Jake Crouthamel, the 1999 NFF John L. Toner Award recipient and the former Syracuse Athletics Director and Dartmouth head football coach, passed away Nov. 7. He was 84.
 
Crouthamel was as a member of the prestigious NFF Honors Court from 2006-09, selecting the inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame.
 
"Jack Crouthamel was a good friend and an incredible person with an amazing and often dry sense of humor," said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. "He had wonderful insights as a member of the NFF Honors Court, and he was really smart and could assess things perfectly. We are extremely grateful for his countless contributions to the NFF and college athletics, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this time of loss ."
 
Crouthamel's career as a head coach included three Ivy League football tiles, and as an administrator, he continued his winning ways, making 15 football bowl game appearances (10 wins) and claiming a national title in men's basketball and nine crowns in men's lacrosse.
 
Crouthamel began making his unique mark in athletics as a star on the Pennridge (PA) High School football team that won 26 of 27 games in three years. He also earned three letters in track and two in basketball, was all-league in all three sports and was named the school's top athlete.

Enrolling at Dartmouth College, Crouthamel was a two-way halfback, and he led the Big Green to a 19-6-2 record from 1957-59. His career rushing total of 1,763 yards (387 carries, 4.56 average, 12 touchdowns) was a Dartmouth record that stood for more than a decade and still ranks sixth all-time. He was twice named All-Ivy, Second Team All-America once and earned three letters in football, two in rugby and one in track.  In 1981, he was selected to the Ivy League Silver Anniversary All-Star Team.

After Crouthamel received his B.A. in history in 1960 from Dartmouth, he became the first player ever signed by the expansion NFL Dallas Cowboys. Unfortunately, he was the last player released from training camp. However, he was signed by another first-year team, the AFL's Boston Patriots, where he played until entering the Navy in 1961.

It was in the Navy that Crouthamel put away his playing pads and picked up a coach's playbook. He did so very successfully, leading the Pearl Harbor Naval Team to the 1962 Armed Forces League Championship. Coaching fit Crouthamel like a glove.

After his Naval service, Crouthamel got a job coaching at Mercersburg (PA) Academy. In 1965, Hall of Fame coach Bob Blackman brought his former favorite halfback to Dartmouth as assistant coach. The reunion worked well and when Blackman moved on, Crouthamel succeeded him as head coach in 1971.

Crouthamel led the Big Green for seven years from 1971-77; won two league titles; shared one other; was named the 1973 New England and NCAA District I Coach of the Year; and compiled a respectable 41-20-2 record for a 66.7 winning percentage. During his time in Hanover, Crouthamel coached Murry Bowden (1968-70) as an assistant and Reggie Williams (1973-75) as a head coach. Both players later landed in the College Football Hall of Fame. He also coached alongside future NFF President Bob Casciola, who was an assistant on Blackman's staff from 1966-68.

"I ended up at Dartmouth College because the head coach of Michigan said I wasn't good enough to be a Wolverine," said Williams, a First Team All-American linebacker at Dartmouth who went on to play 14 years in the NFL with the Bengals. "Jake Crouthamel told me that I could be the best linebacker in Ivy League history if I came to Dartmouth College. Who are you going to love? Jake Crouthamel convinced me that I was better than I ever thought I was coming out of high school. I owe all my confidence to playing in the NFL to Jake. I wasn't going to let him down."

After resigning following the 1977 season, Crouthamel became the ninth director of athletics at Syracuse in March of 1978, changing his colors from the Big Green to the Big Orange and expanding his involvement from one sport, football, to all sports.
 
Crouthamel served as the Syracuse Athletics Director from 1978 to 2005, making him the longest serving AD in school history. In addition to his numerous successes with the men's programs, he expanded and improved women's athletics, leading to postseason trips in women's basketball, field hockey, women's lacrosse, women's soccer, swimming, track and field and women's rowing. In total, the Orange claimed 22 Big East Conference championships in his 27 years at the helm, complimenting the 2003 national title in men's basketball, the nine national titles in men's lacrosse, and 15 football bowl appearances, including the 1987 Sugar Bowl and an undefeated season.
 
He helped oversee the construction of Carrier Dome (currently named the JMA Wireless Dome), which started in 1979 and opened in 1980. He also led major renovations projects at the Manley Field House and the Lampe Athletics Complex, including the addition of the Roy Simmons Sr. Coaches Center, the Stevenson Educational Center, the Iocolano/Petty Football Wing, a 1,500-seat Soccer Stadium, grass football/lacrosse/soccer practice fields, and the Joe Vielbig Outdoor Track. He hired College Football Hall of Fame coach Dick MacPherson and he oversaw John Desko and Roy Simmons Jr. during nine national titles in lacrosse and Jim Boeheim during the Orange's run to the 2003 national basketball crown.
 
Crouthamel played a formative role in the creation of the Big East Conference, and Big East Conference commissioner Michael Tranghese called him "one of the premiere athletic administrators in the country." He made significant contributions to the conference and the NCAA, serving on the highly influential NCAA Men's Basketball Committee; chairing the NCAA Football Issues Committee; and serving a four-year term on the NCAA Division I Management Council.
 
In addition to the 1999 NFF John L. Toner Award, which recognizes excellence in athletics administration, Crouthamel's numerous accolades include being named the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Division I-A Northeast Region Athletics Director of the Year in 2000 and being inducted into the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame in 2018. He was awarded an SU Chancellor's Citation for Excellence in 2002, and alongside his wife, Carol, he was named a recipient of the Salvation Army Community Team Spirit Award in 2002. He was named an SU Honorary Letterwinner of Distinction in 1995. In 2007, he received the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) James Lynah Distinguished Achievement Award, and he was inducted into the NACDA Hall of Fame in 2008.

On the value of collegiate athletics, Crouthamel said: "the best learning experience is preparing an athletic team for a major game against a team that may be better than you are. If you can do that and do it successfully, and carry those lessons with you, then you can literally relate almost everything to that."

"I believe in the educational value of athletics," Crouthamel has said. "I believe that you should treat people with dignity. But if you are going to keep score, then it is clear what your goals are, and they are immediate goals. In our business, it only takes a couple of hours to achieve. And that's to win."
 
Crouthamel is survived by Carol, his wife of 61 years; two daughters, Lisa (Jim) Evans and Christie Falkenburg; and four grandsons, John and Owen Evans as well as Ted and Jake Falkenburg.