Schwab graduated from high school in 1912 and worked in coal mines until World War I, when he served as a sergeant in the Army.
[1] Schwab was the top man on the Lafayette Maroon and White line for four seasons, an intense lineman whose speed and agility were blended with a chess-player's gift of strategy.
Schwab was known for an uncanny ability to "read" enemy plays, often stopping a runner's progress before he was able to hit the line of scrimmage.
The respect he enjoyed as a leader on the gridiron carried over into his campus lifestyle and his fellow students elected him to terms as president of his class, fraternity (Chi Phi), and the entire student body, as well as membership into the Knights of the Round Table, an upper classmen's honorary society.
[2] After college, Schwab became president of a Patton, Pennsylvania coal mining company and hardware firm.