![\"JIm](\"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/JIm-Ridlon.jpg\")
<\/a>, where he played for two years. In 1964, he was named All-Pro defensive back.<\/p>\nAfter he retired from football, Ridlon went back to Syracuse University to complete his graduate studies in fine art. He also coached the university\u2019s defensive backs and later became a full-time professor at the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse teaching painting, figure drawing, sculpture and design, until he retired in 2000.<\/p>\n
During that time he also worked as the color commentator for Syracuse home football games on the New York State Radio Network.<\/p>\n
Known as one of the country\u2019s top sports sculptors, Ridlon\u2019s major pieces include creating the Outland Trophy, ABC\u2019s Wide World of Sports<\/i> 25th Anniversary Collage, Syracuse University\u2019s 100th Football Anniversary Collage, the Baseball Writers Association of America Scholar-Athletes Awards and the 35th Anniversary Disneyland Assemblage.<\/p>\n
His work has earned him more than 20 prizes and awards and is displayed in more than 200 permanent collections including the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute in Utica, the State Legislature Building in Albany, and at Binghamton University.<\/p>\n
Jim Ridlon career highlights:<\/b><\/p>\n
1956: Received the Joe Alexander Award for Excellence in Football, Scholarship and Citizenship<\/p>\n
1957: Received the Pat Miller Award for Outstanding Athlete-Citizen-Student<\/p>\n
1957-1964: Played with San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys, named All-Pro defensive back in 1964.<\/p>\n
1976: Named Football\u2019s Man of the Year in the Arts<\/p>\n
1983: Named a Letter Winner of Distinction at SU<\/p>\n
1987: Honored as the College Educator of the Year by CBS and ESPN<\/p>\n
1989: Received Sport Artist of the Year Award from the American Sport Art Museum and Archives<\/p>\n
1997: Received the Outstanding Faculty Award from SU\u2019s School of Art and Design; Received an honorary degree from Cazenovia College<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former NFL star and Syracuse football standout, Jim Ridlon, speaks to students at Morrisville State. His work is on exhibit through Sept. 3 in the college\u2019s Donald Butcher Library Gallery. (Photo by Nicolas Murphy, community relations assistant) (Morrisville, NY \u2013 July 29, 2013) The work of renowned sports sculptor and painter, Jim Ridlon, former NFL […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-and-entertainment","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48717\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}