Casimir J. "Cas" Myslinski (March 6, 1920 – October 26, 1993) was an American university administrator,

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

and

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

officer, and

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

player.

Early life

Myslinski grew up in a poor family of Polish immigrants in

Steubenville, Ohio Steubenville is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Ohio River 33 miles west of Pittsburgh, it had a population of 18,161 at the 2020 census. The city's name is derived from Fort Steuben, a 1 ...

. He was the third child of Felix Myslinski and Stella Dziegelewski. He had seven brothers (Joseph, John, Clement, Thaddaeus, Peter, Paul, and Stanley) and one sister (Helen). After the eighth grade, he spent three years in the work force, including jobs in a steel foundry, selling papers, and in the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

in Utah. Myslinski then belatedly continued his education at

Steubenville High School Steubenville High School is a public high school in Steubenville, Ohio, United States. It is the only secondary school in the Steubenville City School District. Athletics The school offers baseball, basketball, football, golf, soccer, softball, ...

, where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

three years.

College and military service

Despite scholarship offers from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, Myslinski wrote

head football coach

Earl Blaik Earl Henry "Red" Blaik (February 15, 1897 – May 6, 1989) was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and United States Army officer. He served as the head football coach at Dartmouth College from 1934 to 1940 and at ...

about attending the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

at West Point. Myslinski's father had developed an interest in the military academy as a boy in his native

Stawiski Stawiski is a town in northeastern Poland, situated within Kolno County, in Podlaskie Voivodeship, approximately east of Kolno and west of the regional capital Białystok. Stawiski is the administrative seat of Gmina Stawiski. From 1946 to ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. An Army scout visited Myslinski and reported back to Blaik that he was "a hell of a man with a beautiful pair of legs." The head coach notified Ohio Congressman

George H. Bender George Harrison Bender (September 29, 1896June 18, 1961) was an American Republican politician from Ohio. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1939 to 1949 and 1951 to 1954. He also served in the U.S. Senate from 1954 to ...

, who provided Myslinski with an

appointment Appointment may refer to: Law *The prerogative power of a government official or executive to select persons to fill an honorary position or employment in the government (political appointments, poets laureate) * Power of appointment, the legal ...

to West Point.Steelworker's Boy
''Time'' magazine, November 29, 1943. At West Point, he played

as a

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

. In 1943, he was a consensus first-team All-American selection. He graduated from West Point as a member of the Class of 1944. He was stationed in Texas for training as a pilot for a B-24. While serving as an officer in the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

, he played football for the

Third Air Force The Third Air Force (Air Forces Europe) (3 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). Its headquarters is Ramstein Air Base, Germany. It is responsible for all U.S. air forces in E ...

team, the "Gremlins". Myslinski had a 22-year career in the Air Force before retiring at the rank of

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. In 2015, he was inducted into the Army Sports Hall of Fame.

Pittsburgh

The

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

appointed Myslinski as its

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

on December 24, 1968, and he held that position for fourteen years.The Record Tells The Story of Cas Myslinski
''The Pittsburgh Press'', May 2, 1982. ''

The Pittsburgh Press ''The Pittsburgh Press'' (formerly ''The Pittsburg Press'' and originally ''The Evening Penny Press'') was a major afternoon daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1884 to 1992. At one time, the ''Press'' was the second larg ...

'' described him as stern and with an ever-present military bearing. It also credited him for overseeing "the return to glory of the football team and the rise to success of the basketball team." He withstood pressure to relocate the football team off-campus to

Three Rivers Stadium Three Rivers Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1970 to 2000. It was home to the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). Built ...

. Myslinski himself considered his greatest success at Pitt to have been the consolidation of several athletic fundraising groups into one, the Golden Panthers. He retired as Pitt athletic director in April 1982. He died of heart failure on October 26, 1993 at the Country Meadows Nursing Home in South Fayette, Pennsylvania at the age of 73.CASIMIR J. MYSLINSKI, 73, RETIRED UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH ATHLETIC DIRECTOR HE LED REVIVAL OF FOOTBALL, HIRED JOHNNY MAJORS
''The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', October 27, 1993.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Myslinski, Cas 1920 births 1993 deaths Army Black Knights football players Pittsburgh Panthers athletic directors Third Air Force Gremlins football players United States Army Air Forces officers United States Air Force colonels United States Air Force Academy faculty All-American college football players Sportspeople from Steubenville, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio American people of Polish descent United States Army Air Forces bomber pilots of World War II