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Post by thecrossisback on May 19, 2020 19:13:56 GMT -5
Check out this Video about Swiacki. Plenty of game footage.
Quotes I like, "As the game wound down, the Columbia fans wave white handkerchiefs at the West Point side of the field, where many of the Cadets had tears streaming down their faces."
New York Times sports writer Red Smith said about Swiacki after the Army upset. “Columbia had a man named Swiacki who catches passes the way the rest of us catch the common cold.”
“To this day when Army football goes to sleep they check the closet for Bill Swiacki.”
The question is what upset was the biggest upset in college football history?
Columbia over Army in 1947. 21-20 at Baker Field breaking the Cadets 32 game unbeaten streak
OR
The Cocoanut Grove Game Holy Cross over Boston College in 1942. 55-12 at Fenway Park. BC was 28 point favorites.
The interesting thing is Swiacki played in both games.
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Post by thecrossisback2 on May 19, 2020 19:21:55 GMT -5
I think that the Holy Cross Vs. BC upset was the greatest upset out of these two games. BC was favored to win by 28 points going into the game. Holy Cross ended up winning the game by 43 points. This is a huge difference from the spread. Also this was the last game of the season and made it so that BC did not go to the Sugar Bowl so there were major repercussions of a HC win.
The Columbia vs. Army game was great and ended army's 32 game unbeaten streak but there is just something about the way that holy cross dominated a game that they were supposed to get destroyed in that fueled my decision.
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Post by thecrossisback on May 19, 2020 19:27:17 GMT -5
I agree with Crossisback2
I have a story my great uncle told me about Swiacki. His son Bill Jr. went to Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut.
Bill Sr. did some recruiting and tried to get some of the best players from the area. He recruited my great uncle and his friend from St Peter's in Worcester.
Bill Sr. came to his house multiple times on recruiting trips.
Both decided to go there and they had a really good football team.
He said Bill Swiacki Sr was really nice.
Bill Jr. was drafted in the NFL and MLB.
He picked baseball and went on to pitch in the Dodgers minor leagues.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on May 19, 2020 21:07:30 GMT -5
I agree with Crossisback2 I have a story my great uncle told me about Swiacki. His son Bill Jr. went to Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut. Bill Sr. did some recruiting and tried to get some of the best players from the area. He recruited my great uncle and his friend from St Peter's in Worcester. Bill Sr. came to his house multiple times on recruiting trips. Both decided to go there and they had a really good football team. He said Bill Swiacki Sr was really nice. Bill Jr. was drafted in the NFL and MLB. He picked baseball and went on to pitch in the Dodgers minor leagues. I just looked him up. He pitched in the PCL (AAA level) for four seasons--very very surprising he never got called up to the bigs
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Post by longsuffering on May 19, 2020 22:10:21 GMT -5
In the 80's I had an office in a building that had been owned previously by the late Bill Swiacki and one day Bill jr. came by to go through boxes of records that were still stored there. Tall, handsome, polite, a very impressive young man.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on May 20, 2020 6:07:03 GMT -5
Swiacki was an All American, as was George Connor. That 1942 team ultimately had two first team All Americans, and one wonders what the 1947 HC team would have been like, had they not gone to play elsewhere after the war. And one can only imagine the length of a 1947 Crossports thread, the figurative wailing and renting of garments, all bemoaning the lost opportunity of having a NCAA hoops champion, and a very highly ranked football team IN THE SAME YEAR.
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