My Greatest Day in Football [1 ed.] 9781612772271, 9780873389297

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rvIY GREATEST DAY IN

FOOTBALL

WR IT ING SPO RTS SER IES Richard " Pete" Peterson, Editor

The Cleveland Indians Franklin Lewis The Cincinnati Rerlr Lee Allen The Chicago White Sox \Va rren Brown Dreaming Baseball J ames T Farrell 1\{)' Greatest Day in Football M urray Goodman and Leona rd Lewin

MY GREATEST

DAY IN FOOTBALL by MURRAY GOODMAN and LEONARD LEWIN

FO REW O R D BY B E A N O COO K

T he Kent Stat e University Press Kent, Ohio

2008 by The Kent Sta te nivcrsitv Press, Kent , Ohio +1-2--1-2 All rights rese rved. Libr a ry of Congress Ca talog Card N um ber 20 0800 1518 I SI\ ;,\,: 978-0-87338-929-7 M a n ufactured in th e U nited Sta tes of Am er ica First publi shed in 1947 by A. S. Barnes a nd Co. , Inc. Libr a ry of Cong ress Cataloging-in-Publica tion Dat a Goodman, 1\ Iur ray. 1\ly gr ea test day in footba ll / by I\lur ray G oodman and Leon a rd Lewin ; foreword by Bean o Cook. p. em . O rigin ally published : New Yo rk : A. S. Barnes, 19--1-8] Includes ind ex. IS BN 978-0-B7338-929 -7 (pbk. : alk. pap er ) I . Football sto ries. I. Lewin , Leon ar d . II. Title. G V959.G6 194B 796 .332 -dc22 200800 1518

r

British Library Cataloging-in- Publica tion data a re ava ilable. 12 11 10 09 08

5 4 3 2 I

To Bobby Good ma n and J ohn ny Lewin, Mr, Inside and M r. Outside or 19G8- give or ta ke a few years.

CONTENTS Forewo rd by Bean o Cook Willia m A. Alexander Dr. Edward N. Alexa nder Cl ifford Franklin Ba ttles Sam (Slinl,>i n' Sammy) Bau gh M ad iso n (l\ latty) Bell Da na X . Bible Earl (Red) B1aik Lt. Felix A. (Doc) Blan chard Pa ul Brown .Ja mes \ Vallacc (\ Vally) Butts Frank C aridco Lt. Gl enn Woodward (.Junior) Davis Glenn Dobbs,.Jr. Willia m l\ I. D udley Alb ert G len (T urk) Edward s Beat tie Feathers G eorge (the Gi pp cr) G ipp G eorge S. Ha las Melvinjoh n Hcin Arno ld C ha rles H erber Willia m C lar ke H in kle Don Hu rso n VII

IX

I

7 13 19

25 31

37 ·13 51

55 61

65

73 79 H5 H9

95 101

107 11 3 J

17

123

\'111

AD' GREATEST DA }' IN FOOTBA L L

Fran cis W illia m (Fra nk) Lea hy Loui s LitLie Sidney Luckm a n D r. Willia m T (Bullet Bill) O smanski Stephen (Sto ut Steve) Owen Kenn eth Strong Raym o nd \\'. (D ucky) Po nd K n ute K. Rockne Amos Alonzo Stagg Harry A. Stuhldrchcr Frank \ V. Thomas Gl enn Scobi e (Pop) Wa rn er Ro bert Wa terlicld E. E. (Ta d) Wiema n Ro bert C. Zuppkc Index

127 131 139 1·15 151 152 159 165

173 179 183 189 195 201 205 2 11

FOREWORD Bean o Cook

11£1' Greatest DaJ' in Football, o rigina lly published in 194 7, is a co llec tion o f' sto ries a bo ut coa ches a nd pla yers who wer e famous in their d ay but hav e fad ed in th e me mo ry a nd co nsc io usness of' th e Am eri can sports fan . You probabl y won 't see th e ga mes recounted in thi s work featured on ESPN C lassic, a nd most of' th e names won 't be im me d ia tely recognizable to eve n th e m ost avid o f' tod ay 's fans, but th eir sto ries arc ex tre m ely int er esting non etheless. Th e ga mes are recounted in the first-per son by the m en wh o played or coache d in them, and were co m p iled by Murray G oodman and Leon ard Lewin . I found it fas cinating to read a bo ut what ce rta in football legends co nside red th eir "grea tes t d ay." For exam ple, G eorge Gipp, Notre Dame's legendary "G ippe r," wh o virtua lly rewrote th e school's record books durin g his da ys pla yin g in the shado w of' th e G old en Dome, rem ember ed his g rea test day co m ing up agai nst Indian a , whi ch would mean some th ing if' he wer e talking ba sket ball. (I d on 't re me m be r thi s particul ar ga me bein g suc h a big deal to Pat O 'Bri en or Ron ald Rea gan in th e movi e Knut« Roc/me, All-Americani And you'll probabl y be sur p r ised to learn wh at Paul Brown co nside red his grea tes t d ay. N ow remember, we're talking a bo u t a 1,,'lJy wh o wa s a hu ge success as the head co ac h at Ohio Stal e a nd of' th e Cl eveland Brown s. In fact, he won a number of' NFL titles with his Browns. But wait until yo u read a bo ut wha t he chose as his "g rea tes t day." And even yea rs lat er, a lIX

x

All'

GIU~ATEST f)/\

l' IN FOOTBALL

tel' he had won tho se pro cha m pionships, he still held to his original claim as his best day on the grid iron. These stor ies are clea rly Irom a d illcrc nt era. It was a time when college players wor ked at a job d uring the sum me r- not like today, when virtu ally all of the player s atte nd sum me r classes and spend lar ge porti on s of their wakin g hours in the weight room pumping iron . O ne th ing this book proves is that you don 't have to have a lot of video tape to make somet hing ente rta ining. It brin gs to mind Ken Burn s's highly accla imed series TIle Civil JVar- there was no film or videotape used in that, j ust still ph otos, but it certa inly paint ed a picture. So does this. Alth ough you ma y not be familiar with all the pla yer s and coac hes writt en a bo ut her e, you will still enjoy reading ab out them . In add ition to telling the sto ry in the player 's or coac h's own words, it also inclu des some ga me statist ics, sco ring sum maries, and lineups. These help to add insight into how the ga me has cha nged over the yea rs. For instan ce, there was a ga me in which only three offic ials wer e used ; tod ay it seems like ther e are more striped shirts on the field than Co ngress has sena tors! Likewise, coaching stalls have adde d a few bodi es. Wh en Frank Leah y coached Boston Co llege to an und efeat ed seaso n in 1940, he only had three assistants. No wadays, coac hes have a bigger sta ir th an Ike d id for D-day. And younge r read ers (O K . . . probabl y an yone und er 65) might he intri gued to find that th e Ivy Lea gue used to play for mor e than the entert ainmen t of the "wine and cheese crowd." In fa ct, Lou Little, the revered coac h at Co lum bia back in the '30s a nd '40s, recaps a little Icstivity ca lled the Rose Bowl- a ga me in which his Lion s defe ated might y Stanford 7- 0 onJanuary 1,1 934. I'm sure tho se two au gust institution s of high er learning might sq ua re ofl' again some time ... hut only on the C ollege Editi on of J eopard]. And be sure to note the lineu ps. Fo r exa m ple, in one of the games reco unte d here, one team used j ust two substitu tes and the other non e. One thin g the hook doesn't do is rat e the player s, coaches, or ga mes, which seems to he a required pro cedure for a ny antho logy publi shed or televised nowad ays. This work sim ply present s eac h coac h or player in alp ha be tical order. Som e mig ht be interes ted to learn that inn ovat ion s in footba ll didn 't just begin in the past few years. This proves it has been a co nsta ntly evolving sport, wheth er it be in oflcnsivc and defensive strategy or even some sort of techn ological adva nce with eq uipme nt. 1;01' instan ce, Sa m my Bau gh reca lled his expe rience in the 1937 N FL cham pionship ga me whe n

MV GREATEST DA V IN FOOTBALL

XI

hi s Red skins edged the mi ght y C h ica go Bea rs 28 -2 1 o n a bitterl y co ld D ecember a fte r noo n a t th e not- so-f riendl y co nfi nes o r \ Vrigley Field . D esp ite effo rts by th e W rigl ey gro und cre w to keep th e field playabl e by cove ring it wi th a tarp aulin a nd stra w th e night befo re , th e su rface wa s basica lly a shee t o r ice wh en th e teams showe d up th e next d a y. It wa s ind eed " the froz en tu nd ra" th at J ohn Facc nda , th e legendary voi ce or N FL Films, wo uld e m bla zo n o n th e minds o r th e Ameri can spo rt ing public three decades lat e r. (By th e wa y, th at term " fro ze n tundra " is redundant , ir you give it so me th ough t.) An yw a y, both reams used basketball snea ke rs to deal with th e slip pe ry co nd itio ns . Bu t a ccord ing to Bau gh , th at was o ne " tec h no logica l adva nce" that didn 't wo rk. The first coach o r pl ayer introduced in thi s bo ok is a not eworthy o ne - Bill Alexander , th e head coac h a t G eorgia Te ch from 19 20 to 194 4. H ere 's a g uy wh o co ac he d agai nst Knut c Ro ck ne a nd Fra nk Leahy. H e wa s foll owe d by Bobby D odd , w ho led th e Rarnblin ' W reck unt il 1966 . That m eans Geo rgia Te ch had o nly two head coac hes in a 46 -year sp a n. H ow 's th a t 1'0 1' sta b ility? Keep in min d th at th ese ga m es were played before a lot o r th ings th at we tak e fo r g ra n ted became p opular- l ike TV, ca b le, in stant repl a y, o bnoxiou s sports tal k shows - a nd befo re 90 percent or the med ia took itsel l' so se rious ly. A no th er big d ifferen ce between the n a nd now is th at co llege p laye rs ha d a mu ch bigge r ro le in ca m p us life , taking part in ac tivities o ther tha n footba ll. Even as re centl y as th e I96 0s, Penn St at e had a n All- Ameri can defen sive lin em an nam ed l\like Reid wh o sta rre d in a ca m p us produ ction o r GI!JIJ '11 ' Dolls. II' yo u as ked h im , J oe Pat ern o would tell yo u th at co u ld n' t happen toda y. Pla yers to day a re mu ch m o re seq ues te red from the regular stude n t po p ula tio n . Th ere are spec ia l d o rm s for a thletes a t m ost schoo ls, sp ecia l d in ing hall s, a nd , tr ut h be told, spec ia l classes too. Back in th e era wh en thi s bo ok was written , m any co llege tea m s p layed j ust a ni ne-gam e sche d ule a nd th e pros played but 12, unlike today's N FL "war or a tt rition" tha t lasts 17 we e ks . . . a nd th at 's hefore th e playoffs begin! I ~Jr exa m p le, No tre Dam e's first ga m e in its nati o nal cha m p ionsh ip seaso n or 194 7 wa sn't played un til th e first Saturday in O ctober. Today, ma ny co llege teams a re on th e field playing for keeps by lat e Au gu st. T he re's ce rtai n ly mu ch m ore hyp e fill' the ga me today; but m a ke no m istak e, th e ga mes we re just as big to the fans th en . .. eve n if the p laye rs were n't. A nd the re was no sho wbo a ting th en , no tou chdown da nces, no " La m hca u Lea p s." \Vh en a guy c ross ed th e goa l lin e ba ck th en , he

M Y GREA 7EST DA Y IN FOOTBA LL

XII

ac ted like he had been th er e befor e. He might ge t a handshake or two from a tea m ma te, bu t it certainly wasn't like tod ay when a 'I'D is ca use lo r a cele bra tion th at m akes V:1 Day seem calm in com pa rison. Fo r fo lks who have been aro und for a while, this book will co nj ure up man y a g rea t mem or y. And lor younge r read er s, it will provide a fine history lesson a nd some exce llent insight int o the way th e sport has evolved , There a re, of co urse, a ton of names with who m fans arc no doubt familial: You 'll read a bo ut the aforeme ntioned Rockne a nd G ipp, a bo ut \Va rn er and Amos Alon zo Stag g, no t to men tion so me colorful cha racters suc h as Tennessee's Beattie Fea th ers or " Pap a Bea r" himself; th e g rea t G eo rge H alas, o r Arm y's fa bled " Mr, Inside" a nd " M r, Outside," Doc Bla ncha rd, a nd a bo ut Gl enn Davis, Slingin' Sammy Ba ugh . a nd the immort al Don Hutson , who was his day's version of j erry R ice. Of co urse, th ere arc some names th at m igh t be a b it o bscure to tod ay's football fan s, nam es such as M el H ein , Arnie H erbel; Tad \ Viema n, a nd , yes, D ucky Pa nel. But their stories a rc j ust as int er esting a nd insightfu l. Yes sir, foo tball was g rea t then .. . an d like life, it was mu ch less co m plicated . There wasn 't as mu ch o utside pressur e on th e coaches as th ere is now. (G ec, do you think maybe th e big mon cy a t stake for bo th th e pros a nd co lleges migh t have sume thing to do with th at ?) And a no the r nice thing . . . f