Henry J. Mazur (November 19, 1919 - March 26, 1988) 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 ...
player and military officer. He played
college football for the
Army Cadets football team and was selected by the
International News Service
The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909. as a second-team
halfback on the
1942 College Football All-America Team
The 1942 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1942. The nine selectors recognized by the ...
.
Early years
Mazur was born in
Lowell, Massachusetts
Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...
, the son of Stanley and Katherine (Clehowicz) Mazur. He attended St. Stanislaus school until 1933 when he enrolled at
Lowell High School. While at Lowell, he was an outstanding athlete, playing baseball, football, basketball and track. He was selected as an all-state halfback in 1936 and also played for an American Legion baseball team that won the New England championship. He graduated from high school in 1937 and, during the 1937-1938 academic year, studied at
Stanton Preparatory Academy at
Cornwall, New York.
[(profile includes extensive archive of newspaper clippings and other biographical material on Mazur; much of the content herein is sourced to those biographical materials)]
College years
In the fall of 1938, Mazur enrolled at
Boston College where he played freshman football. In January 1939, he was appointed to 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 ...
. He played at the halfback position for the Army Cadets football team and was elected captain of the 1942 Army football team. He was selected by the
International News Service
The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909. as a second-team player on the
1942 College Football All-America Team
The 1942 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1942. The nine selectors recognized by the ...
. While at the Academy, Mazur also trained as a fighter pilot at
Stewart Air Base.
[
]
Military service
Mazur graduated from the Academy in 1943 and became a pilot during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. He flew a P-47 Thunderbolt
The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bom ...
with the Ninth Air Force in the European Theater. He was a squadron commander with a unit known as the "Panzer Dusters", flying 85 missions with over 200 hours of combat. He was credited with shooting down three German aircraft and damaging three others.
Mazur remained in the Air Force until 1969, retiring with the rank of colonel. His assignments included head of the Air Defense Command Computer Programming and Systems office in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...
; Commander of Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron at Murphy Dome Air Force Station
Murphy Dome Air Force Station (AAC ID: F-02, LRR ID: A-02) is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station west-northwest of Fairbanks, Alaska.
The control center station was closed on 1 November 1983, and was re-designat ...
in Alaska; Systems Program Director and Division Chief of the Command and Control Management Systems of the Deputate of the Space Defense Command of the Air Force at Hanscom Field
Laurence G. Hanscom Field , commonly known as Hanscom Field, is a public use airport operated by the Massachusetts Port Authority, located outside Boston in Bedford, Massachusetts, United States.
Hanscom is mainly a general aviation airport, ...
in Massachusetts. While serving in the Air Force, he also pursued graduate studies in geopolitics and education at 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 the University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...
.[
]
Later years
After retiring from the Air Force, Mazur returned to Lowell, Massachusetts
Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...
, and served with the admissions office at the University of Lowell.[ He died in 1988 in Nashua, New Hampshire.][Social Security Death Index for Henry J. Mazur, last residence, Nashua, New Hampshire, born Nov 9, 1919, died Mar 26, 1988.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazur, Henry
1919 births
1988 deaths
Army Black Knights football players
American football halfbacks
Sportspeople from Lowell, Massachusetts
Players of American football from Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Military personnel from Massachusetts