Syracuse football legend Chris Gedney is a pillar of my Orange fandom

As my 50th year on this Earth becomes a reality, I’m often more reflective of certain things but especially my Syracuse football fandom. Why am I the fan I am and what has influenced that over those five decades?

Let me start off by saying I have never met Chris Gedney in person. Sure I’ve done a couple of head nods or “hey” in his direction on the quad years ago before his unfortunate passing, but we never truly met.

I do recall one time walking past him in my Syracuse game-day attire and I’m fairly certain I saw him smiling at my painted face and wig amongst other things I adorned. However having said that, part of me still feels a connection to him that further adds a foundation to why I love my Orange, bleed for my Orange and find myself a forever optimist about the program and the happiness it brings many every fall, including myself.

I feel a strong connection to Syracuse football legend Chris Gedney, who helped shape my Orange fandom.

Picture this. It’s 1988 and I’m a sophomore at Cicero-North Syracuse High School. I’m an awkward kid who didn’t really have friends and was that kid most walked past and probably didn’t even notice. I was a sports fan though, which included the Orange and the Northstars. Our rival high school was Liverpool High School and their top athlete was a guy named Chris Gedney. Man did he dominate us.

The following year he joined the Syracuse football team and went from rival to one of us. I still had a “playful rivalry” in my head but once you’re Orange, you’re in with me. Plus how can you hate on a guy who became a first-team All-American and one of the best tight ends in Syracuse history during his tenure in Orange?

He also represented the Orange in the NFL for approximately seven seasons with the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals. I wasn’t a fan of those teams but I tried to follow them when I could to see how he did, like I occasionally have done with other former Syracuse Orange athletes.

Chris later went on to join Matt Park in the broadcast booth on Syracuse football game day after retiring from the NFL. In my opinion, Chris was a great analyst who provided his take as someone who’d been there and you could tell still had a passion for the program.

I love the work he and Matt did together and still think of him when I listen to the radio broadcasts (I prefer radio myself over TV and the analysis I get there). Adam Terry joined the team after Chris’s passing and does an absolutely great job but as a Syracuse fan living in North Carolina during the Gedney era of the show, his impact still resonates with me there as someone unable to attend games and relying solely most weeks on Internet broadcasts.

Unfortunately, Chris left us in 2018. Reports surfaced that he had Stage 2 CTE at the time of his death. According to the CTE Society, Stage 2 CTE symptoms include depression, mood swings, headaches and short-term memory loss.

I can’t begin to understand the pain and mental health he endured, and I’m so sorry he and his family had to suffer and lost their loved one and sadly still wake up today missing that part of their lives. We as Orange fans lost a player we loved as well who put so many smiles on our faces and his legacy still lingers due to his impact on and off the field for many of us fans.

I wrote this piece because my “personal connection” to a man I never met is a pillar in the foundation of why Syracuse football means so much to me. The guy left Syracuse leading the program in receiving yards in a season and a career for a tight end at Syracuse University and even if he only had one catch for three yards, I think I’d still feel a connection to him.

Some players just resonate with you and make that bond to the team you root for even stronger and for me, Chris was one of those guys along with Don McPherson, Coach Mac and the legend of the iconic Orange number 44.

As the 2022 season approaches in the next few days, many Syracuse football fans will walk through the quad on their way to the Dome and sit amongst the crowd inside to root for our team. I’ve never attended an actual tailgate personally but before the games, I love to walk around the quad taking it all in and I’ll still have those memories of walking past him and many Syracuse greats in my Orange garb and seeing his smile taking me back to that kid who once rooted against him only to become one of his biggest admirers.

Rest peacefully, sir, and know that your legacy still lives on for many of us as well as the passion you brought to the program and shared with us Syracuse football fans.