The Bold, Brave Men of Archbold 1955: Penn State

[SWC75]

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

Syracuse hadn’t beaten Penn State in Happy Valley since 1934 and coming off the dominating win over a good Holy Cross team, they were optimistic that this was the year to end that streak. Eddie Albright, the SU quarterback, was especially looking to atone for a blocked punt late in the 1953 game that turned a 14-14 tie into a 14-20 defeat. A cause for hope was the odd stat that Syracuse was undefeated on the road despite losing twice at home, (abit to powerhouses Pittsburgh and Maryland).

“Saturday’s game will be telecast regionally and the Syracuseans will get their chance to win their first TV decision after being in video action in three games in recent years.” The game would be “carried over a 23 station CBS network in New England, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia and will be piped over Channel 8 in Syracuse.”

One of the best backs in recent years was Syracuse’s own Jimmy Brown, who was being described as an All-American in several articles after the Holy Cross game. John Gillooly of the Boston Advertiser called him “a padded panther”. Arthur Sampson of the Boston Herald said “Syracuse had a 212 pound halfback named Jimmy Brown who was too much for Holy Cross to handle. This big halfback drove like a battering ram when he was called to drive straight into the line. He could outrun everyone on the Holy Cross team when he skirted the ends. And when he got his hands on the ball, as he did several times on punts, he was simply dynamite….He would turn on the speed of a dash man and knock over everybody he couldn’t outrun…During these open field romps Brown could display the elusiveness of a little guy and the power of a fullback.” Jerry Nason in the Boston Globe: “Although he never catapulted his jet-powered 212 pounds into the end zone the devastation spread by halfback Jimmy brown with pass interceptions, kick runbacks of 54 and 35 yards and bombing runs and hand-offs and pitch-outs contributed mightily to the rout.”

Jack Slattery used these accounts and those reported after the Army and Maryland games to anoint Big Jim as “easily one of the nation’s greatest players” but warned “neither Syracuse nor Brown had much pre-season build-up in the national sports magazines. And, as a result, Jimmy probably won’t make an All-American team this season though he is certainly deserving of the honor. Should he miss this year he can be assured that his performances to date are have earned for him the necessary pre-season build-up that will win those merited honors next season.”

But Penn State had a star back of its own, Lenny Moore. “Asked to compare Penn State’s Lenny Moore and Syracuse’ Jimmy Brown (Roy) Simmons pointed out that they are two entirely different types of backs but that both can be highly effective: ‘Moore is a quicker starter and is much more elusive while Brown is more of a power runner who is more likely to try to run over would-be tacklers than to try to elude them...Moore is probably the most explosive back in the East and possibly in the entire country. One of these days he’s going to run wild. I hope it isn’t this week.” Moore was the bigger name at this time, having gained 1082 yards the previous season, averaging 8 yards per carry compared to 439 for Brown, (5.9). In 1955, Lenny had rushed for 363 yards on 93 carries, (3.9), while Jim had rushed for 343 but only on 66 carries, (5.4). Moore had scored key touchdowns in both the 1953 and 1954 Penn State victories over the Orange. Jim was “gaining confidence with each game and is beginning to use his fakes and elusiveness, which, together with his power, makes him one of the toughest halfbacks in the country to defend against.”

The Nittany Lions also had two outstanding quarterbacks in Milt Plum and Bobby Hoffman, a fearsome guard in Sam Valentine and an awesome tackle in Roosevelt Grier. But Rip Engle had the crying towel out: “Our boys still are a little inexperienced. They’re not big, the smallest college team I ever had, and we lost two boys through injuries in the Penn game. (Paul) North, our left end and (Jack) Calderone, our right tackle won’t be able to play.” A sophomore tackle named Gene Grabosky might see some action. He would later transfer to Syracuse and become part of 1959’s “sizable seven” line.

The Lions had opened by thrashing Boston U. 35-0 but then gotten crushed by Army 6-35, rallied to beat Virginia 27-7 but then got handled by Navy 14-34 and undefeated West Virginia 7-21 before dominating Pennsylvania 20-0. The three teams Penn State had lost two would wind up with a combined record of 20-7-1 but the teams they beat would finish a dismal 3-24. That made it hard to “read” this team.

Schwartzwalder said, in reviewing films at the weekly luncheon, told the audience that “the secret of winning football is to HIT. He observed the boys seemed to enjoy it on Saturday and hopes they will indulge themselves a bit more on Saturday.” But the hits can go either way. Don Laacksonen had re-injured his right ankle in the Holy Cross game and was going to be out for “at least a week”.

Bill Reddy noted all the attention being given to Jim Brown but said that the recent Orange success could also be attributed to “the development of reserve strength plus the improvement in passing and in pass defense….The greater depth of the Orange squad was emphasized against Holy Cross when the second, or alternate line looked stronger than the starting line at times….Coach Ben Schwartzwalder used his entire squad of 35 players against the Crusaders….When Syracuse gained a 14-7 lead in the second period, he got most of his third team into the fray and he did considerable shifting of lineups for the rest of the game….The improvement in the passing, as compared with last year, is a matter of record. In five games, including three victories, Syracuse has gained more ground by passing than it gained throughout the 1954 season. Last year, only one touchdown pass was thrown. Already the Orangemen have pitched for 6 TDs and four different passers have figured in these plays…In pass defense the Orangemen have already accounted for 10 interceptions, averaging two a game.”

Syracuse was more of a “quick-strike” offensive team than in the past. Through 5 games, the Orange had completed 21, (of 44) passes for 383 yards and no less than 6 touchdowns, two of them thrown by halfback Mark Hoffman and one by Jim Ridlon. Hoffman’s two touchdown passes came in his only attempts, a record, as Jack Slattery noted, that would be “tough to improve upon.” The main passer was quarterback Eddie Albright who was 10 for 15 on the season with two scoring plays. Fern Kuzala was also coming on as Albright’s back-up. He was even being compared to Otto Graham because of his “ability to slip out of the pocket, either to throw or run, if his receivers aren’t immediately in the open”. If we had Otto Graham in the backfield with Jimmy Brown, I guess we were in good shape.

A sell-out crowd of 30,000 was expected at Beaver Field. It was band day in State College and 4300 members of high school bands would be marching up and down the field, (the number of tubas is unknown). How far Jim Brown or Lenny Moore would be marching up and down the same field would determine the outcome of the contest.

 

[SWC75]

THE GAME

1955: Syracuse vs. Penn State. Jimmy Brown vs. Lenny Moore. Those were the days!

Syracuse took the opening kickoff and gained a couple of first downs but had to punt. The first big break of the game came when Jerry Cashman hit Milt Plum at the Penn State 29, forcing a fumble that Don Laacksonen, (whose ankle must have healed when he realized it was the Penn State game), recovered. Jim Brown then “bulled” his way for 21 yards to the 8, stopped not by the Lions but rather by the linesman, who got in his way. Two more Brown carries got the ball to the 4. Mark Hoffman fumbled but Cashman recovered at the 2. Then Big Jim dived over the left side for the score and kicked the extra point to give Syracuse a 7-0 lead.

State seemed poised to answer when they drove to the SU 32 but they gave up the ball on downs when a keeper by Plum came up short. On the next play, Jim Ridlon was thrown for a 4 yard loss and the Beaver Field crowd was riled up. But the Orange got moving again. Brown ran for 16 yards, then 3. Laacksonen went for 12. Hoffman carried for 3 and then 17 yards to the 21. An offside penalty set the team back but didn’t stop the drive. SU went to its “special” play with Albright pitching to Hoffman who threw to Brown, who made a diving catch at the 10. Three plays only gained 4 yards but Brown took a swing pass from Albright and dived into the end zone for the score. Jack Faris blocked the point to leave it at Syracuse 13, Penn State 0 but it was a heck of a start for the visitors.

A “brilliant 29 yard run” by Moore set up the Lions at the Syracuse 23 late in the half but Ridlon threw Moore for a loss and the Orange again took over on downs on their own 28. Then came what the Herald-American had the guts to call a “peculiar and eventually proven stupid strategy”. (The Post Standard simply called it “one bit of bad judgment which let Penn State get up off the floor”.) They went, gasp, to the air! An incomplete pass and a two yard run by Laacksonen and then the big mistake! Joe Sabol intercepted another Albright pass at the SU 36 and ran the ball to the 10. With15 seconds left in the half, “Plum passed to Kane on the Nittany left flank and Kane, catching it on the 2, dived into the end zone. The conversion made the halftime score 13-7.

It didn’t seem to matter so much when Jim Brown returned the second half kick-off 51 yards. He followed that up with a 26 yard run from scrimmage and took a pitchout to run it in for the final five yards. Then he kicked the conversion and Syracuse seemed back in control at 20-7, three minutes into the second half.

But “it seemed to infuriate Nittany. They retaliated, going 59 yards in 11 plays with one bread and butter pass play going for 20 yards to the Orange 29…. Moore added a 15 yard dancing dash up the middle and the same brilliant halfback jumped over for the last two yards to paydirt.” Plum kicked the point and it was a ballgame, 20-14.

It was more than that when Mark Hoffman fumbled on the Orange 32 but Syracuse held on downs at the 23. Syracuse was forced to punt but got the ball back when Jimmy brown intercepted a Milt Plum pass at the Orange 42, (they would later be teammates on the Cleveland Browns for years). He followed it up with a 42 yard run off a great block by Billy Micho. But Eddie Albrights pass into the end zone form the 9 was picked off by Milt Plum. “There was no stopping of the inspired Lions as they went 80 yards in 13 plays. Moore dashed 22 yard s on a third and 10 situation and Plum eluded Tom Richardson’s grasp to pass to Bobby Allen for another first down on the Syracuse 41. Moore and Bill Straub alternated carries until they reached the Syracuse one. Straub went over form there and the conversion gave the home team the lead for the first time, 20-21.

Syracuse tried to come back but Don Laacksonen fumbled and the Lions put on a final drive that was ended only by the clock. They had the ball at the Orange 2 when the clock ran out. The ending anticipated the end of the game four years later when Syracuse would finish off a 20-18 win in front of the Penn State goal line. But on this day it was the home team that had the happy ending.

Jimmy brown gained 155 yards on 20 carries and scored 3 touchdowns. Lenny Moore countered with 149 yards on 22 carries with one score. But he had a lot to do with the Nittany Lion’s other two scores. “it proved to be a real offensive battle. State gained 238 yards rushing, Syracuse 265. The Nittany clicked on four of eight passing attempts for 54 yards and the orange connected on two of five for 21.”

The Post Standard in those days had a “Pictorial Gravure Magazine” in its Sunday paper and the November 6 version has on its cover a picture of Jim Brown doing the Heisman pose with the football, holding it with one arm under his left shoulder and thrusting his right arm out in one of his famous straight-arms. (I suspect the Heisman aspect of it was accidental: Negroes didn’t win Heisman trophies in 1955.) It’s advertising the following week’s game against Colgate.

The front of the Herald-American sports section had a shot of #44 heading toward the end of the line past three Penn State defenders on a “30 yard sweep”. I assume this was his 26 run setting up the third touchdown). It also had a page of football pictures. Four of them were from the Syracuse game. Lenny Moore was in a dramatic shot, ”plunging from the three yard line for the second touchdown”. Actually, he was on his feet, also in a sort of Heisman pose but with his free arm swinging back behind him as he drew a bead on an unseen defender- or the goal. Two Syracuse players are being blocked behind him. Jim brown is shown crouching down to deliver a blow to a tackler at the goal line as he scores the third SU touchdown. Below them “Bill Kane catches pass for Penn State’s first touchdown in second period as team started victory co0meback”. Kane has caught the ball and is tumbling across the goal line with 15 seconds left in the half as Eddie Albright dives in vain for him and another SU defender, (I think it’s #69, Ralph Farmer, a guard), runs up too late to do anything about it. Next to that shot, we see Lenny Moore being tackled by Jim Brown and Don Laacksonen with another Orangeman, (I think it’s Tom Richardson), coming up to help. The occasion is not identified.

The Post Standard showed Jim Brown tumbling over the goal line after catching Albright’s pass in the second quarter. This time it’s Lenny Moore who is coming up too late to stop the play. Milt Plum is lying on the ground behind Jim after having tripped him up. On another page, Lenny and his teammates Dan Radakovich and Billy Kane have their arms around Jim as he’s brought down short of the goal after an 8 yard ru. (I’m guessing this is just prior to the third touchdown). Penn State, despite being the home team are in their white jerseys with two narrow stripes around one wide stripe on the arms. It’s hard to tell with the black and white photographs but Syracuse appears to be in blue jerseys with orange helmets and pants. The jerseys could be orange, which was more common for the team in those days.

The Orange went home with a 3-3 record. In their next 61 games they would go 48-12-1. They would twice get off to 1-1 starts in the next six year but other than they would have a winning record for the duration.