Floyd Benjamin "Ben" Schwartzwalder (June 2, 1909 – April 28, 1993) was a Hall of Fame football coach at Syracuse University, where he trained such future National Football League stars as Jim Brown, as well as the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy, Ernie Davis.

Schwartzwalder played center at West Virginia University, despite weighing only 146 pounds, and was an all-campus wrestler in 1930 in the 155-pound weight class. He was captain of the football team in 1933.

Biography

Early life and career

Schwartzwalder was born in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. He coached high school football for six years in West Virginia — a year at Sistersville High School, followed by the Parkersburg High School Big Reds football from 1936 to 1940 — and Ohio — a year at Canton McKinley High School — and won two state championships. In 1941, he was coach of Canton McKinley High School in Ohio when, even though he was in his 30s, he commissioned in the US Army and fought in World War II.