Paulus, Crouthamel, Myers and Schmitt Set for Hall of Fame Enshrinement

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Four exceptional individuals with roots in the success of Syracuse University Athletics are members of the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2018.

Retired Syracuse University Director of Athletics Jake Crouthamel, former football standouts Greg Paulus and Tommy Myers, and former assistant soccer coach Ed Schmitt will take their place in the Hall of Fame at the 32nd Annual Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame Dinner and Induction Ceremony Monday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. at The Oncenter in Syracuse.

The four with ties to Syracuse University will join four other worthy individuals in this year's class alongside the 232 men and women already enshrined.

Crouthamel, who served as Syracuse's director of athletics from 1978 to 2005, oversaw opening of the Carrier Dome, construction and expansion of the Iocolano-Petty Football Complex and the construction of the soccer and softball stadiums, among other capital facilities improvements. During his tenure, the Orange men's lacrosse team won nine NCAA titles, men's basketball won the 2003 national championship, and the football team played in 12 bowl games, and women's soccer, women's lacrosse and softball were added to the program. One of the founding fathers of The BIG EAST Conference, Crouthamel served as conference president, a member of NCAA Men's Basketball Committee, and a member of the BIG EAST television negotiating committee, in addition to many other councils and committees during his tenure as a respected member of the collegiate athletics community. A highly-decorated administrator, Crouthamel was recognized as an honorary Syracuse University Letterwinner of Distinction in 1995, and earned the 1999 National Football Foundation John Toner Award and the 2002 Chancellor's Citation for Distinguished Service. Prior to his arrival at Syracuse, he was an outstanding student-athlete at Dartmouth College, where he was an All-Ivy League halfback. He was a second-team selection on the All-Ivy 25th Anniversary Team and was the first player signed by the NFL's expansion Dallas Cowboys. After completing his playing career, Crouthamel moved to the sidelines and enjoyed a successful collegiate football coaching career at Dartmouth, leading the Big Green to three consecutive Ivy League championships and a 41-20-2 record in seven years as head coach. A native of Perkaskie, Pa., Crouthamel and his wife, Carol, have two daughters.

Paulus, the Orange's starting quarterback and team captain in 2009, earned his master's degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2010. He set the Syracuse single-season record for completion percentage (67.7) and threw for 2,025 yards and 13 touchdowns. He came to Syracuse as a graduate transfer and played football after a standout four-year basketball career at Duke where he was the starting point guard and two-year captain. Paulus was a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American and a three-year academic all-conference selection. A 2005 graduate of Christian Brothers Academy, Paulus earned the 2004 Gatorade High School Football Player of the Year award after quarterbacking CBA to the 2004 New York State Class AA Championship. On the hardwood, the McDonald's All-American was also the 2005 New York State High School Mr. Basketball. Paulus is in his first year as an assistant basketball coach at George Washington University after previously serving in the same role at Louisville, Ohio State, and Navy

A graduate of Fayetteville-Manlius High School and Syracuse University, Tommy Myers went on to play for the New Orleans Saints in the National Football League. The 180-pound free safety, who was regarded as one of the hardest hitters in the NFL, he played his entire pro career with the Saints, where he was a first team All-Pro in 1979 and recorded 36 interceptions and had 15 fumble recoveries (two for touchdowns), and set a franchise record with a 97-yard interception return (on a pass from Vikings' Fran Tarkenton) for touchdown. He was inducted into the Saints' Hall of Fame in 1989. At Syracuse, Myers was an Associated Press First Team All-American and played in the 1971 East-West Shrine Game and the 1972 College All-Star Game. In 1999, he was voted a member of SU's All-Century Football Team.

Ed Schmitt, who was an assistant men's soccer coach for the Orange for 10 years, coached the Fayetteville-Manlius High School boys' soccer team for 21 seasons. Named to the post in 1965, Schmitt changed the face of soccer in our area with "F-M Pride Soccer" which utilized a sophisticated style of play modeled after the English Premier League and incorporated international training regimens with European style uniforms. His teams compiled a record of 264 wins, 55 losses, and 14 ties. He won 15 league and sectional Class A championships. Nine of his teams were undefeated and he was among the first scholastic coaches to earn a U.S. Soccer Federation Coaching License – qualifying him as a top-level coach and enabling him to coach world-class players. In 1980 Schmitt won the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Regional High School Coach of the Year award.

The rest of the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2018 includes Bill Dutch, Joe Reddick, Ron Pelligra and Eddie "Babe" Risko.

Co-founder and the first president of Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame and a past president of the Syracuse Chiefs, Dutch is a lifelong Syracusan who attended Nottingham High School, graduated from Syracuse University, and attended SU's Graduate School of Business. Dutch served on the boards of the Syracuse Chargers, the Juvenile Diabetes Association, the Upstate Medical Center Foundation's Golf Tournaments, and the Metropolitan School of Arts. He played and coached semipro ball and played on City Rec fast pitch softball championship teams in the 1970s and coached the CBA JV team to 24-4 record in 1972-73.

Reddick graduated from Vocational/Corcoran High School and Albany (Ga.) State, where he played basketball. At Vocational, which later became Corcoran, Reddick was a first-team CNY City League All-Star in 1965-66 and 1966-67. He averaged 15.2 points per game as a junior behind Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Famer Jimmy Collins, and as a senior he teamed with Howie Harlow to form one of the best schoolboy backcourts in this city's history. He averaged 22.1 points per game as a senior, leading Corcoran to the Section III Class A title. He led Albany (Ga.) State College to 32-8 record and berth in the final round of the NAIA Tournament. The Urban Sports Hall of Famer coached at Cazenovia High School and Morrisville College, and has given his time to help our area youth.

A two-sport standout at Christian Brothers Academy and St. Lawrence University, Pelligra was a two-time All-City selection in both football and wrestling. He posted an 80-8 career high school wrestling record and was the first CBA wrestler to win a sectional title. At St. Lawrence, he was a two-time NCAA Division III All-American at defensive tackle and was a collegiate All-American in wrestling. He posted a 93-7-1 career record, including a 38-2 mark as a senior. Pelligra became SLU's first NCAA champion in any sport when he won as a super heavyweight in Division III. A graduate of the Syracuse University School of Law, he had a successful 30-year career as a litigator in Syracuse before he passed away suddenly in 2013 at the age of 58.

Risko was a Syracuse-born middleweight boxing champion. Born Henry Liudvik Pylkowski in 1911, Risko boxed under the pseudonym of 'Sailor Pulaski' while in the Navy. He was a professional boxer from 1929-39 as Eddie 'Babe" Risko and is one of three Central New York boxing world champions (with Carmen Basilio and Billy Backus). Risko is the only Syracuse native to win a world crown, which he captured in 1935. He had a career record of 64 wins (18 by knockout), 26 defeats and 12 draws, but was 58-12-10 in his first 80 bouts.

Syracuse University Athletics

Paulus, Crouthamel, Myers and Schmitt Set for Hall of Fame Enshrinement

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