At halftime of Saturday’s game at the JMA Wireless Dome between Syracuse football and fellow New York state team Army, legendary Hall of Fame head coach and World War II hero Ben Schwartzwalder will be officially inducted into the SU Athletics ring of honor.
This is beautiful. Schwartzwalder, who sadly passed away in 1993, was at the helm of the Orange when the program scored its only national championship in 1959, but years before he became the head coach of Syracuse football, he was a decorated WWII hero.
Ben Schwartzwalder played on the offensive line at West Virginia. After graduating from that university, he was a high-school coach for seven years before he joined the famed 82nd Airborne division of the U.S. Army and fought in World War II, according to SU Athletics.
A paratrooper, he parachuted onto Normandy Beach on D-Day and was among the first group of soldiers that jumped in 1944. Per cuse.com, he rose to the rank of major and ultimately retired as a lieutenant colonel.
SU Athletics says that Ben Schwartzwalder “was awarded a Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, four battle stars and a Presidential Unit citation for his distinguished service.”
Ben Schwartzwalder was a Hall of Fame head coach of Syracuse football and an American hero.
Saturday afternoon, when the Orange hosts Army, is military appreciation day. When Schwartzwalder is enshrined in the SU Athletics ring of honor, he will join ‘Cuse legends such as Jim Boeheim, Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Floyd Little, Roy Simmons Jr. and Dwayne “Pearl” Washington.
Syracuse basketball legend Dave Bing, also a Hall of Famer and the former mayor of Detroit, is expected to get inducted into the Syracuse University ring of honor at a later date during a ‘Cuse contest versus an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent.
After World War II, Ben Schwartzwalder served as the head coach of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa., for three years.
In 1949, Schwartzwalder began his 25-year journey as the head coach of Syracuse football. He tallied a 153-91-3 overall record, didn’t have a losing record for 22 terms in a row, and finished in the top 15 of the polls on eight occasions.
In 1959, Ben Schwartzwalder guided the ‘Cuse to an 11–0 mark. The team defeated Texas in the Cotton Bowl to finish undefeated, capturing the only national title in program history.
Two years later, in 1961, Schwartzwalder’s Orange squad produced the only Heisman Trophy winner in school history, as the late Ernie Davis, a phenomenal running back and part of the legendary number 44 group in Central New York, claimed college football’s top honor.
Ben Schwartzwalder was the head coach of Syracuse football from 1949 to 1973. Nine years later, in 1982, he was deservingly inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
I’m unbelievably happy that Coach Schwartzwalder is joining the SU Athletics ring of honor on Saturday. His mark on the Syracuse football program will remain forever, and Orange Nation sends love to him and his family for his service to our country to protect our freedoms.