Dan Conley to Receive 2019 Zunic Award

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Former Orange linebacker and assistant coach Dan Conley '95 has been named the 2019 recipient of the Zunic Award. Conley will be honored Thursday, Sept. 12 at the PressRoom Pub and recognized on the field during the Syracuse-Western Michigan game at the Dome on Saturday, Sept. 21.

Presented by the Syracuse Football Club, the Zunic Award was created in 2001 to honor Mike and Judy Zunic, who died tragically on July 18, 1989 when a United Airlines plane crashed in Sioux City, Iowa. The pilot, anticipating landing difficulties, requested if some strong passengers would volunteer to give up their seats and sit at the exit doors to assist passengers in the event of an emergency. Mike and Judy gave up their seats in first class to sit at one of the doors. They both died in the crash and those in the Zunics' original seats survived.

Mike Zunic was a four-year starter at linebacker and earned a bachelor's degree (1981) and master's degree (1982) in speech communication from Syracuse.

A four-year letterwinner (1990-92, 94) and co-captain of the 1994 Syracuse squad, Conley is one of the most accomplished linebackers in program history and a member of Syracuse's All-Century Team. He carded 321 tackles in his career and set the school records for most tackles (126) and sacks (5) by a freshman in 1990.

Conley missed most of the 1991 season and all of 1993 recovering from multiple knee surgeries. He was granted a sixth season of eligibility and went on to earn All-BIG EAST First Team honors as a senior in 1994, finishing third on the team with 106 tackles.

Conley, who graduated from the University in 1995 with a bachelor's degree in environmental design, returned to his alma mater as a graduate assistant for head coach Paul Pasqualoni from 1997-98 before embarking on a 12-year coaching career. Conley made stops at Southern Connecticut, Canisius, West Virginia Tech, Iona and Wagner prior to serving as the linebackers coach at Syracuse from 2008-11.

After his coaching career, the Carnegie, Pennsylvania native previously spent time as a pregame and postgame radio analyst for the Syracuse Sports Network from Learfield IMG College. He now works in the insurance industry at OneGroup in Syracuse.

Zunic Award Recipients
2001: Mr. and Mrs. Zunic, Frank Maloney, Gene Grabosky '60 (posthumous)
2002: Pat '88 and Kari Kelly, Roberta DeLeone
2003: Jim DaRin '77
2004: Joshua Frase
2005: Jim Rooney
2006: Rockette Pirro Brunetti, Horace Landry
2007: Sylvia Mackey, Chris Ingram '89 (posthumous)
2008: Robin Griffin '72, Carlmon Jones, Ron Page '74
2009: Bill Coghill '72, Norm Mordue '66
2010: Jim Jerome '76
2011: John Lally '82
2012: Tim Byrne '87 (posthumous)
2013: Pat Killorin '66
2014: Dick Beyer '53
2015: Frank Conover '91
2016: Tom Hermanowski '70
2017: J. Michael Anderson '77
2018: Rob Long '12, G'14
2019: Dan Conley '95

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