Saville Crowther, Radnor, 1918, 1919
Saville Crowther played in the 1918 Lower Merion Radnor game, which Lower Merion won 14-7. The following year he helped Radnor avenge that loss, as they beat Lower Merion in a laugher, 50-0. He captained the football teams at Colgate in 1923 and 1924.
In 1925 Crowther played for the Frankford Yellow Jackets, an NFL team. In 1926 he played for the Philadelphia Quakers of the AFL (American Football League, not related to the AFL of the 1960s).
Rae Crowther, Radnor, 1918
Saville Crowther’s brother, Rae Crowther, “distinguished” himself in the 1918 loss to Lower Merion by suffering what appeared to be a serious injury. According to the Inquirer, he was “taken to his home in an automobile in an unconcious condition after he was carried from the field. He was kicked in the head and it is feared has a concussion in the brain.” Crowther recovered sufficiently well from his injury to play football along with his brother Saville at Colgate, where he was also a standout on the boxing team. Rae Crowthter played for the Yellow Jackets in 1925 and 1926.
The 1⃣2⃣7⃣th Annual @Lower_MerionHS vs. @RadnorTSD 🏈 game - recognized by many as the longest consecutively played public scholastic football rivalry in the country - kicks off this 🗓️ Saturday (11/4) at 2 PM at Radnor HS! Let's go, @LowerMerionFB! pic.twitter.com/fgYWpZFvRv
— Lower Merion SD (@LowerMerionSD) November 1, 2023
Emlen Tunnell, Radnor 1938-1941
Emlen Tunnell played varsity football against Lower Merion, all four years that he was in high school. After Radnor beat Lower Merion 31-7 in the 1940 game, the Inquirer described Tunnel as a “Triple Threat.” They were referring to his “running, passing and punting,” but the Inquirer forgot to mention Tunnell’s defense, which is what he became best known for during his pro career.
In 1942, as a Freshman at Toledo, he broke his neck in a game against Marshall. He recovered from the injury in time to play for Toledo’s basketball team during the 1942-1943 season.
By 1944 Tunnell had joined the military and was playing for a Coast Guard team called The Pilots. The San Francisco Examiner described Tunnell as “a 195 pound long-legged Negro… Tunnell, so we are told, throws a football as if it were an orange.” Tunnell was also a pitcher on the Pilots baseball team. After World War II ended, Tunnell attended the University of Iowa, and played football for them during the 1946 and 1947 seasons.
In 1948 he signed with the New York Giants and became their first black player. He played for the Giants through the 1958 season, including 1956 Giants team that won the NFL Championship.
Tunnell went on to play with the Green Bay Packers during the 1959-1961 seasons. His last NFL appearance was with the Packers in 1961, when they defeated the New York Giants in the championship game. Over the course of his career Tunnell intercepted 79 passes, which places him second on the all-time list of pass thieves. Four times he was named as an All Pro, and he also played in nine Pro Bowl games. He was elected to the NFL Hall of Fame in 1967. In 2018 a statue of Emlen Tunnell was erected in front of the the Radnor Township Municipal Building
Ted Dean, Radnor 1952-1955
If you are of a certain age, and you’ve lived your whole life in Philadelphia, then nobody needs to tell you who Ted Dean is. On December 26, 1960, it was he, who in the fourth quarter of the Championship Game, took a hand-off from Norm Van Brocklin and powered his way through the Green Bay Packers defense for the game winning touchdown. A few plays earlier, Dean had fielded a Green Bay kick off, and returned it 58 yards to the Packers’ 37-yard line.
Ted Dean achieved a level of success against the Packers that day, that he was unable to accomplish in his four Lower Merion-Radnor Games. Even with the future Eagles star in their backfield, The Raiders lost to the Aces in the 1952 game, 7-6. The was by far the closest Dean came to being on the winning side against Lower Merion. Radnor lost the 1953-1955 games; 26-7, 33-7, 27-6.
After his football career, Dean became a popular teacher at Gladwyne Elementary School.
Charlie Hall, Lower Merion 1964-1965
Considering that he played six full seasons for the Green Bay Packers in the NFL (1971-1976), Charlie Hall kept a low profile at Lower Merion. Against Radnor he only shows up in the box scores of the 1964 game (won by Lower Merion 20-18) and the 1965 game (a 7-7 tie).
Hall played defensive back for the University of Pittsburgh from 1968-1970. They compiled a record of 15-20 during his years there. With Green Bay, Hall only played on one team that posted a winning record – that was the 1972 team that lost in the Division Championship game to the Washington Redskins.
Willie Sydnor, Radnor 1974-1976
Willie Sydnor helped Radnor defeat Lower Merion (28-0) in the 1974 game, scoring a touchdown on a 16-yard run. He also played on the 1975 team that beat Lower Merion 29-15. In his last game against The Aces, in 1976 – won by Radnor 21-16, he caught a 35 yard touchdown pass. Syndor wound up playing college football for three different schools – Northwestern, Syracuse and Villanova. The strike-shortened 1982 season was his only year of playing professional football.
Russell Carter, Lower Merion 1979
In high school, Russell Carter got a lot more attention as a track star than as a football player, but the recruiters at SMU must have seen something they liked. He played four years for their football team (and was also a track star there). The New York Jets chose him as their first pick (he was 10th overall) in the 1984 draft. Carter played five seasons with the Jets and two with the Oakland Raiders.
Joe Conwell, Lower Merion 1977-1978
Even as a defensive player at Lower Merion, Joe Conwell (brother of singer Tommy Conwell), did not go unnoticed by the media. His 1977 team lost to Radnor, 35-15. However, the following year, Conwell and the Aces ended a six season losing streak against the Raidors, beating them 36-13. In 1979 Conwell (and also Russell Carter) helped Lower Merion to repeat against Radnor, winning the annual classic 14-7. At North Carolina, in 1981, Conwell played defensive tackle in the Gator Bowl, when The Tar Heels beat Arkansas, 31-28. The following year, having moved to offensive tackle, Conwell and North Carolina played Texas in the Sun Bowl, and won that game, 26-10. In 1983, Conwell and North Carolina lost to Florida State in the Peach Bowl.
Conwell played with the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL during the 1984 and 1985 seasons. Then he stepped up and played two seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. In 1986, before the Eagles played the defending 1985 Champion Chicago Bears, Coach Buddy Ryan announced that Conwell was going to start against them. At that time, Stan Hochman wrote in the Chicago Tribune –
No. 79 goes against the Bears on Sunday in Chicago.
That`s what Eagles` coach Buddy Ryan calls Joe Conwell: 79.
”We`re gonna stick 79 in there,” Ryan said early this week. Conwell heard about it from writers, who delivered the news softly, sympathetically, like cops who just came from the scene of a bad accident. Read more.
Brian Henesey, Radnor 1985-1987
Henesey didn’t get much attention in high school, although in 1986, after a 28-0 loss to Ridley, the Inquirer wrote – Brian Henesey, a stocky defensive back and fullback, played an impressive brand of gritty football for Radnor, hitting hard whenever he had the chance.
He led the Raiders to a win over Lower Merion in 1987, rushing for 158 yards and scoring three touchdowns.
At Bucknell in 1988, Henesey rushed for 430 yards, the freshman rushing record. At the end of his senior year at Bucknell (1991), Henesey had rushed for 2,649 yards, a school record. Despite Henesey’s success, NFL coaches did not consider him to be a legitimate pro prospect. His 1991 team racked up a 1-9 record, losing to the likes of Dartmouth, Holy Cross and Cornell. Yet somehow in 1994, three years after his last season at Bucknell, Henesey managed to cajole his way onto Buddy Ryan’s Arizona Cardinals – and played three games with them that season.
Matt Snider Lower Merion 1991-1993
Matt Snider led the Aces to three consecutive wins over Radnor, from 1991-1993 (21-0, 27-0, 28-12). After playing at Lower Merion, Snider played three respectable seasons as a running back for the University of Richmond, but as The Richmond Times Herald described him [Snider] “was by no means a heralded Spider.” Still, as an undrafted free agent, he managed to latch onto the Green Bay Packers and played for them in 1999 and 2000. And he played four games with the Minnesota Vikings in 2001.
Snider also played basketball at Lower Merion. One the players with whom he played for two seasons, went on to acquire a certain amount of fame as a professional athlete.
I am a Radnor High School graduated in 1964..I had many friends that played in the Radnor/Lower Merion game and I enjoyed them all.Radnor/LM has great history of 125 consecutive games played ,
My mom grew up on Garrett Ave , Emlen Tunnell was her next door neighbor in the attached house ! The Iannacone family
The Mainline Times had this article about Jack Cummings. http://www.mainlinemedianews.com/sports/former-lower-merion-qb-jack-cummings-almost-was-part-of/article_55bfb242-e79c-53de-96a1-5d1b158e5d62.html He played for the Philadelphia Bulldogs, professional but not NFL. He was also the winning quarterback for LM in 1955, against Ted Dean’s Radnor team.
Great article! What do you know about Jack Cummings. He was my neighbor, played football & lax at LM in the mid 50’s. He went on to play QB at UNC (and played Lax) and had a very brief stint in the pro’s. He’d be another cool edition to this article.