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| Pard94 |
Mt. Rushmore of Lafayette OL...Seems like we need to delve back into the "lighter" fare of Mt. Rushmore's again. I put "lighter in quotes because it's time to takcle the Big Uglies. Here's my choice...Pete Ravalico George Ravalico Mark Ravalico Just kidding. I will throw out a couple of obvious names to get the ball rolling. Ed Hudak (2 year All American) Mark St. Germain (The latest All League, All American to come through Heffner's stable) David Pyne (All League, Played in the Hula Bowl...though that had as much to do with familial connections as anythinging else) Who am I missing? |
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| Franks Tanks |
Re: Mt. Rushmore of Lafayette OL...
From my era I have a few to put out there. 1.) Jim Goff- He was just massive and very strong--spent 2 years with the Giants before injuries got him cut. 2.) Chris Royle- 4 year starter and a well rounded and athletic lineman. 3.) Kevin Moss-- Still perhaps the most athletic Tackle ive seen at Lafayette. He had great feet and athleticism and was the best pass blocker around. |
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| carney2 |
The Ravalicos are tough to ignore, but I'm going with
Frank Schwab - Two time Walter Camp All American 1st team in the 1920s. I know, I know, "modern era." Fuhgeddabahdit. Someone has to stand up for the roots of Lafayette football. The game was being played at a very high level on College Hill long before any of us were born. Ed Hudak Pick any of the following for the other two spots. I won't complain. Dave Pyne Kevin Moss Mike St. Germain And, maybe Jesse Padilla, although I wasn't all that impressed with his final season. |
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| Franks Tanks |
Dutch Schwab and Charles "Babe" Rinehart are the only 2 Lafayette linemen in the College Football HOF. This guy played over 100 years ago but his accomplishments are pretty impressive. http://www.collegefootball.org/famersearch.php?id=90010 Babe Rinehart and fellow Hall of Famer Frank "Dutch" Schwab played football 22 years apart, yet they remain the greatest pair of linemen in Lafayette College history. Rinehart set the pace when the 6-2, 215-pound guard became one of the first outside-of-the-Ivy-Leaguers to gain All-America recognition from selector Walter Camp. Rinehart was the steadying influence on the unbeaten Maroon and White team of 1896, which chartered victories over such powers as Virginia, Penn and Navy, and held mighty Princeton to a scoreless tie in posting an 11-0-1 record. Rinehart garnered All-America honors again in 1897, as captain of the little Easton, Pennsylvania, school. Years later, Parke Davis, another genuine authority of football's Pioneer Era, named Rinehart to his All-Time All-America first team, while New York Sun football editor George Trevor hailed Rinehart as, "one of the great guards of the era." The only two guards Trevor placed ahead of Rinehart were the immortal Hall of Famers Pudge Heffelfinger of Yale and Truxton Hare of Penn. Rinehart graduated from Lafayette with a degree in Civil Engineering and went on to become president of a tire manufacturing firm, a position he held at the time of his death in 1933. |
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| IntheTrenches |
"Mark St. Germain (The latest All League, All American to come through Heffner's stable)"
The latest was actually Jesse Padilla who got 1st Team All League, All American, and Walter Camp Foundation All American. |
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| Franks Tanks |
Jesse is certainly in the discussion here. Damien Wroblewski was also an extremely good center in the mid to late 90's. |
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| The Maroon |
Hudak
Royle Moss Goff St. Germain I would put Wrobliewski and Padilla on there too--it's just a matter of how many heads you want to chisel. Pyne would be on the "Mt. Rushmore of guys who had brothers that were great players"...but I was never that nuts about him. He got a Giants tryout and was cut by noon. |
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| IntheTrenches |
Couldnt go wrong with any of these guys | ||||
| Pard94 |
I think I like that list the best thus far. All due respect to those who anchored the line in days of yore but it was such a diffferent time and different sport. I mean we're talking about an All American College Football Hall of Famer who was 215 lbs...and I'm sure he was a monster in those days. These guys wouldn't have the size to effectivley play RB in today's game. I think at the end of this all we should do a Mt. Rushmore for "All Lafayette" Football". This will incorproate greats from the team's history that really helped define the program and, indeed, the very sport. Names like McCracken, Barclay and Ravalico will be mainstays of the conversation for that thread. In the mean time, please don't tell me about a 215 o-lineman who, while great in his day, would very likely not see the field today. And 50 years from now when the average lineman size is 6,10, 400lbs with a 4.8 forty time...well then we can consider all of the pee wee's of today's game relics of an era gone by. |
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| Pard94 |
Funny Pyne story...I remember we were all at a party off-campus shortly after Dave's Senior season. He was getting ready for the Hula Bowl that was to occur in a few weeks. He went to go sit in a chair and the ever popular Tom DiGiovani (all time great guy), our Punter, thought it would be funny to pull the chair out from underneath him as he was sitting down. Now you can say what you want about Pyne's talents as an OT, there was no denying he was a tough and largely mean SOB. Ed Hudak may have been better but Pyne owned the locker room, Hudak included, because you just didn't want to be on his bad side. Anyway Dave gets up laughs a little bit, cocks his fist back to Cuba and almost decapitates poor DiGi. I caught Dave's fist at the last second and spent the next 45 minutes trying to convince Dave that a manslaughter charge would not bode well for his chances at the next level. The hardest part was trying to decipher and translate what was the thickest and worst MA accent I have ever heard. Poor Tom almost died that night. Still not sure what the hell got into his head thinking that pulling the chair was funny. |
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| IntheTrenches |
ha great story, rivals several Luke Schade stories that if u find the right person could have you laughing for a good week. | ||||
| TheTruth |
Again, the short memory and the belief that lafayette Football began in 1991......
Great teams in the 1980's. Chris Thatcher '87 should be on the list. |
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| Pard94 |
you know...I definately agree with you that there are loads of good players who played well after the leather helmet days but before the 90's that need consideration. As I understand it, Bauer's O-line was made up of behmoths who were really talented. In fact in my days there there were a lot of comaprisons made to that line with our line (from a sheer size perspective). I remeber Higgins was a really big guy but I can't remember if he was an OT or a TE. |
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| carney2 |
94 and I agree to disagree yet again. Throwing the leather helmet guys off of "Mt. Rushmore" (which is FOREVER!) just based on the fact that they couldn't play today (too small, too slow, too dead), or that you (or none of us) saw them play, is not right. The only relevant question is, and should be, how they did against the competition placed in front of them. Obviously some of these guys did as well as - and probably even better than - the "household names" that we have been throwing around. Remember, Lafayette was playing at the top levels of "I-A" at the time - against the best of the best. In my curmudgeonly way, I shall continue to throw in a name or two of folks who played pre-Tavani and even pre-Russo; players who are, according to some of you, pre-football. | ||||
| IntheTrenches |
Could have a bunch of fun with this subject, when I was at Lafayette there was a big rivalry between the NJ guys, PA guys, and the Florida guys. What state sends out the best Lafayette football team? | ||||
| The Maroon |
What you describe is EXACTLY why I wouldn't put that guy on any list...He was the classic football "meathead" and took pride in acting like the "Ogre" character from revenge of the nerds. Ironically the guy who was dubbed "Meathead" (Sean?) on your team was actually a stand-up guy--volunteered for the rescue squad and certainly not dumb or mean. There are a lot of problems when we debate players from different eras...Would Jim Brown have torn it up as much in a league that wasn't full of white cornerbacks? Could all the great QB's of old...Unitas, Baugh, Graham done squat against todays defenses? There's just no way to know. What I do know is prior to 1980 Lafayette football stunk for about 30 years---so it's hard for even the staunchest historians of our team (which Iadmit I am not) to pull out names. |
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| TheRock90 |
The following are football players who are members of the Lafayette Hall of Fame:
Walter Bachman '02 Ed Baker '70 George Barclay '98 Harold Bellis '40 Charlie Berry '25 Steve Biale '82 Joe Bozik '58 Dave Brown '66 Tom Costello '92 Frank Downing '51 James Farrell '41 Mike Gazzella '23 Tim Gerhart Tony Giglio '74 Tony Green '83 Frank Grube '27 Harold Hageman '39 Ed Hudak '93 Fred Kirby '42 Frank Kirkleski '27 Eric Marsh '92 Frank McCaa '10 William McKnight '43 Mike Miller '70 George Moyer '41 Phil Ng '88 Don Nikles '60 Frank Novak '84 Ryan Priest '87 John Quigg '40 Charle Rinehart '98 Horace Saylor '45 Dutch Schwab '23 Joe Skladany '82 Frank Stanczak '49 Mike Wilson '29 Walt Zirinsky '42 I would think that all these players had been thoroughly researched and their accomplishments well documented before they were submitted to the HoF committee and therefore deserving of our consideration. You will note that only 12 of them played after 1970. |
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| Pard94 |
I agree that all of these folks are in the HOF for very good reasons and shouldn't be slighted by the likes of me. My problem is many of them litereally played a different game. Forward passes didn't exist for many of them. Therefore interceptions and sacked QB's didn't exits. In fact Corner Backs as we know them didn't exist. That just one example. We should honor them for defining the game but put Frank McCa from the class of '10 on the field today and I would probably worry for his safety. Likewise put Erick Marsh on the field back in 1910 and he would have probably enjoyed Jim Thorpe-like success. Look, I'm not saying I'm right...just my opinion that we are comparing apples and oranges. And yes, Dave Pyne was a meathead of the first order. I was having a conversation with one of my old team mates not too long ago. he was asking me if I was going to go to the alumni golf outing. I told him in all honestly there were a lot of people on my team that I didn't care if I ever saw again. There were probably 20 or so guys that I would classify as good guys who worked hard and didn't take themselves too seriously. Then there were probably 20-30 guys who were meatheads who probably didn't do the rest of the team any favors with their behavior...perpetuating the "football player" stereotype. |
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