Gettysburg College Athletics

Arriving in Gettysburg from New Providence, N.J., Craig Swanson certainly wasn’t the biggest guy on the football team. He stood 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighed in at 190 pounds during a time when Gettysburg was still lining up against Division I competition. Swanson’s physical stature proved to be no hurdle when it came to his play on the field, however, and after two years playing primarily on special teams and in a reserve role, he earned a starting spot on the defensive line.
 
Swanson took a lead role for Gettysburg’s defense in his final two campaigns. He was the only Bullet to land a spot on the All-Middle Atlantic Conference team in 1978 after piling up a school-record nine sacks. As a senior in 1979, Swanson turned in a spectacular final year. He piled up 35 tackles in the first two games of the season and he recorded three sacks in three separate games. No performance was more outstanding than his play against Bucknell when he posted nine tackles, three sacks, a blocked punt, and a forced fumble as the Bullets downed the Bison 14-7 in the last-ever meeting on the football field between the two schools. Swanson was named the ECAC Player of the Week following his performance against Bucknell.
 
Swanson once again broke the single-season sack record with 13 hits on the quarterback in 1979. Not only did he earn all-conference honors once again, but he was named to the NCAA Division III All-America First Team. He was equally successful off the field, joining fellow co-captain Richard Swartz as the first football Academic All-Americans in school history. Swanson closed his career with nearly 200 tackles and a school-record 23 sacks.
 
After graduating from Gettysburg with a degree in physics, Swanson embarked on a career as a software systems engineer. He has spent the last 20 years working for Software Applications International Company.