Cazenovia-based artist Jim Ridlon, Sr. has been named the recipient of the second Annual Tom Osborne Legacy Award, which is given to the best interior lineman in college football. The award will be presented on Thursday, Jan. 14, at the 19th annual Outland Trophy Award Dinner to be held in Omaha, Neb. Ridlon is also the trophy’s designer.
The Tom Osborne Legacy Award, sponsored by The Rotary Club of Omaha, is awarded for making extraordinary contributions to the Outland Trophy and to the interior line play in college football; for exhibiting the characteristics of integrity, sportsmanship and fair play associated with Tom Osborne; and for demonstrating a record of leadership and good citizenship in the community that’s consistent with Rotary International’s primary motto.
This year, the national award will be presented to Jim Ridlon, Sr., a gifted artist and athlete, who played football at Syracuse University from 1954-57, lining up at halfback and defensive back for the Orangemen.
He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth round, playing six seasons with the 49ers and then two additional years with the Dallas Cowboys. He was named an All-Pro defensive back with Dallas in 1964. Ridlon also provided color commentary for Syracuse University football games with Doug Logan on WSYR radio for more than 20 years.
As an academic, Ridlon served as a professor in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University for 35 years, during which time he distinguished himself as an internationally recognized artist. He retired from SU as an emeritus professor in 2000.
Ridlon’s exhibition record spans the globe from Italy and Brazil to Canada and India. He has won several national awards and has shown in numerous national museums and university galleries, including: Purdue University, LeMoyne College, Canton Art Institute, Cornell University, Albright Knox Art Gallery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester and the Edward Hopper House in Nyack, NY among many others.
Ridlon’s work is included in more than 500 private collections including: The Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute, the Juilliard School of Music, Everson Museum of Art, Pro Football Hall of Fame, the United States Sports Academy, Walt Disney Corporation, Upstate Medical Center and the American Broadcasting Corporation.
Ridlon will be attending the Tom Osborne Legacy Award ceremony, which will be presented the same evening as the presentation of the Outland Trophy to this year’s recipient.
