The Bold Brave Men of Archbold 1956: West Virginia

[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.
Chorus: 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”.


(My primary sources for this series is the Post Standard Archive, which also includes the Herald Journal, various publications I have collected, including Street & Smiths and the NCAA Guide, Ken Rappoport’s The Syracuse Football Story and The Nittany Lions, The Terrapins by Paul Attner, Syracuse University Football by Michael Mullins and various internet sights, as noted.)

 

[SWC75]

THE BUILD-UP

Syracuse had a bye week to heal up. Players like Don Althouse, Ferd Kuzala, Gus Zaso and Jim Ridlon who were still nursing injuries could use that time to get ready for the next game vs. West Virginia. There was a lot of talk about Ridlon’s “fake” injury at the end of the Pitt game. This was backlash from a famous incident in 1953 where Notre Dame, trying to protected its undefeated record and #1 ranking against an inspired Iowa team, had twice faked injuries- once before the half and once before the end of the game to stop the clock when they had no time-outs and as a result scored their two touchdowns in a 14-14 tie. (Nonetheless Maryland was elevated to #1 and went into the books as that year’s national champion despite losing to Oklahoma, whom Notre Dame had beaten, in the Orange Bowl). Iowa Coach Forest Evashevski paraphrased Grantland Rice: “When the Great Scorer comes to write against your name, he writes not that you won or lost but how you got gypped at Notre Dame”. But the paper insisted that our boy Jim had just fallen on the ball and got the wind knocked out of him. There was nothing fake about that. It could happen to anyone.


Arnie Burdick pointed out that the Mountaineers had outplayed PItt the week before we played them and “should have won”. You could hardly say that of Syracuse. Ben Schwartzwalder was disappointed in the result but said “Our kids fought hard in the second half. We were pleased with the determination with which they ended the game.” Schwartzwalder was resting his starters in practice but working the reserves hard to build up depth. “We just weren’t deep enough at the ends to handle Pitt’s wide stuff properly. And we can expect more of the same from West Virginia…We’ve got to patch up our defense and get our offense reorganized.” The light drills didn’t prevent a promising sophomore halfback, Ed Bowers from getting injured in a signal drill in Archbold Gym. Bowers fell heavily on his shoulder and hit his head and got a concussion. On doctor’s orders he was out for the season. Recently retired Browns great Otto Graham was in town for a function and attended one of the team’s practices, passing along a few tips to Chuck Zimmerman, Fred Kuzala and Dan Fogarty, the Syracuse quarterbacks.


The Post Standard noted that LIFE Magazine was doing a feature on the Syracuse team “as one of the nation’s big-time teams”, with pictures by the famous photographer Peter Stackpole, “in various phases of their work-outs, including a rope-climbing drill, skull sessions and in practice plays”. I have a photocopy of that article. It’s entitled “Syracuse Gets off the Ground” and subtitled “Fit muscles and a back named Brown help and ambition”. The first page has a photo of Jim Brown, Mike Nill, Ron Luciano, Al Benecick and Frank Mambuca hanging from one of Ben Schwartzwalder’s famous gym rope contraptions. “Each day the Syracuse football team strains hand over hand up 20 foot ropes in shifts of six. No one gets up faster or with less effort than 210 pound Jim Brown, the player who could make his team a football power in 1956 to fulfill a long-thwarted Syracuse ambition”. The article said that Syracuse was “traditionally the bottom third of the Upstate Three- below Cornell and Colgate. Syracuse has always been striving toward the big-time and never quite making it…Syracuse surprised themselves and experts by a 26-12 victory over Maryland…Last week, by holding powerful Pittsburgh to 14-7, they were convinced they had finally arrived in the big-time.” I’m not sure that was their reaction to losing. There was a shot of the players watching a “skull session“ and of Jim Brown dining with Chuck Zimmerman. “A 20 year old senior from Manhasset, Long Island, Brown hopes to go into pro football.” Jim Ridlon is seen trying on one of a shelf full of “custom mouth pieces”. Actually, most of them appear to be full sets of teeth, probably molds used to customize the mouth-pieces. Schwartzwalder was seen watching a blocking drill and Brown was shown avoiding two Maryland tacklers.


Arnie told of a conversation he was a part of at the Pitt game between Harry Stuhldreher of the famous “Four Horsemen of Notre Dame”, Tom Hamilton, the long-time Navy coach who had become AD at Pittsburgh and former Orange coach Chick Meehan. They were talking about the “modern game” of football, circa 1956 vs. the way they played it back in the 20’s. Stuhldreher commented on the defenses. “The only one they ever threw at us was a seven diamond. Compare that with the problems that face today’s quarterbacks. Everyone on defense jumps around, like a bunch of scared jack-rabbits. You not only get varying defenses but you get a false picture, too. They’ll show you one alignment, then jump into another. The ball-handling is better. The passing and receiving is sharper. They’re bigger…and they’re getting better coaching.” Chick said “Though the fundamentals of the game are the same, they do an awful lot more things today than we did- and they do them better. It’s a better game for the fans, for its more wide-open. They show you the ball more and that’s what people like.” Hamilton said “We require a lot more from our athletes today than they used to. There’s a lot more learning required and each play is more of a team effort than it used to be. There’s less chance to loaf. The mind and the body must be quicker and more agile. It’s also true of everything today – business and sports competition has stepped up the pace.” One wonders what they would think of the game in 2013.


The same three men took up the perennial subject of conversation in the east- a football league with all the top eastern powers. Burdick reported that Pittsburgh “held the big keys” and that Hamilton was satisfied with the money they were making as an independent with the ability to schedule teams like Notre Dame, California, Minnesota, Duke and Miami. It was also thought that the “New England schools”, (presumably Boston College, Boston University and Holy Cross), “didn’t offer enough of a box office stimulant for the Smokey City lads”. Meanwhile, Army and Navy considered themselves to be “national institutions” and didn’t want to be burdened with being part of a league. Burdick: “All of which proves once again that youngsters might be playing better football but there’s usually nothing wrong with the business sense of an older head.” I’ve always thought that a great league could have been formed at this time with Boston College, Syracuse, Army, Navy, Penn State, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Virginia Tech and maybe Notre Dame, too. But “business sense” has always gotten in the way of “common sense” and the result is what we have now.


Meanwhile a report came in that the state of Louisiana had passed a law banning integrated sporting events. Two networks, (not identified in Bill Reddy’s report) had turned down the rights to televise the Sugar Bowl as a result. I wonder what those Louisiana legislators would think of the “modern game” in 2013?


An article summarized the Orange statistically after two games. Jim Brown was 7th in the country with 206 yards on 32 carries. Thanks to Chuck Zimmerman we had a balanced attack. SU had completed 13 of 23 passes for 193 yards and two scores while holding the opposition to 9 of 23 for only 69 yards. But we’d been out-rushed 403-418 but with the passing we led in total yards, 596-487. Jim Ridlon had 4 catches for 62 yards and a score.


It was announced that the October 20th Syracuse- Army game was the earliest sell-out in Archbold Stadium history with 39,701 tickets sold. The previous year the Maryland and Colgate games had been sell-outs but the last ticket was sold the day of the game. And the capacity at that time was only 39,500. Later it was announced that the Colgate was also a sell-out. The local community was beginning to “buy in” to this team, despite the Pitt loss.


West Virginia had lost All-America tackles Sam Huff and Bruce Bosley and fullback Joe Marconi but still had center Chuck Howley, (all names familiar to pro football fans of a certain age). They also had 235 pound tackle Bill Underdonk, (is it legal to underdonk somebody?) and the swift and well-named halfback, 5-9 162lb Jack Rabbits, (I kid you not- he averaged 9.1 yards per carry in 1955). Larry Krutko rushed for 5.8 yards a pop and Noel Whipkey rushed for 4.8. Ralph Anastasio was another speedy halfback. . “Tricky Mickey” Trimarki was a fine quarterback. Joe Kopinski was his favorite target, (he had copped 12 passes). They may not have had as many famous names but they had some good ones.


And those good names had held Pitt to less than 100 yards total offense despite losing their opener, 13-14. They then crushed Southern Conference foe Richmond 30-6 and then went down to Texas to impressively lasso the Longhorns, 7-6, (although that proved to be one of the worst ever Texas teams, going 1-9-0, causing that school to hire former Oklahoma quarterback Darryl Royal away from Washington to revive the program). The same day Pitt got upset by California, making SU’s loss to them look a bit worse.


Arnie Burdick did a column on what it was like traveling to West Virginia the previous year. (It had been SU second visit to Morgantown, having been there in 1946 as well). Burdick described the state as “a Northern Texas” for all the bragging they did. “There’s still the image of the West Virginia footballers team working out the day before the game with almost every member of the team working on a chaw of tobacco in their mouths, not quite as big as your fist. And when 275 pound Pappy Lewis, Mountaineer mentor, spotted Slim Jim Decker, Syracuse’s assistant athletic director at a pre-game rally that night, he greeted him with “You know what we do with fellows like you down here? We snap their necks, like a skeleton! “ there was plenty of fan support. The PA announcer at the game announced that the longest Western Union telegram in history had been delivered to the West Virginia dressing room from the state’s fans- 65 yards long! In the press box one Syracuse scribe had commented “Well, that gets them to our 35 yard line! SU came back to win that game, 20-13. It was the beginning of a very lively, back and forth rivalry that would last for 58 years. And it would start out being “forth” for Syracuse, who would win 6 of the first 7 games in that span.


Bill Reddy responded with a column about how Pappy Lewis was carefully downplaying his team’s chances this year after being “well pleased about his team’s chances against Syracuse” the previous year. “Interviewed by telephone yesterday the West Virginia coach was careful not to mention any names that might be helpful to the task of prepping for his team’s invasion.” When asked to describe his team’s 7-6 win at Texas, he talked about the 87 degree heat there. “I don’t know if we can come back strong after that.” Three players had ankle injuries. “You can’t tell about them, you know. Ankles are tricky. Maybe they’ll be ready I don’t know. But maybe none of them will make it.” Reddy pressed Lewis on who the three players with “ankles” were but he claimed he had a bad connection and couldn’t hear the question.


Ben Schwartzwalder told Bill of his various problems. “”We were so chewed up after the Pitt game that if we’d had to play last Saturday there would have been a lot of strange names in the line-up. But in another way, the layoff could have hurt us. We haven’t been able to do anything with hard contact with our squad banged up and yet you can’t get ready for a hard-hitting team like West Virginia without hitting hard in practice.” He was also worried about West Virginia running wide on the Orange after the success Pittsburgh had against our ends. He complained that too many of his players were listening to the World Series on the radio and not focusing on football. “I’m not partisan but I hope some Yankee knocks the ball out of the park and ends this series right now. These kids are so hopped up over the Larsen pitching performance and talks baseball as much as football.”


There was talk that Syracuse might go to the air in this game because the Mountaineers would be the biggest team Syracuse would play all year. Their starting front line consisted of Roger Chancey (225 pounds), Jim Pickett (230), Joe Nicely (209), Chuck Howley (210), Gene Latrhey (200), Bill Underdonk (220- apparently he’d lost some weight since the pre-season) and Joe Kopniskly (205). This didn’t prevent Lewis from announcing of Syracuse “They’re bigger than us- the whole darn team!” They were ranked fourth in the country in rushing defense. Richmond had managed to throw for over 200 yards against them in their 6-30 loss. Of course, teams that lose like that tend to throw the ball a lot.


The Wednesday, (10/11) Herald-Journal had the sort of cartoon you’d never see these days. The title was “He’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain”. It showed a hillbilly holding a skull labeled “Texas in one hand and an orange he is eating in another. He’s quoted as saying “Ah Just Love Oranges!” In the accompanying article Pappy Lewis was asked if Syracuse was as tough as Texas. “About the same. Texas isn’t as big as Syracuse but they may be a little bit faster. He was asked to compare Syracuse’s star, Jimmy Brown, to Texas’s star, Walt Fondren. “They are altogether different types. Fondren is a fast kid with great knee action. He can cut and run. Brown is a fast, strong boy with a lot more power than Fondren.


Thursday’s Herald had an article on Ben Schwartzwalder’s career and his roots in West Virginia, including a “then” and “now” comparison of photographs from his playing days at West Virginia under Greasy Neale in the early 30’s. He came there as a quarterback but wound up playing center at 152 pounds. Still, he was the one that chose the plays and called the signals. After graduation he became a high school coach at Sisterville, Weston and Parkersburg in West Virginia, then moved on the McKinley High in Ohio. Then the war came and he became a paratrooper and an officer, seeing action in the European Theater. He returned home to win 25 of 30 games at Muhlenberg before taking the Syracuse job that nobody else wanted in 1949. “Coaching is still a challenge. I still have the same interest in the game- probably more. As a matter of fact, as you grow older in this profession you seem to feel more elated with each victory and more disappointed with each loss. At Parkersburg, we had the horses. All we needed was to have the opponent show up and we figured to win. Now it’s different. We don’t have the horses to match most of our schedule and we have to connive and maneuver to match or overmatch personnel.” He had maneuvered his way to a 36-27-1 record so far in 7+ seasons after taking over a team that had been 1-8 in 1948.


When asked about playing West Virginia, Ben said “There are bound to be some old-time friends among the alums who follow west Virginia down here and I sure don’t want to be a loser in front of my old classmates.” Bud Vander Veer ended the article by saying “The trouble is, he realizes West Virginia is concocting some ‘witches brew’ design to stall the Orange and he knows the Mountaineers have the horses. “


The game was not a sell-out but a crowd of 25,000 was expected, “considerably better than opening home games in recent years.” Syracuse was a 6-7 point favorite, which mystified Bill Reddy. “Sure Syracuse startled the East by upsetting Maryland but the Terrapins have one only one out of two since and had a terrific battle before gaining a 6-0 win over Wake Forest. The only real basis for comparison between Syracuse and West Virginia is their performance against a common opponent-Pittsburgh. The Mountaineers, by every yardstick save the final 14-13 score for Pitt, deserved to win that game. The Orangemen were not only heavily out-statisticked by the Panthers but were lucky not to be beaten worse than the 14-7 final…..If I were parlay player, I’d grab that 6 point margin with relish. It looks like the ‘overlay’ of the week.”

 

[SWC75]

THE GAME

The Post Standard had a front page story on SU’s “Most Colorful Opener”. Three Thousand SU freshmen wore orange caps and carried multi-colored cards they used to create an American flag. Forty patients form the local VA hospital were guests of the University. Some of them had not been outside the grounds of the hospital for a year. Alpha Tau Omega’s cannon was missing much of the week. It was returned by some Colgate students just before the game, having been painted maroon. The SU band, 110 strong, was decked out in new double-breasted navy blue uniforms with orange trim, (the current SU players would have approved). A t their head was Alta Berg, the national champion baton twirler and new Orange Girl. (The number of tubas was not reported .) Even West Virginia fans were reported as being impressed. The weather was perfect. The game was great and the sun set Orange. If you could go back in time to watch an SU game, this one would be on your short list.


Putting Bill Reddy’s and Arnie’s Burdick’s observations together: “Twenty-five thousand hearts each stopped several times in Archbold Stadium yesterday afternoon before Syracuse turned back West Virginia 27-20 in a bruising football thriller. It was exciting enough for Hollywood to borrow the script….A Syracuse team which alternately sparkled and sputtered but which capitalized on its breaks beat the rugged West Virginia gridders….The Orange won because their halfbacks, Jimmy Brown and Jim Ridlon played like the All-Americans they are. Racing like a loaded beer truck running downhill, Brown threw it into high gear in the last seconds of the third period to ignite the fire for victory…..Brown rolling overland like a berserk tank, gained single-handedly more than twice as much yardage on the ground as the entire West Virginia backfield.” (Including Jack Rabbitts!) “On the ground, as Syracuse piled up 328 yards and netted 20 first downs to West Virginia’s 12, the Orange was blocking better than against Pitt and they managed to contain the visitor’s outside speed rather handily.


Jim Ridlon returned the opening kick-off to the Syracuse 34 and Jim Brown ripped off 16 yards to midfield on the first play. But the Orange was forced to punt and Paul Shepard called for a fair catch at the West Virginia 17. “A second down pass gave Syracuse its first big break. (Mickey) Trimarki hit Joe Kopinsky in the hands but he juggled the ball and Ridlon, defending alertly, grabbed the ball for an interception. He ran it back from the 32 to the 18. From there Brown took a pitch-out, went wide and shook off Shepard on the 10 yard line, then went the rest of the way untouched to score.” Arnie Burdick described Jim as “roaring into the end zone”. Kopinski felt a little better after he blocked Jim’s extra point try. Syracuse led 6-0 4:40 into the game.


The Orange then forced the ‘neers to punt. Snider “loosed a beautiful 49 yard kick”. The ‘Cuse drove to midfield but Danny Ciervo fumbled after a short gain to end the drive. After an offsides made it first and 15. Back-up quarterback Alex Szuch “heaved a long wobbly pass, (Arnie Burdick referred to it as a “blooper”) down the right sideline. Despite Two Orangemen, (Burdick identified three: Ferd Kuzala, Alan Cann and Ernie Jackson), covered the intended receiver but even so (John) Bowles managed to make the catch. Then he broke out of the knot of the defenders, stumbled as he got away and covered the last 23 yards to score. It was a 55 yard pass play.” But Dick Aloise broke through to block the point and keep the game tied at 6-6.


Jim Brown returned the kick-off from the goal line to the 21 and then Syracuse put on a 9 play 79 yard drive to take the lead. The big play was a 37 yard pass from Ferd Kuzala to Nick Baccile, who was escorted out of bounds at the West Virginia 19. “Brown and (back-up fullback Alan) Cann gained 11 yards and a first down and with four seconds left in the period West Virginia sent in its starting array for defense. They were set to stop Brown and Kuzala fooled them neatly. Ferdie faked a handoff to Brown, who cut off to the right and Kuzala kept it, ran to his left and swept the final five yards for the score as the people ended. This time Brown converted and it was 13-6 going into the second period.”


West Virginia, unphased, marched back down the field to tie the game. A 15 yard pass from Trimarki to Roger Chancy, another on 4th down for 11 yards to Kopnicky and a pass interference call on Don Althouse were the key plays. The last put the ball on the SU 4 and three plays later Larry Krutko “cracked into the end zone”. Snider kicked the point to tie it at 13 all.


Stymied by the Mountaineer’s tough defense and an offsides penalty, SU punted from deep in its own territory on third down, using a trick play. “Syracuse used its buck-lateral play in which Zimmerman spun away from the line and Ridlon took a direct pass it was third down and Ridlon’s booming punt caught the Mountaineers by surprise, rolling dead at the visitor’s 25.” A motion penalty set them further back and they had to punt. Ed Ackley made a fine 21 yard return and SU had the ball in West Virginia territory. Two runs by Cann got a first down. Four short runs got another and Zimmernan hit Brown for a pass to the 5. But a botched handoff ended the drive with only 34 seconds left in the half. West Virginia didn’t want to try anything from down there and it was 13-13 at intermission.


Nothing much happened in the third period until Ralph Anastasio fumbled a pitchout and Ted Warholak fell on it on the Orange 46. Syracuse drove to the Mountie 29 before giving up the ball on downs when a Zimmerman sneak came up short.


“Jim Brown made a marvelous interception to set up the tie-breaking score. As Alex Szuch passed long toward Bruce McClung Brown reached over the end’s shoulder and grabbed the ball on the Orange 35.” Syracuse now drove 65 yards for a touchdown they scored twice. “In the 65 yard surge, Jimmy contributed 48 yards, including the final two His 34 yard sweep of the Mountaineer left flank, after taking a pitchout from quarterback Chuck Zimmerman was as brilliant and as determined as the ancient bowl had ever witnessed. … Brown hit up the middle, hopped a tackler at the line of scrimmage, seemed to be stopped by the secondary, then spun aside and raced across the goal line. That tally was nullified by a clipping penalty which put the ball on the 25. Three plays later, Brown again was off to the races. He went wide on a pitch, shook off a tackle by Howley and galloped 22 yards before he was pushed out of bounds on the 3. In one more play Brown was again in the end zone and this time it counted.” Brown converted and it was 20-13, 2:37 into the fourth quarter.


“On West Virginia’s next play from scrimmage, Syracuse got the “lock-up” break. Trimarki tried a deep pitch-out to Sammy Sizemore the halfback fumbled it and (Dick) Lasse recovered it for Syracuse on the visitor’s 26. Brown and Bacille collaborated on a fine gain there. Jimmy burst through the middle for 11 yards, fumbled when he was tackled and the ball flew forward toward the goal line. Bacille beat two defenders in the race to cover the ball and ti was first down for Syracuse on the four. From there, after Ridlon made a yard, Coffin dived for the remaining three and when brown converted for the third time it was 27-13 at 4:30 of the final period.”


“Here the Mountaineers went into their aerial act and they moved strongly to their final tally. Two Trimarki passes and a 15 yard gain by Noel Whipkey on a draw play moved the ball quickly downfield. Again, Trimarki, rushed hard, managed to complete a pass to Anastasio on the Syracuse 3 and Snider dived from there for the score. Snider added the point and the scoring was over.


“There was still 7:05 left when Syracuse received the kick-off. Brown and Ridlon carried it to a first down at midfield before Brown hit left tackle three straight times. His third down stab should have given Syracuse another first down on the West Virginia 37 but the Orange was caught for holding and pushed back to its own 44. Ridlon made nine, then punted to the visitor’s 27. The Southerners had the ball and 3:23 was remaining on the clock. Trimarki’s first pass was good for a first down on the 38 and consumed only five seconds. On the next play, Ridlon intercepted Trimarki’s bid for a touchdown on the Orange 32.” Syracuse couldn’t quite run the clock out so they did one of those things you wonder about- they punted on the last play of the game with a one touchdown lead. “Althouse kicked a 50 yard punt, a beauty, which Jack Rabbits took on the three and returned 12 yards as the clock expired.

 

[SWC75]

Pappy Lewis was generous in his praise: “Too much Brown with the Orange, that was our trouble. If Brown ever played a better game, I’ve never heard of it. (He’s) the strongest runner we’ve played against. I’d sure like to have him on our team. He’s a marvel….I’ll say this without hesitation. Syracuse has a darn good football team. Both teams played well. If anything, West Virginia’s defenses were down a bit. But Syracuse played a wonderful game. “ Ben Schwartzwalder responded by saying that “We knew we were going to play a strong team and we certainly did. They were far from a pushover. Our win was a fine team effort. Jim Brown was just great. I thought our end play was very improved over the Pitt game. It really makes one happy to win a game like that.“ Jim Brown said “The boys really blocked for me today, especially Ed Coffin. All I had to do was get behind them. I just seemed to get my second wind after they called that touchdown back and then I really wanted to run.


West Virginia suffered several dropped passes that could have altered the result, including a drop by Sizemore of Trimarki at the SU 7 early in the third quarter that would have given the Mountaineers the lead. But Don Althouse was sure he was in bounds when a completion deep in West Virginia territory was disallowed in the same period. So was Ben Schwartzwalder: That’s one play I’m sure they missed. Althouse was a full step inside the line and I saw it clearly.”


Jim Brown gained 165 yards on 22 carries and scored twice. Jim Ridlon rushed for 57 yards. Alan Cann was praised for coming off the bench for gaining 62 yard. “Coaches generally agreed it was Syracuse reserve strength that made them a better ball club.” Syracuse out-rushed West Virginia 325-80Trimarki was only 8 of 20 passing with several drops but passed for 134 yards and a score while SU quarterbacks Zimmerman and Kuzala were 3 for 6 for 50 yards. Both teams lost 2 fumbles. Syracuse intercepted three passes to none. With a 378-214 edge in total yards and +3 in turnovers you’d think that Syracuse could have won more easily but they won and that’s the bottom line. The fans were certainly not lacking for entertainment.


Or pictures. That front page on the Post Standard showed the card section flashing the flag with the band in their new uniforms playing the national anthem. A later edition had a shot of Nick Baccile falling on Jim brown’s fumble, which the caption pronounced “THE KEY PLAY OF THE GAME”. It has those wonderful labels and arrows I used to love as a kid. An arrow points to “Trimarki WV” and “Klim WV”

Lunging for the ball but “Baccile S” is doing the same thing, just ahead of them. Behind them is “J. Brown S” lying ignominiously, flat on the ground but looking forward, hoping a teammate can make up for his bobble. It’s a nice sharp picture that shows the largely filled seats and Archbold Gym and other buildings seen over the top of the stands.


The front of the Sports page shows “SYRACUSE’S FIRST TD” as “Jarrin’ Jim brown sped around right end 18 yards” after the Ridlon interception. An arrow points to the goal line as “J Brown S” takes the corner. Tricky Mickey Trimarki isn’t quite tricky enough to get there on time. Below that is “THE CLINCHER: Fullback Ed Coffin piles over the goal line for Syracuse’s fourth and last touchdown early in the fourth period…He broke through from the two-yard line on the second paly after Nick Baccile made a thrilling fumble recovery of Jim brown’s fumble on the four yard line.” “Coffin S” is seen bent over the line of scrimmage with the goal line, again pointed out with an arrow, below him. On the next page we see John Bowles catching Trimarki’s “blooper” in the first period. I see only two SU defenders, Jackson and Cann: Kuzala is not in the picture. Jackson is reaching out with his right arm. Bowles has his head pointed straight up but the ball is settling into his arms. Cann has over-run the play and is sticking his arms out backwards in a fruitless attempt to do something relevant. Jack Rabbits is just behind them, poised as if he expected the ball to come to him. That may have been the intention.


There’s am small picture on the following page with the caption “Jim Brown powers away through the mammoth Mountaineer linemen, (average weight: 214) for this fourth period touchdown after racing 23 yards to put the ball on the 2 ½ yard line. (Arrow indicates ball” Underneath a mass of humanity you can see Jim’s left arm and the ball hugged to his chest with his right hand. On page 34 it says “NICE CATCH”, showing Nick Baccile catching Ferd Kuzala’s 37 yard pass in the first quarter to set up SU’s second score. Nick has beaten a fallen defender who helplessly looks up with an out-stretched arm as the ball settles in Nick’s open hands. At the bottom of that page it says “THE GENERAL MAKES HIS OWN BIG MOVE” showing Kuzala running for a touchdown after faking to Brown. He’s got no less than five defenders closing in on him but he has the angle on them, his head down and he’s running for the corner of the goal line.


The Herald-American had no game pictures on the front page but on the sports page we see “STRANGE BOUNCE: Joe Kopinsky, West Virginia end, appeared to have clear sailing with first period forward pass but the ball hopped out of his hands into those of Syracuse’s Jim Ridlon who returned it to the Mountaineers 18 to set up first Orange touchdown. Kopinsky has both hands out but the ball has bounced off his hands and there’s a dotted line showing its path, directly in front of Ridlon, who is a step behind. Next to Jim’s feet is a solid line that turns behind him and goes in the other direction with an arrow at the end of it.


On page 56 is a shot of Jim Brown on the next play. “ON HIS WAY- Jim Brown galloped unmolested for 18 yards and first touchdown of game to provide early thrill to crowd”. Jim has completed his sweep to the right side of the line and headed toward the goal line, (with a long arrow to show him the way). Four guys are closing in on him but they can forget it. Below that is “NOSE TO GROUND” which shows Ed Coffin scoring the fourth SU TD. The shot is couple of seconds after the Post Standard shot and poor Ed has fallen face first, getting a mouth full of turf for his trouble. But it’s end zone turf so maybe it tastes better that way.


Page 57 is all pictures. “THIS ONE DIDN’T COUNT” shows Jim brown’s 27 yard scoring run that got called back for a clip at the 10. Jim’s following another black line with an arrow at the end of it. George Stock, who has a “B” over his head, clipped a West Virginia defender with an “A” over his head but did it 10 yards downfield, after the picture was snapped. Below that is a shot of Kuzala’s touchdown that focuses more directly on him. He’s almost to the goal line with three guys along the goal lIne running to cut him off. They never got there. Next to that is Althouse’s “DISPUTED PASS PLAY”. Don is at least a yard from the sideline, right on the numbers. He’s jumped for the ball and has his arms out-stretched . The ball is right above him, just behind his hands. It seems unlikely that he would have caught it out of bounds, unless he was bobbling it. I don’t think they looked for that in those days. Below that is “RAMPAGING FULLBACK” Alan Cann, who looks a good deal bigger than the other players, (Upperdeck’s site has him at 6-0 192). He’s following a black line that snakes from the 20 to the 35. He’s between the 31 and the 32 with a blocker to his right and a man bearing down from behind at about the 29. There are two defenders in front of him at the 35 but they better get ready for an impact. It was a 20 yard first period run.


Bill Reddy was both impressed by the Orange performance but also concerned about a team that could run for 300 yards yet almost lose the game due a weak pass defense. “Some people saw the Syracuse- West Virginia game as an epic struggle in which the orange bounced back from the Pitt game with a determination which was not to be denied. I’m afraid I saw it differently. It seemed to me that Syracuse was three touchdowns better than West Virginia on the day they played that particular game. Yet it also seemed to me that Syracuse was lucky to emerge with a seven point win. It could just as easily been a tie score because the Orange pass defense was so poor that only the inability of the Mountaineers to hold onto good passes prevented at least one more West Virginia touchdown. As it stands, Syracuse looks better on paper than it has been on the field.”


Reddy did have praise for Jim Ridlon. “Jimmy Ridlon is somewhat obscured by the big shadow which Brown casts, yet Ridlon, if you want a personal note, is the best all-around football player on a good Syracuse team. He doesn’t get the spectacular gains but he gets the short yardage that’s needed and he defends with a fury that nobody on his team can surpass.”


Arnie Burdick had a more optimistic tone: “If you close your eyes and reflect on Syracuse’s 27-20 victory over West Virginia, you’ll focus on an orange array that has confidence in its own ability. It belts with the fury and vibrance of any team in the nation. It forced the Mountaineers into repeated mistakes, capitalizing same for the tremendous triumph. The Orange plays bruising “hard nosed football, but their confidence in themselves is the key to their most recent successes. “


“Syracuse is aggressive to the point of over-committing itself at times but teams that make the initiative are bound to make some errors, too. That’s true in life. Every gamble that one makes isn’t going to pan out- but you can still be successful if your percentage pans out. Schwartzwalder’s teams do gamble, especially defensively, but their overall alertness- their desire to succeed, the pleasure they take out of making contact have won a new respect for the Orange throughout the trade plus an unknown number of new fans.”


“When the Orange head took over the grid portfolio on the Hill in the spring of 1949, the ship was listing badly. The football world knew that Schwartzie was an excellent technician that his offenses had always been able to gain plenty of ground. But building spirit and confidence were the problems. These have been overcome and that’s the greatest accomplishment that Schwartzwalder and his staff have engineered in their eight season. In fact, they’ve pumped so much life into the Orange that, whether you’re a Syracuse fan or not, you’ve got to marvel at the way the Hill squad goes about its business. Their combativeness, their aggressiveness, their ball-hawking, their fearlessness are all thrilling to behold. Sure Syracuse made mistakes Saturday. Its pass defense was sieve-like, its initial tackling was wanting in spots, it’s ball-handling and timing must be improved. It covered punts poorly. Even great teams make mistakes – but they’re great because they can overcome errors and still win big.”


“The way the Orange tore into those Mountaineers, the way they opened holes for their backs when it counted and the way those backs churned for those extra yards as though their very life depended on it has rendered untold pleasure to the football fans of the area. In three games played this fall against teams that have all been ranked in the nation’s top ten, Syracuse has won two and lost the third by a touchdown. This is tops in football entertainment. Perhaps there are a few elevens that might outclass the Orange but by and large, Schwartzwalder has lifted Syracuse football to a point where they can take on the nation’s top machines and do all right.”