It’s a familiar tale – hometown boy makes it big for the hometown college team, and then returns to his roots after time spent in the professional ranks.
Sadly, that story ended far too soon.
Chris Gedney, the Liverpool High School and Syracuse University football star who later served as a broadcaster on SU football games, passed away on Friday at age 47.
“Chris was a wonderful co-worker, a friend to all and deeply loyal to Syracuse University and our community,” said SU athletic director John Wildhack in a statement. “Chris was a decorated football student-athlete, who served as a mentor to many who followed him.”
In the late 1980s, Gedney made his name at Liverpool both on the football field and in the classroom. While he could have chosen any college, he decided to stay at home, recruited by Dick MacPherson to come to the SU hill
Gedney grew into a force for the Orange, and by his senior season, 1992, he was a consensus All-American, with 34 catches that season and 91 overall, both school records for a tight end. He helped SU win 34 of 47 games during his four years.
In the quarter-century since, while other fine players have manned the tight end spot, no one topped Gedney, who in 2002 earned a spot on SU’s All-Century team and, nine years later, was named to the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame.
Drafted by the Chicago Bears in 1993, Gedney managed to last seven years in the National Football League, splitting time with the Bears and Arizona Cardinals, with whom he later worked on the broadcasting side, both in radio and television.
Married and a father of four, Gedney came back to Central New York in 2006 and took a job in SU’s athletic department, ultimately promoted to senior associate athletic director for major gifts, which involved fund-raising.
At the same time, Gedney became a fixture on Orange football radio broadcasts alongside play-by-play man Matt Park, spending more than a decade as a color analyst.
With such deep ties to the Central New York community, it was little surprise that Gedney was deeply involved in charity work, from the New York State Special Olympics to the board of directors of the National Down’s Syndrome Society, along with Imagine Syracuse and the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.
