Walter Wallace Singer (December 6, 1911 – February 5, 1992) was an American college football player at
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
, and a professional football player in the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
for the
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...
. He was also a sub-novice Intercollegiate boxing
heavyweight
Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling.
Boxing Professional
Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...
champion, and hit a pivotal
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
in the 1943 North African World Series to lead the Casablanca Yankees to victory over the Algiers Street Walkers.
Early years
Singer was born in
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark. He had an identical twin brother, Milton.
Singer attended William L. Dickinson High School in Jersey City. In 1930 he (as an
end
End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to:
End
*In mathematics:
** End (category theory)
** End (topology)
**End (graph theory)
** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous)
**End (endomorphism)
*In sports and games
**End (gridiron footbal ...
, and achieving First-Team All-State football honors) and his brother (at
running back
A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...
, and achieving honorable mention for All-State football player honors) led the Dickinson football team to a 9–0 record as it became the second-ever
Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic Association The Hudson County Interscholastic League (formerly known as the Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic Association) is a New Jersey high school sports association operating under the jurisdiction of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Asso ...
champion. He also played baseball for the high school team, as a
catcher
Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...
, alongside his brother, who was an All-State
first baseman
A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...
.
College
Singer attended Syracuse University, where he was a member of the
Sigma Alpha Mu
Sigma Alpha Mu (), commonly known as Sammy, is a college fraternity founded at the City College of New York in 1909. Though initially founded as a Jewish organization, the fraternity dropped its religious affiliation and became open to men of a ...
fraternity. He played end for the Syracuse Orangemen football team for three seasons, from 1932 to 1934, alongside his brother, who was the team's starting
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 1933 Singer received the AP All-East honorable mention. In 1934 he was named First Team by the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) is an international news agency and wire service, founded in 1917, serving Jewish community newspapers and media around the world as well as non-Jewish press, with about 70 syndication clients listed on its web ...
, at left end. His brother Milton, at center, was also named First Team.
He and his brother also played baseball for Syracuse in 1933. Additionally, he boxed, winning the sub-novice Intercollegiate boxing
heavyweight
Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling.
Boxing Professional
Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...
championship in 1933. He quit that sport on the insistence of his football coach.
NFL
Singer played offensive end and defensive end for the New York Giants in the NFL in 1935 – the year that the Giants won the NFL East – and in 1936. He then went to the Jersey City Giants football team as
player-coach
A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...
, until he was drafted during World War II. In 1936 he also served as the athletic director of the Jersey City Community Center.
World War II
As a
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
in the US Army, Singer tried out at Fort Dix, New Jersey, for the 44th Infantry Division baseball team in April 1941. In April 1943, he was a
lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...
stationed in Africa. He played in the North African World Series, a best two-out-of-three-game baseball championship played on October 3 and 4, 1943 in
Algiers, Algeria
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...
, between the Casablanca Yankees and the Algiers Streetwalkers, drawn from the ranks of American soldiers and sailors stationed in North Africa during World War II. Singer, the only officer in the games, was the manager and first baseman for Casablanca. He hit a pivotal home run in the second game of the series – the only home run in the games – to carry the Casablanca Yankees to victory over the Algiers Street Walkers. Singer ultimately reached the rank of
major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
.
Death and legacy
Singer died on February 5, 1992 at the age of 80. He is buried at Beth David Cemetery in
Elmont, New York
Elmont is an unincorporated hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in northwestern Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, United States, along its border with the borough of Queens in New York City. The population was 35,265 at the ...
.
In 1999, Singer received ''
The Star Ledger
''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to ''The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the ''Staten Island Advance'', all of wh ...
'' All-New Jersey 1930's honorable mention (high school). In 2000, he was inducted into the Hudson County Sports Hall of Fame.