Tom Richardson in the end zone for an apparent score but a holding call negated the play and the Orange wound up giving the ball up on downs. The Post Standard said it was SU’s “prettiest passing play” but of course it didn’t count. Rich “did some of his finest faking before hitting the receiver in the end zone”. Trolio got the ball back with an interception and Bill Wetzel got into the game and ran it to the 23. Sam Alexander took it to the 12 and then Perkins got his third score on a 12 yard burst. The extra point was again blocked but SU still led 19-7.

Holy Cross drove to the Orange 32 but Jimmy Ridlon ended the threat- and the half- with an interception.

But SU’s problems were hardly over. “An all-out passing attack, which started right after Holy Cross received the second half kick-off, clicked for the Crusader’s first score.” But it took a 14 play drive, which ended with a 9 yard pass to Dick Arcand from Jack Stephens. Jim Ridlon blocked the point to keep the score at 19-13.

Another penetration to the Orange 15 was halted when Mickey Rich intercepted a Stephens pass in the end zone. Jim Brown ended another threat with an interception of the SU 30 but Vince Vergara gave the ball back with a fumble on the HC 43. On the play before Trolio had gotten behind the defense but dropped a pass at the 10 yard line. A fake kick enabled a Crusader score. “The scoring pass, on fourth down and 12 to go saw Bill Smithers shaken loose on the 7 yard line with no defender within 20 yards of him. And Stephen’s pass gave Smithers the tying touchdown.” Dale Hohl’s kick gave the visitors the lead at 19-20.

After three straight losses, the fair-weather fans were gloomy. But Art Trolio came up with a big kick-off return to the SU 42. “It was then that Syracuse came to life and, in a drive marked by fiercely determined ball carrying, covered 58 yards in 12 plays…The crowd was roaring so that Rich frequently had to motion to the stands to get them to quiet down.” Don Laacksonen had the big burst for 17 yards and then powered the ball to the one yard line from where Mickey Rich snuck it over for the winner. Ben Schwartzwalder had so little faith in his kicking game that he had his team fake the kick and pass for the single point, (the two point conversion didn’t come in until four years later). But Rich’s pass fell incomplete and the score was a very vulnerable 25-20.
But time was running out. Holy Cross tried four straight passing plays and lost yardage, the Orange taking over at the HC 21 with 2:38 left to play. With 14 seconds left, Syracuse took time out and John Pannucci just missed scoring on a fake pass and run. He was forced out of bounds on the one yard line. That stopped the clock with five seconds left but Pannucci apparently fumbled the ball on an attempted handoff and the bid for a last second touchdown fell short by a yard as time ran out.” I guess they didn’t have the ’victory’ formation in those days.

Various coaches have been credited with saying that “there are three things that can happen when you drop back to pass and two of them are bad”. Dr. Eddie Anderson isn’t one of them but he might have been thinking that in looking over the final stats. His Crusaders had completed 17 passes, (a lot back then) for 192 yards and two touchdowns. But they’d misfired on 19 passes, including 4 interceptions. Syracuse had only 5 passes that counted and only completions for 44 yards. But the Orange ran for an impressive 312 yard, led by Perkins 149 yards and his three TDs, while holding the Crusaders to 63 yards rushing.
The Post Standard had a remarkable head-on shot, apparently taken from the sidelines of Perkins’ second touchdown. Ray, (#14) is running right toward the cameraman. Beside him is Joe Cappadonna, (#70), a 5-11 185 pound senior tackle , looking for someone to block. In front of both of them is a player I couldn’t identify, using his shoulder to knock a crusader sideways. SU was in white jerseys with blue letting and trim, Orange helmets, (which appear to have numbers on the side) and pants. Holy Cross has on purple jerseys. Their helmets and numbers appear to be metallic and from my reading they would have been silver. The pants appear to be white with purple trim.

They also showed the terminus of Perkins’s first score. He’s crossing the goal line with a twist to avoid a Holy Cross tackler who is falling head first into the end zone. They also had a shot of Mickey Rich wedging into the end zone with the winning score, with one of those arrows imposed onto the picture that fascinated me as a kid, pointing to where the ball was. They had a shot entitled “one of Syracuse’ two completions- and a big one”. Pete Schwert has just had the ball land in his extended hands as Holy Cross’s Lou Hettinger swoops in with his arms outstretched to make the tackle at the Holy Cross 30. This set up Perkins’ second score, shown in the first picture.

The Herald Journal had a bird’s eye view of Perkins’ 67 yarder, showing Ray, having made it to the outside lane, running past the 40 while a teammate, (It appears to be #35, Roger Stuart), gets an ideal crack-back block on a hapless Crusader. There’s still one Crusader to beat but the big white arrow points right past him. Below that is another shot of the second touchdown , with Ray running with a convoy of blockers. Next to that is his third score. He’s got three Crusader around him but none close enough to lay a hand on him as he motors past the five yard line and on to the goal line.

For the first time, the Herald-Journal had a separate article with post-game quotes. Ben Schwartzwalder: “We finally our squad back together. Cappadonna helped a lot in the Line. Perkins and Trolio were necessary to our outside game and Wetzel has really rounded into shape…Rich was our boy today. He called a good game and played his best defensive ball of the season.” Ray Perkins: “It would have been a shame to lose after we got that big lead and we just knew we’d get that last touchdown. I never believed I was alone on that 66 yard touchdown. Two men were with me as I went for the sidelines and then I saw a clear goal ahead. The other two touchdowns were simply the work of the kids ahead of me getting purple uniforms out of my path. They bowled ’em over.” Mickey Rich: “It was great to have an outside threat it helped our ground game a lot and we didn’t have to pass too much.” Eddie Anderson: “I knew Syracuse had a better running attack than we could muster but I thought we could beat them through the air.” He felt that “Jack Stephens erred in going for along completion rather than settling for short gains.“ During the post-game celebration someone had scrawled on the blackboard “Cornell Next”