Joe Alexander
Guard / Center • 1918, 1919
Alexander and Ernie Davis are the only two players in the Orange annals to earn multiple consensus All-America honors. Alexander starred for Frank O’Neill’s SU teams from 1918-20. He also captained the lacrosse team for one season. Alexander graduated from medical school and began practicing medicine in New York City. He specialized in lung treatment and helped found one of the first tuberculosis centers in New York. For seven years (1921-27), he played in the National Football League on weekends while practicing medicine. A center in the NFL’s early days for the Rochester Jeffersons (1921-22), Milwaukee Badgers (1922), and the New York Giants (1925-27), Alexander was a consensus All-American in 1918 and 1919. He earned All-America honors again in 1920 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954. That same year, the Syracuse football program founded the Joseph Alexander Award, given each year to an Orange player for excellence in football, scholarship, and citizenship
Alexander and Ernie Davis are the only two players in the Orange annals to earn multiple consensus All-America honors. Alexander starred for Frank O’Neill’s SU teams from 1918-20. He also captained the lacrosse team for one season. Alexander graduated from medical school and began practicing medicine in New York City. He specialized in lung treatment and helped found one of the first tuberculosis centers in New York. For seven years (1921-27), he played in the National Football League on weekends while practicing medicine. A center in the NFL’s early days for the Rochester Jeffersons (1921-22), Milwaukee Badgers (1922), and the New York Giants (1925-27), Alexander was a consensus All-American in 1918 and 1919. He earned All-America honors again in 1920 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954. That same year, the Syracuse football program founded the Joseph Alexander Award, given each year to an Orange player for excellence in football, scholarship, and citizenship
