REELING IT IN
Everybody was talking “Bowl Game”. The Herald Journal had a headline, “HAVE TUX…WILL TRAVEL…”, (which is interesting because “Have Gun Will Travel” would premiere the next year, so that phrase predated the show). Anita Bellmann, tackle Jerry Cashman’s girlfriend, wrote a poem:
To the Eastern Champs,
I propose a toast
To a team now known
from coast to coast
fullback, halfback,
tackle, guard
Played the game
And played it hard
Earned the right
to an invitation
To make good
The proclamation
Greatest team
In all the nation
To the boys…
Congratulations!
Syracuse’s main Eastern Rivals for a bowl spot were Navy and Pittsburgh. The Middies whipped a typically bad Virginia team 34-7 and Pitt topped Army, one of SU’s most prominent victims, 20-7. That left them with records of 6-1-1 and 6-2, respectively and the Panthers were the only team to have beaten the Orange. It was thought advantageous if the Cotton Bowl decided early since SU’s regular season was complete while its competitors still had 1-2 more games to play with the results of those games as yet unknown. And there were rumors that a decision might come as early as the first week after the Colgate game. Navy had the next week off but Pitt didn’t and they got tied by a Penn State team that was also 6-2, by the score of 7-7. Syracuse had, of course, beaten Penn State. Then, on December 1st Army and Navy tied by the same score. Pitt had that week off and then traveled to Miami for a December 8th game, which they won 14-7. That left SU’s two main rivals at 6-1-2 and 7-2-1, respectively, while Syracuse was 7-1. In the final polls, SU was #8 to both the writers and coaches, Pitt was #13-#12 and Navy #16/#19.
Syracuse had been to one bowl game- against Alabama in the 1/1/53 Orange Bowl and the results had not been good, 6-61. Pitt went to four Rose Bowls from 1927-1936, when that was the only game in town. They’d lost to Stanford 6-7, been crushed twice by USC, 14-47 and 0-35 but then beaten Washington 21-0. They didn’t go again until the 1/1/56 Sugar Bowl, when they lost to Georgia Tech in the Bobby Grier game, 0-7, (after which Louisiana passed laws preventing the Sugar Bowl from being an integrated game until SU was invited in 1964). Navy had tied Washington 14-14 in the 1/1/24 Rose Bowl. They didn’t go to another bowl game until Eddie Erdelatz’s “Team Named Desire” whipped Mississippi, 21-0 in the 1/1/55 Sugar Bowl. That was their last bowl appearance to date
Other teams considered for the Cotton Bowl included Tennessee (8-0 and ranked #2 in both polls) and Georgia Tech, (7-1 and #5 in both). All these teams were also in the running for the Gator Bowl, which was the #5 bowl in those days with ambitions to become a major, along with Mississippi ((6-3 but unranked) and Wyoming (10-0 and #19-#18 in the polls).
Meanwhile, Texas Christian solidified its hold on second place in the SWC with a 46-0 whipping of Texas. That sounds a little more impressive than it is. It was a strange period in college football history: Alabama was 0-10 in 1955, Texas went 1-9 in 1956 and Notre Dame 2-8 and USC and Nebraska would go 1-9 in 1957. Eventually those institutions hired Bear Bryant, Darrell Royal, Ara Parseghian, John McKay and Bob Devaney to turn things around and they sure did. But beating those schools, even badly, in 1955-57 wasn’t quite the accomplishment it would have been in other eras. The Horned Frogs would close out the season with victories over Rice (20-17) and Southern Methodist (21-6) to finish 7-3, with losses to Texas A&M, (who finished 9-0-1 but had to stay home due to probation), Miami and Texas Tech.
An article appeared in the November 23rd Herald-Journal saying that the leading candidates for the Cotton Bowl were “Tennessee, Georgia Tech and Navy” while the Gator Bowl “might have to settle for Syracuse, Mississippi, Pittsburgh or Wyoming.” Georgia Tech scored a big win over Florida, 28-0 that put them in good position. Texas Christian beat Baylor 20-17 to sew up their end of it. The Cotton Bowl still wanted Tennessee if they could get them. The Sugar Bowl wanted a Tennessee- Georgia Tech rematch, (the Jackets only loss was 0-6 to the Vols). Navy was considered a solid second choice for the Cotton, “with Georgia Tech, Syracuse and Pittsburgh also being considered”. On November 29th it was reported that Navy would get the Cotton Bowl bid if they defeated Army that weekend. Georgia Tech was not being strongly considered because they’d already played a game in the Cotton Bowl that season, beating SMU 9-7 on September 29th. (Why that would exclude them, I don’t know.) “There has been a general opinion that an Eastern team should be brought in this time. A Southern team has been the visitor for the past seven years. “ Navy coach Eddie Erdelatz was concerned that his team might have the bowl invitation too much on their minds: “You know, this kind of talk hurt us last year……We’re not talking and we’re not listening.” They’d faced the same situation the year before and lost to Army, 6-14.
Meanwhile a sort war of words broke out over who should win the Lambert Trophy as the best team in the east. Pitt’s John Michelosen pointed out “We had the Syracuse game under control all the way”. Arnie Burdick wondered how you could have a game under control if you were up by a TD and the other team penetrated to your 20 and 25 in the fourth quarter. Rip Engle of Penn State announced “If I had a vote, I’d vote for Penn State. We have as much right as anybody.” They had finished 6-2-1, losing to Army and Syracuse and tying Pitt but having the section’s most prestigious win, 7-6 at Ohio State. Pittsburgh had beaten SU but lost intersectional games to California and Minnesota before being tied by Penn State. Arnie noted a number of previous Lambert votes that didn’t seem to employ logic and complained that a big problem was that the voters didn’t know what they were voting for: should they base their votes just on games against eastern teams, or do they include the whole schedule? He said “the whole thing would be solved if an Eastern Conference could be formed with Army, Navy, Syracuse, Penn State and Pitt as the core of it and everybody playing a round robin. Then you’d have standings, not a confused vote. “
Arnie Burdick said Lew Andreas , the Syracuse AD, was still hoping for a call from Dallas- the payoff was $105,000. “There are rumors that Lew will stake Mrs. A. to a double-feature movie Saturday so that she won’t be able to tie up the phone.” Lew continued to insist that he hadn’t heard from any bowl committees. Maybe we weren’t going anywhere? “As far as the Syracuse players were concerned, any bowl would suit them. They have played hard all year through a grueling schedule but a bowl bid would not be a request for them to work over time but rather a well-deserved reward….Many of them could not understand the reported aloofness of the University toward the Gator Bowl. They said that they hoped the athletic board would inquire more toward their feelings before making any decision on the matter.” In any case, Ben Schwartzwalder said there would be no practices until after the Thanksgivng Holidays because “the boys need a rest”.
“One of the better football players on Syracuse University’s crack team” called Arnie Burdick to say: “I know that most of the boys would like to go to a bowl. I guess that I would, myself, though I’m a senior and I’ve been looking forward to spending my last Christmas at home. I’m in the ROTC and, like all the boys no doubt, will be called to duty soon after graduation next June. And, with the war clouds hovering over Europe and the Suez, there’s no telling when we’ll be getting home again. Going to a bowl would hurt me in the pocketbook, too. I had a job lined up delivering mail in the post office back home and the money was going to come in mighty handy paying some bills and getting Mom something nice for Christmas. But if the group wants to go, count me in, though I would like to see the fellows take this stand: I understand that the University needs about $100,000 more before they can start breaking ground for the Field House. Well, if we make the sacrifice of going to a bowl, I think that we should have something concrete to show for our efforts. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing if construction of the Fieldhouse would be started before we donned caps and gowns next June? Students at Syracuse for a good many years to come could point to this and say that ‘the 1956 football team helped build this Field House by giving up their Christmas vacations and going to a bowl.”
On November 30th it was announced that Pittsburgh would be going to the Gator Bowl. They hoped for a rematch with Georgia Tech and this time segregation would not be as issue as the 1956 Pitt team had no blacks on it, unlike their 1955 team. This eliminated one rival for the Cotton Bowl spot and a second if Pitt got their wish. But Navy was still the favorite, pending the results of their game against Army.
On Saturday, December 1st, Army was leading Navy 7-0 in the fourth quarter and trying to run out the clock when a fumble gave the Middies a last chance. They moved in to tie the score. A late field goal attempt by the Cadets missed and the game wound up a 7-7 tie. In the Navy locker room a Cotton Bowl official made the official invitation for Navy to go to the Cotton Bowl. To his surprise- and that of the Navy players- Rear Admiral W. R. Smedberg declined the invitation on behalf of the Naval Academy. Coach Eddie Erdelatz said simply “After what I’ve been through in the last few minutes, I don’t want to talk.” He referred questions to Captain Elliott Loughlin, the Director of Athletics, who said that “The Admiral told the squad he did not think it in the best interest of the Navy to accept a bowl bid after the tie. You don’t argue with your boss.”
At 4:35PM, Lew Andreas got the call and Syracuse immediately accepted. “We’re very delighted to accept. We never considered turning down the bid”. He Herald had a shot of Andreas holding a phone with a cartoon like dialog box showing Andreas saying “Great! We’ll be on time!”
“Coach Ben Schwartzwalder mixed pleasure with worry, as seems to behoove a grid coach. He said he was delighted for the kids because they are a fine bunch and it’s been a privilege to coach them.” But he worried about getting the players back in shape after such a long lay-off. The Colgate game was November 17th. The Cotton Bowl would be on January 1st. Chancellor Tolley felt there was no chance this would be another debacle like the Orange Bowl because “this is the best team we’ve had in 25 years”. The paper duly reported at when they got news of the bid, Schwartzwalder was getting a haircut and Tolley was in the bathtub.
“Cotton Bowl fever hit Syracuse today….it appears that Syracuse’s first allotment of 10,000 tickets will not be sufficient will not be sufficient to meet the local demand. “ Governor Averill Harriman was becoming quite and SU fan and expressed a desire to attend the game. Over 75,000 fans were expected for the game, which would be broadcast nationwide on NBC. Three 78 passenger planes were charters for the trip to Dallas and there was talk of a special train as well.
Jim Brown was asked for a response. “Quietly and confidently, he said : “I have a hunch we’re going to beat them”. The same confidence prevailed among many of the other players…Generally, Syracuse University players are a bit teed off that they were ‘second choice’ for the Cotton Bowl bid and, judging from their attitudes, TCU may pay for it come New Year’s Day.“ Two pictures in the Post Standard showed SU players watching the Army-Navy game on TV. The first showed them glum as Navy scored, the second celebrating when they heard that Navy had declined the bowl invitation. A shot on the front page showed SU students touring the university area in a car, honking the horn in celebration. “Minutes after it was officially announced Syracuse had been asked and accepted, men and women students erupted from Syracuse University living quarters. The stormed through the streets, shouting “we’re going to Dallas!” Undergraduates snake-danced in the streets. They recruited a band, quickly formed a motorcade and paraded nosily through the university area and then downtown. The young, banner waving thong swung in and out of theater lobbies, reminding one and all that Syracuse had landed a second bowl bid and “by gosh, we’re going to win this one!”
