1944 Big Ten Conference Football Season
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1944 Big Ten Conference Football Season
The 1944 Big Ten Conference football season was the 49th season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference (also known as the Western Conference) and was a part of the 1944 college football season. The 1944 Ohio State Buckeyes football team, under head coach Carroll Widdoes, compiled a perfect 9–0 record, won the Big Ten championship, led the conference in scoring offense (31.9 points per game), and was ranked No. 2 in the final AP Poll. The team was retroactively selected as a national champion by the National Championship Foundation. Quarterback Les Horvath was a consensus first-team pick for the 1944 College Football All-America Team and received the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy as the most valuable player in the Big Ten and . End Jack Dugger and center John Tavener were also consensus first-team All-Americans. Michigan, under head coach Fritz Crisler, compiled an 8–2 record, finished in second place in the conference, and was ra ...
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Elroy Hirsch
Elroy Leon "Crazylegs" Hirsch (June 17, 1923 – January 28, 2004) was an American professional football player, sport executive and actor. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1974. He was also named to the all-time All-Pro team selected in 1968 and to the National Football League (NFL) 1950s All-Decade Team. A native of Wausau, Wisconsin, Hirsch played college football as a halfback at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Michigan, helping to lead both the 1942 Badgers and the 1943 Wolverines to No. 3 rankings in the final AP Polls. He received the nickname "Crazylegs" (sometimes "Crazy Legs") for his unusual running style. Hirsch served in the United States Marine Corps from 1944 to 1946 and then played professional football in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) for the Chicago Rockets from 1946 to 1948 and in the NFL for the Los Angeles Rams from 1949 to 1957. During the 1951 season, H ...
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Fritz Crisler
Herbert Orin "Fritz" Crisler (; January 12, 1899 – August 19, 1982) was an American college football coach who is best known as "the father of two-platoon football," an innovation in which separate units of players were used for offense and defense. Crisler developed two-platoon football while serving as head coach at the University of Michigan from 1938 to 1947. He also coached at the University of Minnesota (1930–1931) and Princeton University (1932–1937). Before coaching, he played football at the University of Chicago under Amos Alonzo Stagg, who nicknamed him Fritz after violinist Fritz Kreisler. During his 18-year career as a head football coach, Crisler's teams won 116 games, lost 32, and tied 9. At Michigan, Crisler won 71 games, lost 16, and tied 3 for a winning percentage of .806. Crisler introduced the distinctive winged football helmet to the Michigan Wolverines in 1938. The Michigan football team has worn a version of the design ever since. Crisler had first ...
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Harry Stuhldreher
Harry Augustus Stuhldreher (October 14, 1901 – January 26, 1965) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played quarterback at University of Notre Dame from 1922 to 1924, where he was a three-time All-American and member of the legendary "Four Horsemen" backfield. After graduating from Notre Dame, Stuhldreher played professional football briefly with the Brooklyn Horsemen/Lions in 1926. He served as the head football coach at Villanova College—now known as Villanova University—from 1925 to 1935 and at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 1936 to 1948, compiling a career college football record of 110–87–15. Stuhldreher was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1958. Early years and playing career Stuhldreher was born in Massillon, Ohio of German stock, home of the Massillon Tigers professional football team. There is a story, likely apocryphal, that as a boy Stuhldreher carried gear for future U ...
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1944 Wisconsin Badgers Football Team
The 1944 Wisconsin Badgers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Wisconsin in the 1944 Big Ten Conference football season. The team compiled a 3–6 record (2–4 against conference opponents) and finished in seventh place in the Big Ten Conference. Harry Stuhldreher was in his ninth year as Wisconsin's head coach. This was the first season since 1905 that the Badgers started the season away from home. On November 11, 1944, Allan Shafer, a 17-year-old freshman quarterback, died at Wisconsin General Hospital from a hemorrhage to the lung after a hit sustained in the second half of Wisconsin's 26-7 victory over Iowa. His jersey number (No. 83) was retired, and his name appears on the Camp Randall Stadium facade. Tackle Clarence Esser received the team's most valuable player award. Shafer was the team captain. Jug Girard, a 17-year-old freshman, was selected by '' Look'' magazine as a first-team halfback on the 1944 College Football All-Ame ...
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Buddy Young
Claude Henry K. "Buddy" Young (January 5, 1926 – September 5, 1983) was an American football player and track and field athlete. A native of Chicago, he was Illinois state champ in the 100-yard dash. The 5'4" Young, also known as the "Bronze Bullet", had exceptional quickness and acceleration. He is one of the shortest men ever to play in the National Football League (NFL), he was drafted in the 1947 AAFC Draft in the Special Draft by the New York Yankees. As a track star at the University of Illinois, he won the National Collegiate Championships in the 100 and 220-yard dash, tied the world record for the 45 and 60-yard dashes (6.1 in the latter event), and was the Amateur Athletic Union's 100-meter champion. Early years Young was as impressive on the gridiron as on the track. He received scholarship offers from several schools, including the University of Michigan, Drake University, Marquette University and the University of Illinois. He chose Illinois and established himself ...
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Ray Eliot
Raymond Eliot "Butch" Nusspickel (June 13, 1905 – February 24, 1980) was an American football and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Illinois College from 1934 to 1936 and at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1942 to 1959, compiling a career college football record of 98–80–12. Eliot was also the head baseball coach at Illinois College from 1933 to 1937. His Illinois Fighting Illini football teams won three Big Ten Conference championships (1946, 1951, and 1953) and two Rose Bowls (1947 and 1952). Eliot, who spent almost his entire career at the University of Illinois—he was a student athlete, an assistant football coach, head football coach, associate athletic director, and finally the interim athletic director for the university—was nicknamed "Mr. Illini." He attended the University of Illinois, played as a guard on the football team in 1930 and 1931, and was a member of ...
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1944 Illinois Fighting Illini Football Team
The 1944 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois during the 1944 Big Ten Conference football season. In their third year under head coach Ray Eliot, the Illini compiled a 5–3–1 record, were ranked #15 in the final AP Poll, and finished in sixth place in the Big Ten Conference. The team lost three games to teams ranked in the top 10 in the AP Poll: #9-ranked Notre Dame (7–13); #8-ranked Michigan (0–14); and #2-ranked Ohio State (12–26). Halfback Buddy Young was selected as the team's most valuable player. Schedule References Illinois Illinois Fighting Illini football seasons Illinois Fighting Illini football The Illinois Fighting Illini football program represents the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) level. The Fighting Illini are a founding member of ...
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George Hauser
George Wesley Hauser (February 24, 1893 – November 8, 1968) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Colgate University from 1926 until 1927 and at the University of Minnesota from 1942 to 1944, compiling a career coaching record of 24–15–6. His record of Colgate was 9–4–5. His overall record at Minnesota was 15–11–1 (.574) and his conference record was 8–8–1. Hauser played college football at Minnesota as a tackle from 1915 to 1917. He died on November 8, 1968, in Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ..., following a long illness. Head coaching record References External links * 1893 births 1968 deaths All-American college football players American football tackl ...
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1944 Minnesota Golden Gophers Football Team
The 1944 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the University of Minnesota in the 1944 Big Ten Conference football season. In their third year under head coach George Hauser, the Golden Gophers compiled a 5–3–1 record but were outscored by their opponents by a combined total of 225 to 162. No players were awarded any major awards, All-American status or All-Big Ten status. Back John Lundquist was awarded the Team MVP Award. Total attendance for the season was 179,979, which averaged to 29,997. The season high for attendance was against Northwestern. Schedule Game summaries Michigan On October 7, 1944, Minnesota lost to Michigan by a 28 to 13 score at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. The outcome was the first victory by a Michigan team playing on the road against Minnesota since 1932. Michigan fullback Bob Wiese scored three touchdowns. Bill Culligan scored Michigan's first touchdown, and Joe Ponsetto kicked all four points after touchdown. In the first qu ...
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Babe Dimancheff
Boris Stephan "Babe" Dimancheff (September 6, 1922 – October 17, 2008) was an American football halfback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Boston Yanks (1945–1946), the Chicago Cardinals (1947–1950), and the Chicago Bears (1952). He played college football at Purdue University. Early years Dimancheff attended George Washington Community High School, where he lettered in football, basketball and track. He was a captain of both the football and basketball teams. In 1940, he received the Dyer Medal Award for Best Character and Athlete in the City of Indianapolis. As a senior, he was named All-state and All-city in both football and basketball. He moved on to play football at Butler University, where he played left halfback and was named the freshman team captain. In his second year he received All-Conference honors, before military service in World War II interrupted his college career. He returned to play at Purdue University, starting at fullback during t ...
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Cecil Isbell
Cecil Frank Isbell (July 11, 1915 – June 23, 1985) was an American football quarterback and coach. He played five years in the National Football League (NFL) with the Green Bay Packers, leading them to the NFL Championship in 1939. He retired after the 1942 season to become an assistant coach at his alma mater, Purdue University, and the following year became its head coach for three seasons. Isbell was the head coach of the Baltimore Colts of the All-America Football Conference from 1947 to 1949, resigning after four winless games. He then became an assistant under former head coach Curly Lambeau, now with the Chicago Cardinals. When Lambeau resigned late in the 1951 season, Isbell was the interim head coach for the final two games, which they split. Isbell's pro head coaching record was 10–23–1. He was hired as an assistant coach with the Dallas Texans of the NFL in 1952. Isbell was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1967. Early life and c ...
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1944 Purdue Boilermakers Football Team
The 1944 Purdue Boilermakers football team was an American football team that represented Purdue University during the 1944 Big Ten Conference football season. In their first season under head coach Cecil Isbell, the Boilermakers compiled a 5–5 record, finished in third place in the Big Ten Conference with a 4–2 record against conference opponents, and outscored opponents by a total of 207 to 166. Notable players from the 1944 Purdue team included fullback Babe Dimancheff, end Frank Bauman, and tackle Pat O'Brien. Schedule Games summaries Marquette * Bump Elliott 7 rushes, 121 yards Indiana * Babe Dimancheff 16 rushes, 140 yards References {{Purdue Boilermakers football navbox Purdue Purdue Boilermakers football seasons Purdue Boilermakers football The Purdue Boilermakers football team represents Purdue University in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football. Purdue plays its home games at Ross–Ade Stadium on the campus of Purdue Unive ...
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