The Bold, Brave Men of Archbold 1957: Iowa 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. 65 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

On September 21st, Iowa State beat Denver 10-0 before 12,500 fans in Ames. The Bears fumbled away whatever chances they had, twice ending drives deep into Cyclone territory with bobbles, muffing a punt to set up a field goal and they had another drive that died on fourth down at the Iowa State 5. (Denver had a good football program in those days: They’d gone 9-1 in 1954 - ranked 18th in the coach’s poll - and 8-2 in 1955. They slipped to a solid 6-4 the next two years. They were in the Skyline Conference, a precursor of the WAC. Unfortunately, they decided to give up football after the 1960 season.) The Cyclones unveiled their new single-wing offense, which Coach Jim Myers had learned from Red Sanders at UCLA. The rushed for a respectable 172 yards and out-gained Denver 218-174. Back-up tailback Dwight Nichols led the sole touchdown drive, an 85 yard 13 play masterpiece in the third quarter. “The Cyclones, T-formation team in their recent luckless years, performed smartly in their new offense”. Coach Jim Myers said “We haven’t won a lot of games at Iowa State of late and the victory over Denver did a lot for the boys. “

The Herald reported “Iowa State has been the down-trodden grid offshoot of the school system in the Hawkeye state for a good many years and Myers is aching to balloon the Cyclones up to appoint where they will be on a par with the University of Iowa’s Big Ten gridders. The school is already bigger than the more renowned university at Iowa City- at least as far as enrollment is concerned, (10,000 students to 9,901 last year), so perhaps Myers can pull it off.”

SU fans hadn’t seen the single wing since Reeves Baysinger’s Orange team of 1948 used it to finish 1-8. Whether Iowa State had the personnel to run the single wing was considered “problematic”. Per Street and Smith’s ”In the transition, it is difficult to settle on the probable starters. Myers inherited a group of 24 monogram winners. Broken down on last year’s T setup there are eight from the first team, nine form the second team, four from the third team and three from the fourth team. “ (If you were on the fourth team, your desire to keep playing football might lag a bit).

S&S didn’t have much to say about individual players, just naming them: “Brian Dennis and Gale Gibson were first team tackles; Andris Poncius, a high class tackle Ralph Losee, guard; Frank Powell, center, Charley Martin and Terry Ingram, quarterbacks Bob Harden, halfback and Marv Walter, fullback. Off the freshman squad good help is expected from Jerry Schoenfelder and Roy Barnhardt, guards, Bob Anderson, end; Dave Eller, center and Roger Spaulding, a halfback.” I think the magazine just didn’t know what to expect from the new regime and the offense. The NCAA Guide is the same: they list the same returning names and have nothing else to say. I took a peak at the 1958 Street and Smiths and it tells us Dwight Nichols made the all-league team as a sophomore. He’s the only player form the 1957 edition even mentioned.

Ben Schwartzwalder had sent Rocky Pirro and Roy Simmons to scout this game. Pirro said “This Iowa State team has the scrap and hustle they didn’t have last year. They’ll give us a pretty good battle. The Cyclones are not a big outfit but probably faster than the Orange.” The Post Standard reported “He described the Cyclones as a lean outfit, slimmed down particularly in the line. Jim Myers, the new Iowa State coach, goes with Oklahoma Bud Wilkinson’s system of trimming down bulky linemen. Roy Simmons estimated that they’d lost 10-20 pounds per man. The Orange scouts were told that Myers worked furiously with his squad. In workouts he put 18 or 20 men on defense to try to take the ball away from the first team in the scoring zone.” The scouts were also impressed with “the pass-catching antics of 6-5 end Brian Dennis”. Roy Simmons called him “one of the finest pass receivers I have ever seen.” Judging from the pictures in the paper, he’s also the only black face on either team. A later article said Dennis’ father had played with the Harlem Globetrotters.

Tuesday’s paper said the Cyclones had lost 5 men to injuries who were absent at work-outs but didn’t identify them. The next day it was revealed that end Gale Gibson had a separated shoulder, tackle Don Metcalf had an arm injury but was expected back. Third string tailback Pete Goeser had bruised an ankle and no one know if he’d be able to play or not. The “rash of injuries” was limiting contact work in their practice sessions.

Jim Myers expected “the Orange to do a lot of passing against us. Their ends will probably be as good pass receivers as we’ll see all year and they should be real strong at quarterback.” It was considered an advantage that Syracuse had had a chance to scout Iowa State but the Cyclones didn’t know what to expect from the Orange. The same edition of the Herald had a big picture of #44, Tom Stephens, “who now must fill the spot vacated by Jim Brown’s graduation”, and reported that Dick Lasse and Ed Coffin were named co=captains. However that was just for this game, as Ben liked to alternate people in that spot. There were not “offensive” and “defensive” co-captains because they went both ways in those days.

September 23rd, 1957 was quite a night. In Milwaukee, Hank Aaron hit a two out 11th inning home run to beat the Cardinals and clinch the National League pennant for the Braves, who would go on knock off the mighty New York Yankees in the World Series. Meanwhile, in Yankee Stadium, a huge SU football fan named Camren Basilio won a split decision in 15 rounds over Sugar Ray Robinson to win the world middleweight boxing title. The latter was on of the four greatest sporting achi8evements in his story of this burg. One was the 2003 SU basketball championship. The other two came within four years in the late 50’s: the Nats 1955 NBA title, Carmen’s triumph over the “the pound-for-pound best ever” in 1957 and Ben’s national title in 1959.

The upcoming SU-Iowa State game was the “Golden Anniversary” of Archbold Stadium. The big oval opened on September 25, 1907 with a 28-0 victory over Hobart. All living member s of the 1907 team would be in attendance. AD Lew Andreas invited Carmen Basilio to join them. “”Carmen scored a great win and we’re all proud of him. We’d be honored to have him join with us in the Golden Anniversary party for Archbold.” A crowd of 20-25,000 was expected.

Arnie Burdick, discussing the 1907 team, noted that they used the T formation decades before Clark Shaughnessy supposedly invented it. He did say that they’d watch a game with the accent on speed, more than power, which is what the game was all about in 1907. “Though they might gasp at the variety of flankers, formations and plays that Ben Schwartzwalder will toss at the Cyclones, the old-timers will tell you “It’s just T football.” He also noted that the 1907 team played Pop Warner’s Carlisle Indians that year, a year after Pop Warner had invented the single wing. “Warner’s wing was an unbalanced one, quite a bit different from Jim Myer’s UCLA-type offense that emanates from a pretty deceptive, serpentine-like huddle. ‘None-the-less, it’s the single wing!’ they’ll roar.” Arnie said that the key to whatever offense you play will always be blocking and tackling, as is “the will to win.” Arnie also noted that both Schwartzwalder and Myer are “transplanted West Virginia hillbillies” and that “The stories that have drifted up this way about those grid battles in Mountaineer-land, sure stand what hair is left on end. Maybe that’s the kind of a war that Archbold Stadium fans will witness on this Golden Anniversary celebration.”

“On the Hill, Ben Schwartzwalder starts his ninth season with a big, powerful line, a horde of quarterbacks, an experienced fullback and a who’s on first team, who’s on second team halfback corps.” SU was scrimmaging while Iowa State was playing a real game. Everybody got a chance to play in the Orange scrimmage except tackle Chuck Strid, who had an ankle injury and halfback Ernie Jackson, who was still having trouble with his legs and just did some jogging around the track.

Arnie Burdick proclaimed that the strength of the team would be its ”big, mobile experienced line” which averaged a whopping 220 pounds per man, (more than the “Sizable Seven” in 1959, which averaged 215). The second line was also big for the time at 206 pounds per man. “The Hill forwards are veteran, aggressive, big and bruising and the second line behind them can keep applying torrid pressure, too. “ In those days football linemen were more like free-style wrestlers. Now they are more like sumo wrestlers. Dick Lasse was the lightest of the starters at 210, (which didn‘t prevent him from being an All-American candidate at end). Chuck Strid at tackle was the only other returning starter. Ron Luciano “with a re-treaded knee” was the other tackle and Dick Aloise the other end. Al Benecick and Gerry Hershey were the guards and Mike Bill the center.

Ben noted “No one has crossed that Iowa State goal line yet and we’d sure like to be the first.” To that end, he was said to be working on “offensive tactics.” Ed Coffin looked like our best running back while Dick Lasse “showed good form on the receiving end of forward passes tossed by the two Chucks, Zimmerman and Fogarty. “

Schwartzwalder was still worried about the halfback positons, (there were two in those days). “Ben must solve the halfback riddle if he’s to put butter on his bread this fall. His left halfback has been his ‘bread and butter’ horse since he took over on the hill in 1949 and, although he threatens to pass more, rather than use a power offense, a hard-driving left halfback is still basic to Ben’s thinking.“ Fullback Ed Coffin was the leading returning rusher with 147 yards on 41 carries, (3.6 yards per carry). Chuck Zimmerman was the leading returning passer who was 18 for 42 for 272 yards “His percentage, 42.9, was of reasonably high quality.”

On Thursday, Ben announced his starting backfield: Chuck Zimmerman at quarterback, Dean DeAngelis at right halfback, Tom Stephens at left halfback, (still #44), and Ed Coffin at fullback. “Zimmerman was good enough to be our regular a year ago so we’ll go with him again.” Regarding Stephens: “if Tom is healthy he’ll be in there.” The rest of the starting line-up would be Dick Lasse and Dick Aloise at ends, Ron Luciano and Chuck Strid at tackles, Al Benecick and Gerry Hershey at guards and Mike Bill at center. “But our second team is green as grass.” Seven of the 11 second teamers were sophomores: Center Charlie Wink, guard Lou Mautino, tackles Roger Davis and Al Gerlick, end Gerry Skonieczki, halfback Dave Baker and fullback Gerhard Schwedes. John Seketa was the other guard, Chuck Fogarty the quarterback and Ernie Jackson and Dan Ciervo at right and left half. Syracuse’s line out-weighed Iowa State by 220-195. But Pitt had a similar edge over Oklahoma the previous weekend and got beat 0-26.

On Friday, it was announced that Tom Stephens was “banged up in a drill” and might not play in the game. So might be without a #44 on the field. Danny Ciervo would be his replacement in the starting line-up. Jim Myers announced that Terry Ingram was still his #1 tailback but that Dwight Nichols, off his performance against Denver, would “see more than a little action”. Nichols would go on to be the Big 8’s most valuable player in 1958 and an All-American in 1959.

Schwartzwalder, tongue in cheek, told a luncheon “Fortunately, we had a fine year last year- and I hope you people remember that as this season goes along.” He summed up the “picture” for his team in 1957 as “desire, but now speed”. On defensive backfield coach Roy Simmons “Roy’s sure to get a lot of experience at his job this year because we’ll be on defense an awful lot. More seriously, he listed his team’s liabilities as “a lack of experience and lack of speed”. But their strengths were “a willingness to play football and the fact that the kids have been willing to work harder than any group we’ve had before. He admitted “that many of my boys are ‘respectable football players.”

The odds-makers agreed. Syracuse was a two-touchdown favorite. It would be SU’s first game against a Big Eight Conference team since they lost to Nebraska in 1929, (6-13). Iowa State had to cancel their plans to drill in Archbold when their plane had to land in Cleveland due to a schedule change.

The Post Standard’s Sunday, September 29, 1957 edition, (they hadn’t joined forces with the Herald-American yet), had a local magazine-type supplement that had Ben Schwartzwalder staring, (rather glumly) from its cover. The two page article inside showed a “typical day” for the coach. He and his wife Reggie are seen posing stiffly at their breakfast table at 6:45AM. “The Orange coach is an All-American in the coffee-drinking league” At 8AM, “The actual coaching day begins with a “chalk talk” in the locker room of Archbold Stadium. Ben outlines one of the defenses Syracuse will use against Boston U.” Unlikely, since the next opponent was Iowa State. At 9:30 AQM they are on the practice field and Ben “tells a group of his linemen that they had better eat their Wheaties. “ I’m always interested in the background of old pictures- how things have changed or remained the same. Behind Ben and the players is along academic-looking building of fairly modern design with three rows of windows, each right next to the following one, (there may be more rows above the picture). Looking at the pictures of the building on this list:
http://archives.syr.edu/buildings/chronlist.html
I’d say they are in from of the Women’s Building which had been built in 1q954, in the open field next to the tennis courts, (which may not have bene there, either), at the corner of Comstock and Euclid. At 11AM Ben is shown showing Chuck Zimmerman how to hand off to Ed Coffin. At 12:30PM, he’s going over “housing and eating arrangements for the 58 Hill gridders” with Assistant AD Jim Decker. At 2:30PM he gets together with his “coaching aides” Rocco Pirro, Roy Simmons, Ted Bailey and Bill Bell. At 3:45PM “All American end prospect Dick Lasse gets a quick pointer from Schwartzwalder. “Dick doesn’t need much help, says Ben. “We’d like to have to have 12 more like him.” Dick is rocking a classic 50’s doo- blond haired and barely there, the bristles shining in the sun. At 6PM Ben is playing with his dog, “trying his coaching luck on man’s best friend.” He opines: “He’s got breakaway speed. Maybe we could make a back out of him.” But can he block?

The small text offered with the phot spread said that the preparations for the season went at a “brisker than brisk” pace. “Beginning on September 2, Ben and his Orangemen practiced twice each day and held two meetings each day. Ben’s spare time was filled with press interviews, coaches meetings and get-togethers with other members of the Syracuse athletic staff. A typical Schwartzwalder day begins at about 6:30 and isn’t concluded until late evening, after a final pow-wow with players and coaches. Unfortunately, for Ben, the football season won’t be over until November 23, so his day will probably be busier before it gets better.

Meanwhile Jamesville-Dewitt High School had a problem They had a big linemen named Curt Stiles, a freshman who stood 6-4 and weighed 275 pounds. “Nothing in the Ram storehouse was suitable rigging for the head or seat of the 15 year old. In desperation, they turned to Syracuse University equipment manager Al Zak. Zak rummaged about for pants and helmet. The trousers he unearthed used to be Bob Fleck’s. the headgear was Jimmy Brown’s Fleck, in 1953, and Brown, last year, were All-Americans. Mister Stiles, if the advice to would-be fashion plates holds true, won’t have to do anything but suit up.” It was a different era. If you were 6-4 275, finding a football uniform that fit you was a problem.

 

[SWC75]

The Aftermath

“The Orange and the Iowans might have been even on the scoreboard but Syracuse certainly had a distinct edge in errors.” This was the second tie of the Schwartwalder Era. The first came four years before, in 1953, when they tied Boston U., (who was their next 1957 opponent), 14-14. The next would be the first game I witnessed as a student at SU, a 20-20 tied with Wisconsin to open the 1971 season, (we’d tied the game up right at the end but missed what would have been the game winning extra point.) They then had 5 of them in the 22 seasons after Ben left, before overtime began in 1996. I’ve no idea what means, if anything.

“To nobody’s surprise, Nichols was voted the outstanding back of the game, while Lasse was named the outstanding lineman.” ESPN’s College Football Encyclopedia tells the story of Iowa State’s 1959 team. Due to attrition and injuries, they were down to a squad of only 30 players when they played Drake in a “a withering rainstorm”. They held together and thensome, winning 41-0. When they came into the locker room covered in mud but happy, their trainer said “Well, here comes the dirty 30!”. That became their nickname. “The Dirty Thirty” went on one of Iowa State’s best seasons- 7-3-0 and Dwight Nichols was an All-American. I’ll be telling the story of Syracuse’s 1959 team in a couple of years.

Brian Dennis, the outstanding receiver for Iowa State, had a good year in 1957 with 15 receptions, (a lot then) for 252 yards and 3 scores. Then he left school and played in Canada before becoming a policeman. Per Ira Berkow’s book “ The DuSable Panthers: The Greatest, Blackest, Saddest Team from the Meanest Street in Chicago.”, he didn’t get along with the coach who replaced Myers, (who moved to Texas A&M to replace Bear Bryant when he moved to Alabama), Clay Stapleton, who was from Tennessee and kept calling “Boy”. He tried out for the Bears in his native Chicago but was cut from the team. “On the police force, some of those white sergeants considered a black man a boy until he was 45 and then he was an uncle.” He eventually went into business for himself, selling educational materials to schools and youth organizations. “I’ve scuffled like hell. But one of the things I’ve learned … was to take pride in yourself, win or lose. Corny but once you lose it, you become just another n----r.”

Three Orange linemen were helped off the field in the first half: Dick Lasse, Ron Luciano and Chuck Strid, but all played in the second half. Strid and Luciano were expected to be ready for the next week’s game, (no comment was made on Lasse, probably because his injury was not as serious. “The seriousness of a rib injury suffered by Dick Aloise hasn’t been fully appraised and halfback Dean De Angelis was pretty well battered. On the plus side Tom Stephens, who had been counted on as the starting left halfback but who didn‘t get into the game at all, probably will have recovered from his charley-horse in time to tangle with the Terriers.”

“Chuck Zimmerman, Syracuse quarterback and Dick Lasse, end, were asked if they had thought of kicking a field goal in the last three minutes when faced with a fourth-down situation on the eight yard line. “We thought about it a lot”, they said “but the angle was bad and the coaches evidently didn’t think it was right.” Some thought Zimmerman should have run with the ball instead of passing on fourth down but he felt that he “saw Jackson, breaking loose from the defender at the last minute and fired to him.”

“Fumbles and key penalties halted all but one Syracuse drive and Iowa State, after giving up seven points, struck swiftly through the air to gain its deadlock. …Lack of speed to the outside proved too much of a handicap for Syracuse to overcome fully, while most of the Cyclone’s threat as wrapped up in person on Nichols, a sophomore halfback who ran well on wide plays and threw three strikes in the Cyclone’s scoring drive….The predicted passing attack of the Orangemen failed to materialize with any degree of consistency and again Syracuse showed the weakness on pass defense which marked the 1956 team….the home club failed to capitalize on its chances. The visitors, in comparison, had just one good opportunity and cashed in beautifully.“

“The first half was particularly painful for Syracuse rooters, since the Orangemen began threatening from the opening kickoff and four times moved to within striking distance only to be hamstrung largely by their own errors. That ability to keep the favorites at bay, by any means, fired up the Cyclones and they showed far more spirit in the second half, although the Syracuse defense generally proved strong throughout.”

Syracuse had a significant edge in the statistics, getting 19 first downs to 10. They showed a strong running attack with 240 yards to 130.The Orange passed for 50 yards. Nichols ran for 89 yards and passed for 59 more, (all the Cyclones got). Ed Coffin ran for 61 yards and Dave Baker got 47 more. Chuck Zimmerman could only pass for 38 yards in 11 attempts. “The Cyclones gained most of their 120 yards rushing…around their own left end. Syracuse scrimmaged the ball 65 times to the invader’s 43.”

Ben Schwartzwalder: “That’s a bad way to start the season and now we’ll just have to settle down and work harder than ever. I thought we’d been working hard all along: now we’ll have to strive for more perfection and desire.” That’s a football coach talking! “Iowa State didn’t particularly surprise us with anything we weren’t ready for, but they had a good ball club. We made too many mistakes. We’re going to have to work really hard to get ready for Boston University. You have to expect mistakes in the first game of the year. But we made far more than our share. I sure hope we got most of them out of our system. ”

Jim Myers: “I thought my boys hit relentlessly and thus saved the game. I felt we could do more passing in second half and we did, making good for our touchdown. I think our comeback will help our spirit for the rest of the season.” Myers said he was “tickled to death to gain the tie.” Tee-hee. “Any time you can hold a team as good as Syracuse to a tie after they push you around all day, you must feel good….Even though they pushed us around, we’re still proud to settle for a tie.” I wonder if he ever met Pat Dye. I’d bet they’d get along great. “Once I didn’t’ play for a tie with UCLA in a Rose Bowl game with Michigan State with only 30 seconds left and the gamble cost me the game. I won’t be subject to that ridicule again….Notice how our boys seemed to enjoy the game so much. They hit your fellows hard, got hit themselves but bounced up ready for the next play. Sure hope we gave your fans an interesting afternoon. Don’t forget those Syracuse players were getting hit on those fumbles, too.”

Bill Reddy: “With all due respect to Iowa State’s fighting spirit, Syracuse University’s football team beat itself yesterday. Granted that the Cyclone’s hard-hitting defense slowed the Orangemen from time to time. Still, it was the home team’s mistakes, rather than the late-game inspired play of the Midwesterners which forced Coach Ben Schwartzwalder’s team to settle for a tie….It may prove to have been a good thing, in the long run, that this one didn’t turn out to be the 14 point or better victory that had been predicted. At least, it proved that there’s plenty of work to be done in smoothing the attack while the Orange line, at the same time, looked good enough to give any opponent trouble.”

“The Cyclone’s single-wing attack had the Orangemen in trouble on sweep plays, while the home club lived up to advance fears by failing to demonstrate any speed to the outside itself. The movies may show some rays of cheer but the team’s failure to outscore an outweighed for of scant reputation is going to take some forgetting. “

The Old Scout was grumpy and impatient. “Fortunately, we got out it with a tie. I think it’s one of the few times in recent years that I’ve seen Ben Schwartzwalder’s boys get outhit and out-hustled. They’ve bene winning a lot of football games over the years because of their aggressiveness and hard-driving play, but Saturday most of them looked like they were concentrating on their dates after the game.”

“We’ve still got a lot of unharnessed power and if we ever get the group in the proper frame of mind to play football the rest of the year, they might even go on and successfully defend their Eastern championship. “ Now, let’s worry about some obvious errors that they made- like clippings on free punts, or picking up a punt on the two yard line for an automatic touchback. That’s inexperience and the boys won’t make those mistakes again. “

“But I’m concerned about our passing game! I thought that we’d be able to put plenty of heat on the other fellow’s passer, but those Iowa tailbacks never got mussed up all afternoon. This was our big problem in the Cotton Bowl- no rush. And we’ve got to put the ball in the air more ourselves. Without Brown to carry the ball plus two or three opponents for extra yards, our smaller halfbacks are going to have to get some breathing room…and nothing can drive the defenders away from the line of scrimmage quicker than a few completed passes. I thought that Chuck Zimmerman threw the ball well when he had some time…though it seemed to me that he was tossing most of his passes in rather obvious pass situations, (third and fourth downs)”

“But our execution, basically, was poor and Syracuse is just not going to win many football games this Fall, unless its deception and timing are improved. And they’ve got to get some teeth in their short-side attack, too. Ben’s got his problems…he’s played one game and he still has to come up with an answer to his halfback headaches…and he’s got to find an end to go with Dick Lasse to help his defense. “

“You know, despite all of these troubles, it’s still a pretty good squad of football players. Though maybe not as lucky as last year’s team. Like when Danny Ciervo fumbled into the end zone early in the game. If last year’s club did that they’d have probably recovered it for a touchdown. Good teams are aggressive and make their own breaks. A real good spark or leader could be just what this team needs in order to help them jell. Their unharnessed power, plus a spark, spells DYNAMITE!”

 

[AccuRater]

"I would definitely listen to someone named Elwood Gerges. He sounds like he spends all day reading rulebooks. "

A great line.