Mills Honored with 2023 Zunic Award
9/18/2023 10:14:00 AM | Football
Rusty Mills '74 is the 2023 recipient of the Zunic Award and will be honored during Saturday's game vs. Army.
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.
Mills played for legendary coach Ben Schwartzwalder (who will be officially enshrined into Syracuse Athletics' Ring of Honor during Saturday's game as well) from 1970-73 on the offensive line. He went
After football, Mills worked in sales and distribution for Proctor & Gamble. He retired a vice president for the company, and then joined the Sunny Delight Brand. He officially retired in 2014.
In his retirement he's volunteered his time with various charitable groups, including SCORE, Champions for Learning and Take Stock in Children.
Mills helped create the Syracuse Letterman's Club, the predecessor to the Syracuse Football Club, for which he serves as a member of the Board of Directors. He and his wife, Barbara, endow an annual scholarship at Syracuse.
Mills joins a tremendous list of past honorees:
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
2021: John Lusardi ' 92
2022: Dick Murphy '67
2023: Rusty Mills '74
Syracuse and Army square off this Saturday at Noon on ACC Network. Tickets are available on Cuse.com/Tickets.Partial plans and individual game tickets are now on sale. Fans can also purchase group tickets, hospitality packages and tailgate packages.
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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.
Mills played for legendary coach Ben Schwartzwalder (who will be officially enshrined into Syracuse Athletics' Ring of Honor during Saturday's game as well) from 1970-73 on the offensive line. He went
After football, Mills worked in sales and distribution for Proctor & Gamble. He retired a vice president for the company, and then joined the Sunny Delight Brand. He officially retired in 2014.
In his retirement he's volunteered his time with various charitable groups, including SCORE, Champions for Learning and Take Stock in Children.
Mills helped create the Syracuse Letterman's Club, the predecessor to the Syracuse Football Club, for which he serves as a member of the Board of Directors. He and his wife, Barbara, endow an annual scholarship at Syracuse.
Mills joins a tremendous list of past honorees:
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
2021: John Lusardi ' 92
2022: Dick Murphy '67
2023: Rusty Mills '74
Syracuse and Army square off this Saturday at Noon on ACC Network. Tickets are available on Cuse.com/Tickets.Partial plans and individual game tickets are now on sale. Fans can also purchase group tickets, hospitality packages and tailgate packages.
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