Dick Offenhamer

Richard W. Offenhamer (June 30, 1913 – August 7, 1998) was an American football and baseball player and later a successful coach. He starred in football as a halfback and in baseball as a catcher at both Bennett High School (Buffalo, New York) and at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.

At Colgate, he started at right halfback on the 1934 football team which lost only to Ohio State; and again on the successful 1935 team. He also played baseball, hitting .380 as a senior where he was both a catcher and an outfielder. He was also intramural light heavyweight boxing champion all four years.

After graduating from Colgate in 1936, he was an English teacher and the head football coach at Kenmore High School. From 1936 through 1946, his Kenmore teams compiling an outstanding record of 50-7 capturing Niagara Frontier League Championships in 1943, 1944 and 1945. From 1946 until 1955, he was the head coach of the freshmen football team at Colgate.

In 1955, Offenhamer was recruited by University of Buffalo (U.B.) President Dr. Clifford C. Furnas to revive the school’s football team. He served as the head football coach at the University of Buffalo from 1955 to 1965, compiling a record of 58-37-5.

His 1958 Buffalo Bulls football team won the Lambert Cup, making U.B. the top-rated small school in the East. Offenhamer was named by United Press International as "Coach of the Week" after the Bulls upset highly regarded Columbia University 34-14 on October 25, 1958.

Dick Offenhamer’s program at U.B. produced several individuals who went on to distinguished professional careers, including Gerry Philbin, a member of the NY Jets 1968 Super Bowl champions, and Buddy Ryan who was on Offenhamer staff as the defensive line coach.

In 1984, he was inducted in the U.B. Athletics Hall of Fame. 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.

Dick Offenhamer died August 7, 1998 in Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital in Amherst, New York.