Richard William Offenhamer (June 30, 1913 – August 7, 1998) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player and football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Buffalo—now known as the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 18 ...

, from 1955 to 1965, compiling a record of 58–37–5. Offenhamer played college football and

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

at Colgate University.

Playing career

A native of

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

, Offenhamer starred in football as a halfback and in baseball as a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

at Bennett High School and at Colgate University in

Hamilton, New York Hamilton is a town in Madison County, New York, United States. The population was 6,690 at the 2010 census. The town is named after American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. The Town of Hamilton contains a village also named Hamilton, the s ...

. At Colgate, he started at right halfback on the 1934 football team, which lost only to

Ohio State 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 public ...

, and again on the successful 1935 team. For the Colgate baseball team, Offenhamer hit .380 as a senior, playing as both a catcher and an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

. He was also intramural light heavyweight boxing champion all four years.

Coaching career

Kenmore High School

After graduating from Colgate in 1936, he was an English teacher and the head football coach at Kenmore High School in

. In 1939, he played summer baseball in the Cape Cod Baseball League, playing catcher for the league's

Harwich Mariners The Harwich Mariners are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Harwich, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Mariners play their home games at Whitehouse Fiel ...

. From 1936 through 1946, his Kenmore teams compiling an outstanding record of 50–7 capturing Niagara Frontier League championships in 1943, 1944 and 1945.

Colgate

From 1946 until 1955, he was the head coach of the freshmen football team at Colgate.

University of Buffalo

In 1955, Offenhamer was recruited by

University of Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 18 ...

President Dr. Clifford C. Furnas to revive the school's football team. Offenhamer went on to serve as the head football coach at Buffalo from 1955 to 1965, compiling a record of 58–37–5. His 1958 team won the Lambert Cup as the top-rated small school in the East. Offenhamer was named by

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...

as Coach of the Week after the Bulls upset highly regarded

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 ...

34-14 on October 25, 1958. Offenhamer’s program at U.B. produced several individuals who went on to distinguished professional careers, including

Gerry Philbin Gerald John Philbin (born July 31, 1941) is a former American football defensive tackle and four-year starter from the University at Buffalo where he earned several honors including second-team All-American, Little All-America, and All-American ...

, a member of the 1968 Super Bowl champion New York Jets, and

Buddy Ryan James David "Buddy" Ryan (February 17, 1931 – June 28, 2016) was an American football coach in the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL). During his 35-season coaching career, Ryan served as the head coach of the ...

who was on Offenhamer's staff as the defensive line coach.

Honors and death

In 1984, Offenhamer was inducted in the University of Buffalo Athletics Hall of Fame, and in 1985, he was inducted in the Colgate Athletics Hall of Fame for baseball. In 1998, he was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. Offenhamer died at age 85, on August 7, 1998, at Millard Suburban Hospital in

Amherst, New York Amherst () is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. Amherst is an inner ring suburb of Buffalo. As of 2020, the town had a total population of 129,595. This represents an increase from 122,366 as reported in the 2010 census. The second ...

Head coaching record

References

External links

Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Offenhamer, Dick 1913 births 1998 deaths American football halfbacks Baseball catchers Baseball outfielders Buffalo Bulls football coaches Cape Cod Baseball League players (pre-modern era) Colgate Raiders baseball players Colgate Raiders football players Harwich Mariners players High school football coaches in New York (state) Players of American football from Buffalo, New York Coaches of American football from New York (state) Baseball players from Buffalo, New York