Hartman Earns 2024 Zunic Award
9/6/2024 4:41:00 PM | Football
Dennis Hartman '81 is this year's recipient of the Zunic Award and will be honored between the first and second quarter of Saturday's game vs. Georgia Tech.
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.
Hartman earned the honor for his life accomplishments and impact on the community. After graduating from Syracuse, Hartman worked in the beverage industry for 41 years, running Certo Brothers Distributing for the last four years. He also has worked with Wright Beverage company. He and his wife of nearly 40 years, Patty, have helped numerous Buffalo area non-profit organizations, including the Boys and Girls club, Kelly for Kids, JMS Foundation, Golisano Children's Hospital and many more.
He also formed the Bogo Bunch with Zach Bogosian and his wife Bianca while Zach played professional hockey for the Sabres. They raised over $300,000 for charity, over $200,000 of which went to the Roswell Cancer Research Hospital in Buffalo, with remaining funds going to two other foundations. He also captained a drive at Certo Brothers to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis, that donated over $150,000 to the cause.
Hartman has overcome his own personal illness after being diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma in June, 2019. He went through radiation and chemotherapy treatment at Roswell Park and has been in remission since the conclusion of his treatments.
Hartman joins a tremendous list of past honorees:
Past 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
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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.
Hartman earned the honor for his life accomplishments and impact on the community. After graduating from Syracuse, Hartman worked in the beverage industry for 41 years, running Certo Brothers Distributing for the last four years. He also has worked with Wright Beverage company. He and his wife of nearly 40 years, Patty, have helped numerous Buffalo area non-profit organizations, including the Boys and Girls club, Kelly for Kids, JMS Foundation, Golisano Children's Hospital and many more.
He also formed the Bogo Bunch with Zach Bogosian and his wife Bianca while Zach played professional hockey for the Sabres. They raised over $300,000 for charity, over $200,000 of which went to the Roswell Cancer Research Hospital in Buffalo, with remaining funds going to two other foundations. He also captained a drive at Certo Brothers to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis, that donated over $150,000 to the cause.
Hartman has overcome his own personal illness after being diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma in June, 2019. He went through radiation and chemotherapy treatment at Roswell Park and has been in remission since the conclusion of his treatments.
Hartman joins a tremendous list of past honorees:
Past 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
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