The Bold Brave Men of Archbold 1955: Colgate

[SWC75]

(unfinished business: I realized I still had two more games to do in this series: Colgate and next week, the beginning of the West Virginia series)

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 Scot Shafer era. 64 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”.

 

[SWC75]

THE BUILD-UP

The Syracuse players were “down” after the Penn State loss. Ben Schwartzwalder said “I don’t know how long it will be before we can get these kids thinking about Colgate and forget that affair on Saturday….Our coaching staff and the players took it pretty hard. Confidence was shaken and our boys are tired, mentally and physically.”

Beyond that, Jim Ridlon, Rudy Farmer, Mark Hoffman, Pete Schwert and Chuck Strid were all nursing injuries. Ben called the Penn State game “real physical”, alleging that several of his players were victims of clips. “At the moment I do not think we can afford to have any contact work this week. We were really chewed up out there on Saturday.” Colgate also had a number of injured players, mostly linemen. The Post-Standard’s Bill Reddy predicted “This is the game the players have been waiting for and their physical recuperation will be astonishing.” But he wondered, “Perhaps the tough, all-major slate played by the Orangemen this fall is taking its toll and perhaps that’s why they faded in the dying minutes of Saturday’s Penn State affair.”

Jack Slattery reported that the mood at the weekly luncheon was, “a semi-belligerent attitude…Some of the alumni and other privileged second-guessers were downright angry. They thought that Syracuse, though it met a very capable Penn State team, should have thumped the Nittany Lion. They believe the Orange practically gift-wrapped the Penn State victory.”

Varsity Club President rose to introduce the coach. “The main thoughts he expressed were that the Penn State loss was water under the dam, that he was proud of the Syracuse University football team. Syracuse athletes in general, and that he was confident the Orange would enjoy even greater days in the future.” When Ben Schwartzwalder got up to speak. “The applause was generous. But something came over the large group in the room. The applause just grew and grew and continued. Then Ken Boehner, chairman of the program committee and a former football star on the Hill, rose to his feet. The group rose with him and the applause continued and grew louder.”

“By this time Ben Schwartzwalder was at the microphone but it wasn’t until after a pause that he spoke and when he spoke it was with some difficulty. The warm, generous welcome given to a coach who had lost a ball game the alums thought should be won, completely took Ben by surprise. The parachute veteran of World War II, who likes to surround himself with an air of a rough, tough guy, had a tear or two in his eyes and he had trouble getting his first couple of words out. He admitted that the loss to Penn State and the coming game with Colgate had so preoccupied him that he had not given adequate time to thoughts he should express to the luncheon group. And then he went right ahead and made one of the finest talks I’ve ever heard him give.”

Slattery continued: “I was in Miami a couple of Januarys ago when the Orange took a whomping in the Orange Bowl It was nothing to licking they took in the Florida papers and by word of mouth in the Sunshine State. But through it all Ben never ducked, never flinched, never pointed a finger at an official nor at a player. He took all the blows right on the chin. Right then I made up my mind that I was associated with an outstanding man. I hadn’t forgot it and never will. But yesterday Ben threw in another clincher.”

“Ben told the group he was aware of some complaints, some beefs about the pass play just before the half that backfired and set up a Penn State touchdown. He said he was informed that Eddie Albright, the quarterback was being blamed.” Ben: “I want you to know now that you are looking at the fellow who is to blame. Don’t blame Eddie Albright. He’s a great boy and a fine football player. And there isn’t anyone in the world who wanted to win that game more than Eddie. And he’s not at fault for that loss. There were lots of plays in that ball game. But, if we must pick out that one and say it cost us the victory, all right. But I want you to know that Albright wasn’t at fault.”

“While discussing the business of football Ben observed that one must start with the premise that a football coach is stupid. Because a man has to be stupid to become a coach. He then told a Syracuse alum who was blasting him prior to one of the last Colgate games. The alum indicated he thought Ben less than bright. Ben’s reply was, ”It’s all right to call me stupid. But just don’t question my courage.” That from a man who, when he was to make a parachute jump over Normandy, had to be awakened from a nap.”

“He introduced one of his players, Rudy Farmer and asked if Rudy had anything to say to the group. “Rudy was surprised. He raised his eyebrows, hesitated a second and, then, in a quiet voice, said “We’ll be hitting out there Saturday.” Ben beamed.”

Assistant Bill Bell declared Colgate’s Guy Martin “the best quarterback in the East”. And Tom Powell was one of the best linemen. Martin had completed 38 of 99 passes (38.4%) for 484 yards and 4 scores in 7 games. (SU’s Eddie Albright was 11 for 19 for 179 yards and 4 scores), The Red Raiders were 5-2, having beaten Dartmouth, Cornell, Princeton, Yale and Bucknell and lost to Holy Cross and Army. They had a reputation for finishing strong with 10 fourth quarter touchdowns and after Syracuse lost that 20-7 lead vs. Penn State, finishing strong was a concern for the Orange. Benn suggested they might skip the fourth quarter in the upcoming game. Hal Lahar, the Colgate coach, said he’s like to have the fourth quarter come earlier, anyway.

Les Dye called Colgate “the best all-around team since Hal Lahar got there…The Red Raiders have real ability and spirit.” He felt that Colgate’s ends, Fran Angeline, Tom Dugle. John Dow and Milt Graham, were comparable to Syracuse’s.

The Wednesday Herald Journal had a picture of the Red Raiders charging out onto the practice field with the caption: “Raiders Romp…Here’s how the Colgate grid Machine will look to thousands of Archbold Stadium fans.” The article below warned of Raider backs Jack Call and Frank Nardulli. Call led the team with 31 points scored and was averaging 4.6 yards per carry. Nardulli topped that with 5.6 (Jim Brown was 5.8). Another back, Frank Spen,o had caught 10 passes for 155 yards.

Thursday’s Herald responded with a shot of the SU starting line-up in formation but without helmets. Don Laacksonen was the fullback, Jim Brown and Billy Micho the halfbacks, Ed Albright the quarterback, Tom Richardson and Jim Ridlon the ends, Jerry Cashman and Cal Smith the tackles, Jim Brill and Bill Brown the guards and Pete Schwert at center.

Ben praised Jim Brown for “showing marked improvement….He’s starting to figure things out and he’s come to the point where he’s fully aware that there’s a lot more to the game than just grabbing that ball and running with it.” Ben said that the Penn State game was Jim’s best performance so far, offensively and defensively and predicted that Jim would be an All-American in 1956. “There’s no limit to what he might accomplish if he kept at it.” Jim came into the game having gained 498 yards on 86 carries and scoring 6TDs in as many games.

Billy Reddy had this interesting post script to the Penn State game: “One suggested yesterday that the Orange could have wrapped up the decision with a field goal after reaching the nine yard line, leading by a touchdown in the fourth period. Perhaps it would have been attempted on fourth down if a third down pass hadn’t been intercepted. If it had, it would have set a precedent. In 61 games under Ben Schwartzwalder Syracuse football teams have yet to attempt a field goal”. One thing I remember from my youth rooting for SU is that we always had lousy place-kicking. If the extra point made it to the crossbar, it was something to celebrate. But it was a sign of the times. The last SU field goal Reddy could remember was in the 1941 Colgate game, when Bunky Morris kicked it for a 19-19 tie.

There was an item in Thursday’s paper that the Very Reverend Celestin J. Steiner, President of the University of Detroit and Con Jennings, the Athletic Director of Marquette, that they were interested in forming a new conference consisting of their schools, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Boston College and Syracuse, among others. Maybe someday….

Syracuse SID Arnie Burdick estimated that the crowd might reach 40,000 as only 2500 tickets were unsold as of Tuesday. It would be the biggest crowd in the history of Archbold Stadium. Syracuse was a 7 ½ point favorite. “Because both teams have shown a liking for offensive football and have demonstrated that they can move the ball well, a high scoring game is in prospect for the big crowd.

 

[SWC75]

THE GAME

The game started out, as the Penn State game had, like it would be a Syracuse rout. The Orange forced Colgate to punt and took over at their own 45. Jim Brown went off tackle for 6 yards. Billy Micho swept end for a first down on the Colgate 43. Ed Albright and Brown ran it for another first down at the 33 and Micho sprinted 16 yards around left end to put the ball on the 17. The drive appeared stalled when, on fourth down and 6, Eddie Albright lofted the ball to Jim Ridlon, “who cut towards the middle from his left end position, then flared back to his left and made the catch in the corner of the end zone.” Brown’s conversion as blocked and the score read Syracuse 6, Colgate 0.

The Red Raiders then put on an impressive 77 yard drive of their own. Unfortunately for them it started on their own 22. Schwartzwalder, trying to keep his team fresh after fading vs. the Nittany Lions, had sent in his second team, planning to alternate them with the first team. The big plays were a 24 sweep by Bob Deming and another of 23 yards by Ed Whitehair that took it to the SU 7. According to the Post Standard, Ben sent the first team back in at this point. It had to have been the second quarter by now for him to do that under the rules of the time but the same paper says the first play of Syracuse’ next possession was the first play of the second quarter. Anyway, on fourth down. Micho and Jerry Cashman stopped Frank Nardulli at the two foot line.

Jim Brown got the Orange out of the hole with a 34 yard run ”bolting over the weakside guard”. SU was forced to punt but on Colgate’s second play Don Laacksonen intercepted a Guy Martin pass and ran it back to the Colgate 30. Brown and Ridlon got a first down to the 16 but two more plays lost 6 yards. Then Albright “did a nice job of evading tacklers before he again spotted Ridlon on the goal line and passed to him for the second touchdown”. Frustratingly, Brown saw his extra point again blocked, leaving the score at 12-0. Would it matter?

It appeared not. Ed Ackley returned a Colgate punt 13 yards to the SU 16. Then the Orange went 84 yards for their third touchdown. Ackley had the big play. Ed “broke through inside tackle and swept through the secondary. He seemed to be going all the way but Deming caught him from behind after a 52 yard dash to Colgate’s 30.” Three plays got a first down on the 18. On third down, Albright passed to Althouse, who got knocked out of bounds on the two. Brown got it to the one and Albright dived into the end zone. Being unable to block for an extra point, Ben decided to have Albright pass to Laacksonen for the point to make it 19-0.

But Colgate didn’t give up. Instead, they took over the contest. Whitehair returned Brown’s short kick-off to the Colgate 34. Martin dropped back and found Nardulli for a long pass at the SU 35 and Tom ran the ball to the SU 7, a dramatic 59 yard play. “Nardulli fooled Jim Brown and got into the clear. Nardulli caught the ball on the Syracuse 35, dodged away from Brown and raced to the 7 before he was knocked out of bounds by Dick Aloise.” Two pitch-outs to Jack Call produced the first Red Raider touchown. They were able to get a kick off and the score was 19-7 with 35 seconds left in the half. For the second game in a row, the Orange had let the other team score just before halftime in a game they had been dominating.

And it had the same result as the previous week. “Colgate’s revivified defense held Syracuse after the Orange took the second half kick-off and big Milt Graham burst through to block Ridlon’s punt. Ridlon chased the blocked kick back to the Syracuse 10 and raced it out to the 29 but it was short of a first down and the Raiders took over and set up their second score.” Syracuse appeared to be holding but on fourth down, Martin passed 18 yards to Whitehair on the 13. A holding penalty set the Raiders back and then Bill Brown picked off a Martin pass. But interference was called on Don Laacksonen. Martin pitched out twice to Nardulli, the final one going 4 yards to paydirt. Now it was Syracuse’s turn to block and extra point, Bill Brown breaking through to keep it at 19-13. In the days of the one-platoon game, when there could be no specialists, the kicking game was an adventure, (maybe it should be?).

An offside penalty wiped out a 25 yard sweep by Brown and Albright tried a pass that was intercepted at the 50 by Martin. “The Colgate quarterback snatched the pass at midfield and raced it back to the Orange 28.” Nardulli picked up 15 yards on a pitchout to the left, (our flanks seem to have been vulnerable in this game), Call 7 on “a dive inside tackle and the Nardulli, on a delayed handoff, swept through a gaping hole on the right side of the Syracuse line to eat up the final 4 yards untouched.” That’s according to the Post Standard. The Herald-American has Martin running it 15 yards, Call for 6 and Nardulli scoring from 7 yards out. Anyway, they scored. Martin’s conversion went wide to keep the game tied at 19-19.

“Still fired up, Colgate drove to the Syracuse 35 at the start of the fourth quarter.” But Albright batted down his counterpart, Martin’s , fourth down pass to give the Orange new life. Albright and Brown gave the Orange a first down at the 48. After two short runs by Brown, Albright went to the air and hit Ridlon at the Colgate 35. Brown lost 3 yards but Albright got them back plus one more. The Micho dropped an Albright pass on the 15. Don Althouse went back to punt. “No Raiders dropped back as the big end wasn’t expected to kick but even so he went through with the fake before heading down the right sideline, getting a good block form Tom Richardson as he picked up 11 yards, plowing his way for the last four to make it a first down on the 22.” (The Herald has it as the 23.) Colgate coach Hal Lahar was “screaming mad” after the game, claiming there had been an “obvious holding” on this play.

Ridlon gained 5 on an end around. Micho got three more and Laacksonen and Brown each got one. It was enough for a first down at the 13. “Laacksonen hit the line and bolted through for 8 yards to the 5. Brown got a yard at the line and on the next play Brown went over the right side for the for four yards and the touchdown.” The Post Standard said that Big Jim “covered the last four yards in two lusty smashs”. He then, (finally), kicked the point to put the perennial home team in this series up, 26-19, with less than three minutes left. It had been a man-size drive, 65 yards in 17 plays, to take the lead.

But the game was far from over. Whitehair returned the kick-off to the 31. The dangerous Martin hit Frank Speno who ran it to the Orange 44. But the equally dangerous Jim Ridlon picked off Martin’s next pass at the 22. But a penalty for unnecessary roughness threw the Orange back to the 9. Call returned a punt to the SU 40 and the Raiders were in business again, even though enthusiastic SU students were already pulling down the crossbars, (they never got the uprights, which were housed in concrete). Martin threw four straight passes. The first three fell incomplete, the third almost another Ridlon interception. (Everybody remembers Jim Brown but people forget how good our other Jim was.) The fourth was complete, (The post says to Call, the Herald to Whitehair), but short of a first down and the celebration began for real.

Syracuse gained 309 yards, 242 on the ground, including 82 yards on 21 carries from Jim Brown, 63 in 4 carries by Ed Ackley and 32 in 8 carries by Billy Micho. Colgate nearly matched that with 281 yards, 175 on the ground. Syracuse completed half of their 8 passes while Colgate could only complete a third of their 15 but the Raiders got bigger yardage out of it, 67-106. It was a relatively clean game for the era, with no fumbles and only 20 yards in penalties.

The game was richly covered by the two newspapers with no less than 18 different pictures. The front page of the Herald had a dramatic picture of Jim Brown on his 34 yard run from the 2 foot line, running past a fallen defender with Jim Brill, (#75), running parallel to him, both looking for Colgate players to knock off their feet- like the one between them. The sports page opened with an equally dramatic shot of Brown scoring the winning touchdown, taken from the back of the end zone, showing Big Jim wedging himself between two defenders, one of whom it being bent backwards by the bullish rush of an unidentified SU lineman. One of those little arrows I used to love tin these pictures pointed to Brown from over his right shoulder.

The next one is captioned “ORANGE MAINSTAY: Jimmy Ridlon was one of the outstanding performers for Syracuse in the thrilling victory over the Red Raiders of the Chenango Valley…here he is shown foiling halfback Nardulli of Colgate in the fourth quarter.” Jimmy, #89, is falling backward and Nardulli, #47, sideways on an incomplete pass. Syracuse, by the way, was in its white jerseys with blue numerals and trim and the orange helmets and pants they became famous for. Colgate was in maroon jerseys and helmets with white pants, numerals and trim.

Ridlon is also in the next shot having beaten #22 of Colgate, (that’s their QB, Guy Martin), and reaching up for Eddie Albright’s pass for the first score of the game. This picture has a long arrow with a high arch to it going from Albright’s throwing hand to Ridlon. The ball, which is circled, it at the apex of the arch. Albright is shown tumbling into the end zone with the third score, falling next to the Colgate defender who knocked him off his feet and who is also going down. Albrights second TD to Ridlon is in the picture next to it. Jim has caught the ball and turned away from the defender, who has his arms out-stretched in an odd angle as if he is trying to fly and failing. Jim cradles the ball safely for the score.

Below that the play where Jim Brown ran 34 yards, (the caption says 35) to get SU out of trouble is fully seen. A huge hole has been opened up on the right side of the Colgate line and Jim has burst through, standing up at the nine and is looking around for what defenders will challenge him. None are in sight and he’s surrounded by three blockers, two just behind him and one, (no doubt Brill) parallel to him. It looks like a 99 yard run but there are a couple of Colgaters wide of Brill who must have had other plans.

Next to that is a shot of Jack Call heading for the goal line for Colgate’s first score, splitting two SU defenders at the 2 yard line. He didn’t quite make it but scored on the next play. Don Althouse is shown hugging the ball to his chest and running with his head down on the controversial fourth down conversion on the fake punt. Nobody is holding anybody but it’s just a snapshot of the play. Another one of those big white arrows is pointing at Don’s back.

Next to that is Ed Ackley’s exciting 52 yard run. There’s a long arrow showing his route down the sidelines and, for good measure, another one next to him. He’s got a blocker just behind him, (It looks like Pete Schwert, #59), who is turning with his arms out, looking for any pursuers. There are three of them within 5 yards of Ackley and one of those guys, (Bob Deming, #35, the forward most of them), caught him. Ackley at this point is on the SU 32 yard line, 14 yards into his 52 yard scamper. That’s in the Herald-American. The Post Standard has a shot of the same play, 10 yard slater. Schwert has whiffed and Deming is three yards behind Ackley, just crossing the 40 while Ed is at the 43. It took Deming and other 26 yards to catch him so this is the exact mid-way point of the big run.

The Post-Standard has a big picture on Page 1 of Albright’s score. It’s a second before the Herald-American picture. Albright has just been tripped up and is sagging toward the ground , still a couple of feet short of the end zone. But he managed to fall into it. They also have another shot of SU’s first score, which Albright threw to Ridlon, who caught it over Colgate QB Guy Martin, who is falling down behind Jim, who has turned away from him. And they have another shot of the second TD toss to Ridlon, this one taken a second after the Herald’s shot. Jim has turns away from Martin again and is straightening up after securing the catch and TD. The “flying” defender is revealed to be Martin again, who is falling away from Ridlon. They also have a nice shot of Jack Call’s touchdown from behind the end zone, Call going in standing up with both hands holding the ball to his chest while and SU defender gets tripped up by a leg-whip. There is a shot, taken just after the Herald shot, of Jim Brown’s big run from the goal line. In the Herald shot, Jim is at the 9. In the Post Standard, he’s at the 11. Brill is closing in on the closest defender, (Martin again). But there’s another guy next to Martin. They also have a behind the end zone shot of Jim Brown’s winning score but the official is in the way. “Fran” Nardulli is shown scoring the second Colgate TD, falling down in the end zone with two prone Syracuse defenders behind him.

It was the last great Syracuse-Colgate game. There wouldn’t even be any good ones after that.