Syracuse University Football

by Scott Pitoniak

It began with a 36-0 loss to the University of Rochester on November 23, 1889, but that humbling debut proved to be an aberration rather than an omen for Syracuse University football. The Orangemen have since established themselves as the eleventh winningest team in college football history, and more than two hundred of their players have gone on to play professionally. Their legendary success is celebrated in Syracuse University Football. The Orangemen have participated in more than twenty bowl games. In 1959, they went 11-0 under Hall of Fame coach Ben Schwartzwalder and won the national championship. Through the years, Syracuse has produced numerous stars, such as Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis, and more than forty other All-Americans and a dozen College Football Hall of Fame inductees. Along with Jim Brown and Floyd Little, Davis helped make No. 44 one of football's most famous jerseys, not to mention a permanent part of the university's zip code. Syracuse University Football documents this outstanding program with nearly two hundred photographs.

130 pages, Hardcover

Published June 17, 2003

About the author

Scott Pitoniak is considered the most decorated sports writer in Rochester media history. He has received over 100 national and regional journalism honors and has been inducted into the Frontier Field Walk of Fame (1999), the Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications Hall of Fame (200), and the Rome Sports Hall of Fame (2009). He served as a torchbearer for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

Pitoniak graduated from Syracuse University in 1977. He currently has a column in the Rochester Business Journal and does blogging and occasional on-air work for WROC-TV 8. He previously wrote for the Democrat and Chronicle.