Dick Szymanski
Richard Frank "Dick" Szymanski (Pronounced: Sa-MAN-skee) (October 7, 1932 – October 28, 2021) was an American professional football player who was a center for thirteen seasons with the Baltimore Colts in the National Football League (NFL).
Szymanski, circa 1951 | |||||||||
| No. 52 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Center, Linebacker | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | October 7, 1932 Toledo, Ohio, U.S. | ||||||||
| Died: | October 28, 2021 (aged 89) | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 233 lb (106 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Libbey (Toledo, Ohio) | ||||||||
| College: | Notre Dame | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1955 / Round: 2 / Pick: 16 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| As a player: | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| As an administrator: | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Player stats at NFL.com · PFR | |||||||||
Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, Szymanski graduated from its Libbey High School, then played college football at the University of Notre Dame. He was the sixteenth overall selection of the 1955 NFL Draft, taken in the second round by the Colts. Szymanski — known to his Colts teammates by the nickname "Syzzie" — missed the 1956 season due to military service, but returned to play with the Colts on three NFL championship teams (1958, 1959, 1968).
After his playing career concluded in January 1969, Szymanski continued with Baltimore as a scout, personnel director, and general manager. He succeeded Joe Thomas as general manager in January 1977, then stepped down in the spring of 1982. Dick was inducted June 1994 into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame. He died October 28, 2021, at age 89.