Football who is it?

johnnyi · Aug 2, 2009

Reading posts about things being returned to their owners got me finally motivated to find out who this might have been. I found it in Bucks County at a school, and probably it was taken there by a child who lost it. I think it is Syracuse University and is dated 1960 "undefeated". Does any football expert have an idea who "J.A." might have been?

traderoftreasures · Aug 2, 2009

j.a. was probably a high school football player from 1960, from bucks county, Syracuse u

Mr Ripley · Aug 2, 2009

johnnyi,

More mystery for you. Syracuse went 7-2 in 1960.

Mr R

johnnyi · Aug 2, 2009

Mr. Ripley, that does confuse things. Is this Syracuse's logo? were the gold footballs ever given out to J.V. teams (though I doubt one could be undefeated?)

Mr Ripley · Aug 2, 2009

johnnyi said:
Is this Syracuse's logo?

I don't think so. The only NCAA Div 1 school to go undefeated in 1960 was New Mexico St.

Tiny Susquehanna University in Selingsgrove Pa went unbeaten in 61 and 62 I think.

Finding it in Bucks Co. opens up every small college and all high schools in NY, NJ, PA and DE just for starters... :dontknow:

You could have a long research project here, but your heart is in the right place.

Good luck,

Mr R

johnnyi · Aug 2, 2009

Mr. Ripley, I think the research could be even harder than you mention. The school where I found it was a fairly prestigious friends school where in 1960's and 70's for the most part more wealthy people's children went. As such there was an influx of people from other states who settled in this part of Bucks County..sent their kids to friends school, .....so I have a wider area to look at. I guess if it is a high school then "S" would stand for school and the "U" for the school's name. Otherwise odds are the u stands for university and I'm back to square one (unless it is a j.v. team?)

Bigcypresshunter · Aug 2, 2009

Mr Ripley said:
johnnyi said:

Is this Syracuse's logo?

Click to expand...

I don't think so.

Bigcypresshunter · Aug 2, 2009

It looks like something in front of JA. Could you show it better?

johnnyi · Aug 2, 2009

bigcyprus, that's just a blurr in the scan. It says nothing in front of the 'J.A."

Bigcypresshunter · Aug 2, 2009

Im going to complicate it even further because Syracuse was undefeated in the 1959 season that ended with the Jan 1,1960 Cotton Bowl and Syracuse won the National Championship.. http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache...+s+u+undefeated+1960&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

http://www.fanblogs.com/syracuse/005544.php

jeff of pa · Aug 2, 2009

contact them

http://www.syracuse.edu/

Mr Ripley · Aug 2, 2009

bigcypresshunter said:
Im going to complicate it even further because Syracuse was undefeated in the season that ended with the 1960 Cotton Bowl and Syracuse won the National Championship.. http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache...+s+u+undefeated+1960&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

http://www.fanblogs.com/syracuse/005544.php

That would be true, I assumed the 60 season...the plot thickens.

Mr R

Bigcypresshunter · Aug 2, 2009

It may be from the 1960 Cotton Bowl.

ole_grisley · Aug 2, 2009

does the top of the s have a cat on it? the only team that used the intertwining su that I can find was southern university
and thiers had a cat on it but not sure if the ones prior to 1975 had the cat or not. the syracuse never had the intertwining su but the s was always near the top left of the uand overlaped the u but only came half way across the u.so i guess souther u but could not find anyone with them initals maybe it was a girl friends name ??

johnnyi · Aug 2, 2009

ole-gissly, no cat up there. One of the links here mentions an intertwined logo that was changed around 1960 to the s and the s u you mention. I've been googling but no earlier logo of any kind before 1960 has showed up yet.

Bigcypresshunter · Aug 2, 2009

ole_grisley said:
does the top of the s have a cat on it? the only team that used the intertwining su that I can find was southern university
and thiers had a cat on it but not sure if the ones prior to 1975 had the cat or not. the syracuse never had the intertwining su but the s was always near the top left of the uand overlaped the u but only came half way across the u.so i guess souther u but could not find anyone with them initals maybe it was a girl friends name ??

Was Southern U undefeated in 1960? The link I posted states that the Syracuse logo changed many times but this is all I found so far.

Mr Ripley · Aug 2, 2009

This is interesting.

Seems that a Syracuse charm would say "National Champs", "Cotton Bowl Champs" or something similar. :icon_scratch:

I found this on a lucky google search. It is a 1960 pendant similar to yours from a high school that won a league championship in Evanston Indiana. For some reason I have a hunch that yours is high school also. They were probably as available as football trophies and jacket letters to the schools. A little memento for a great season.

Maybe the U does not stand for university at all. Maybe S.U. like South Union High School or U.S. like Upper Suburban High.

Just fueling the fire... :wink:

Mr R

johnnyi · Aug 2, 2009

Hi Ripley. These footballs are nothing new. My father played varsity football at St. lukes, class of 1911 and he had a gold football, so I know they go way back. They were given to the players though, and weren't just charms or things like that. I think your's is probably the same company that manufactured the one I found though. Here's another early one I just found. http://cgi.ebay.com.my/10K-GOLD-UND...-FOB-1924_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQitemZ350194348675 Anyway, I'm still kind of at square one with this thing now.