The 1941 College Football All-America team is composed of

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

players who were selected as

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

ns by various organizations and writers that chose

College Football All-America Team The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best college football players in the United States at their respective positions. The original use of the term '' All-America'' seems to have been to the 1889 College Footbal ...

s in 1941. The nine selectors recognized by the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

as "official" for the 1941 season are (1) ''

Collier's Weekly ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Colli ...

'', as selected by

Grantland Rice Henry Grantland "Granny" Rice (November 1, 1880July 13, 1954) was an early 20th-century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio. Early years Rice wa ...

, (2) the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

, (3) the

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...

, (4) the All-America Board, (5) the

International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.

(INS), (6) ''

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

'' magazine, (7) the

Newspaper Enterprise Association The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary news ...

(NEA), (8) ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'', and (9) the ''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

''. Harvard center

Endicott Peabody Endicott Howard Peabody (February 15, 1920 – December 2, 1997) was an American politician from Massachusetts. A Democrat, he served a single two-year term as the 62nd Governor of Massachusetts, from 1963 to 1965. His tenure is probably ...

, who won the 1941 Knute Rockne Award, was the only player to be unanimously named to the first team of all nine official selectors.

Dick Wildung Richard Kay Wildung (August 16, 1921 – March 15, 2006) was an American football tackle who played professionally the National Football League (NFL) for the Green Bay Packers. Wildung attended the University of Minnesota, where he was ...

of Minnesota and

Bob Westfall Robert Barton "Bullet Bob" Westfall (May 5, 1919 – October 23, 1980) was an American football fullback who played for the University of Michigan (1939–1941) and the Detroit Lions (1944–1947). He was a consensus first-team All-American in ...

of Michigan each received eight official first-team designations.

Bruce Smith Bruce Bernard Smith (born June 18, 1963) is an American former football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 19 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at Virginia Tech, where he was ...

of Minnesota won the 1941

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

and received seven official first-team nominations. The

made its selections based on voting from sports editors and football writers and published the point totals for each player. The players receiving the highest point totals were Virginia back

Bill Dudley William McGarvey "Bullet Bill" Dudley (December 24, 1921 – February 4, 2010) was an American professional football player in the National Football League for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Detroit Lions, and Washington Redskins. He was inducte ...

(598), Endicott Peabody (540), Tulane tackle

Ernie Blandin Ernest Elmer Blandin (June 21, 1919 – September 16, 1968) was a professional American football tackle who played six seasons for the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Colts in the National Football League (NFL) and All-America Football Confe ...

(503), and Minnesota tackle

(487). ''

'' magazine based its selections on a poll conducted by Norman L. Sper of 2,000 varsity football players from over 100 leading colleges. Players were asked to select only players against whom they played. Georgia back

Frank Sinkwich Frank Francis Sinkwich Sr. (October 10, 1920 – October 22, 1990) was an American football player and coach. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1942 playing for the University of Georgia, making him the first recipient from the Southeastern Conferen ...

was selected by the greatest percentage, receiving votes from 96 of the 99 opponents who faced him.

Consensus All-Americans

For the year 1941, the NCAA recognizes nine published All-American teams as "official" designations for purposes of its consensus determinations. The following chart identifies the NCAA-recognized consensus All-Americans and displays which first-team designations they received.

All-American selections for 1941

Ends

Holt Rast Holt Rast (October 10, 1917 – November 22, 1998) was an American football player and entrepreneur who founded Rast Construction. Rast served in the United States Army from 1942 to 1946 and was later elected to serve in the Alabama House of Repr ...

, Alabama (AAB-1; AP-2; INS-1; LIB; NEA-2; SN; NW; UP-1 53 CP-1; LIFE-1; PARA; WC-1, NYDN) *

Bob Dove Robert Leo Patrick "Grandpappy" Dove (February 21, 1921 – April 19, 2006) was an American football player and coach. He played college football at the University of Notre Dame and professionally for nine seasons in the National Football Leagu ...

, Notre Dame (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB-1; AP-3; INS-1; NEA-1; NW; UP-1 67 LIFE-1; WC-1, NYDN) *

Malcolm Kutner Malcolm James "Mal" Kutner (March 27, 1921 – February 4, 2005) was an American football end in the National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, div ...

, Texas (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP-1; INS-2; CO; CP-2. LIFE-2) *

Dave Schreiner David Nathan Schreiner (March 5, 1921 – June 21, 1945) was an American football player. From Lancaster in southwest Wisconsin, he was a two-time All-American and the 1942 Big Ten Most Valuable Player end at Wisconsin and a 1943 second round ...

, Wisconsin (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP-1) *

Joe Blalock Joseph Davis Blalock (February 4, 1919 – August 21, 1974) was an American football player. He played college football for the Clemson Tigers football team from 1939 to 1941 and was selected by both the ''Sporting News'' and the Central Press As ...

, Clemson (SN; UP-2 32 CP-1, LIFE-3) *

John Rokisky John Joseph "Rock" Rokisky ( – ) was a professional American football end and placekicker who played three seasons for the Cleveland Browns, Chicago Rockets and New York Yankees in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). Rokisky grew ...

, Duquesne (AP-2; INS-2; NEA-1; CO; CP-2; PARA) * Jim Lansing, Fordham (LIB; CP-3) * Nick Susoeff, Washington State (AP-3) * Bob Froude, Navy (UP-2 97 * James Sterling, Texas A&M (NEA-2; NYS-1) *

Bob Motl Robert Joseph Motl (July 26, 1920 – June 3, 2007) was an American football end in the All-America Football Conference for the Chicago Rockets. He played college football at Northwestern University and was drafted in the ninth round of th ...

, Northwestern (NEA-3) *

Alyn Beals Alyn Richard Beals (April 27, 1921 – August 11, 1993) was a professional American football end/defensive end in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and the National Football League (NFL). He played six seasons for the San Francisco 49er ...

, Santa Clara (NEA-3) * Billy Henderson, Texas A&M (CP-3, LIFE-2) * Dale Gentry, Washington State (NYS-1; LIFE-3)

Tackles

, Minnesota (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB-1; AP-1; INS-1; LIB; NEA-1; NW; SN; UP-1 87 CP-1; LIFE-1; PARA; WC-1; NYDN) *

, Tulane (AP-2; CO; INS-2; LIB; NEA-1; NW; UP-1 03 NYS-1) *

Bob Reinhard Robert Richard Reinhard (October 17, 1920 – August 2, 1996) was an American football player who played four seasons with the Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). He was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals of the National ...

, California (AP-1; UP-2 13 INS-1; NEA-2; CO; CP-3; PARA, LIFE-2) *

Alf Bauman Alfred Ernest Bauman (January 3, 1920 – May 20, 1980) was an American football player. Bauman was born in 1920 in Chicago and attended Austin High School in that city. He then attended Northwestern University, where he played college footba ...

, Northwestern (AAB-1; AP-2; INS-2; NEA-2; SN; CP-2; LIFE-1; NYS-1; NYDN) *

Jim Daniell James Lachlan "Big Jim" Daniell (April 10, 1918December 13, 1983) was an American football offensive tackle and defensive tackle, a World War II veteran, and a steel company executive. He played two years in the National Football League (NFL) an ...

, Ohio State (CP-1) *

Al Wistert Albert Alexander "Ox" Wistert (December 28, 1920 – March 5, 2016) was an American football offensive tackle, guard and defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles. He played his entire nine-year NFL ca ...

, Michigan (UP-2 70 CP-2 s G LIFE-2) * Gene Flathmann, Navy (CP-2) * Bill Chewning, Navy (AP-3; NEA-3) * Mike Karmazin, Duke (AP-3, LIFE-2 s G * Floyd Spendlove, Utah (NEA-3) * Paul Lillis, Notre Dame (CP-3, LIFE-3) * John Wyhonic, Alabama (LIFE-3)

Guards

, Harvard (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB-1; AP-1; CO; INS-1; LIB; NEA-1; NW; SN; UP-1 40 CP-1; NYS-1; LIFE-1; PARA; WC-1; NYDN) * Ray Frankowski, Washington (AAB-1; AP-2; INS-2; NEA-1; NW; UP-1 69 LIFE-1; WC-1) *

Chal Daniel Chal Newton Daniel, Jr. (August 31, 1921 – February 13, 1943) was an American football player. Daniel was born in El Paso, Texas, in 1921. He moved with his family to Longview, Texas, in 1932. He was a member of Longview High School's champio ...

, Texas (AP-3; INS-1; NEA-3; SN; CP-1, LIFE-3) *

Ralph Fife Ralph Donald Fife (January 26, 1920 - January 31, 2000) was an American football player and coach. Early years Fife was born in 1920 in Canton, Ohio. He played football at Canton McKinley High School where he blocked for Marion Motley and was ...

, Pittsburgh (AP-1; UP-2 52 NEA-2; CP-3, LIFE-2; NYDN) * Bernard Crimmins, Notre Dame (CO; LIB; INS-2; NEA-2; UP-2 64 PARA) * Chuck Taylor, Stanford (NYS-1) *

Martin Ruby Martin Owen Ruby (June 9, 1922 – January 3, 2002) was an offensive tackle and defensive tackle for the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers in the All-America Football Conference, New York Yanks of the National Football League,''Will C ...

, Texas A&M (CP-2) * Ted Ramsey, SMU (AP-2) * Tom Melton, Purdue (AP-3) * Richard Pfister, Harvard (NEA-3) * Art Goforth, Rice (CP-3) *

Urban Odson Urban Leroy Odson (November 17, 1918 – June 22, 1986) was an American football Offensive tackle, tackle in the National Football League who played 44 games for the Green Bay Packers (1946–1949). In 1942, the Green Bay Packers used the 9th p ...

, Minnesota (LIFE-3)

Centers

Darold Jenkins Darold Jenkins (June 6, 1919 – September 16, 1986) was an American football player. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1976. Biography Jenkins first joined Don Faurot's Missouri Tigers football, Missouri Tigers as a Fullbac ...

, Missouri (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB-1; AP-1; INS-2; NEA-1; NW; SN; UP-1 25 CP-1; NYS-1; WC-1, LIFE-2) *

Vince Banonis Vincent Joseph Banonis (April 9, 1921 – October 23, 2010) was an American football player. He played college football at the University of Detroit Mercy where he was selected as a first-team All-American in 1940. He also played in the National ...

, Detroit (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP-3; CO; INS-1; LIB; NEA-2; PARA; NYDN) *

Al DeMao Albert Marcellus DeMao (February 29, 1920 – February 1, 2008) was an American football center in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins from 1945 to 1953. He played college football at Duquesne University and was drafted in ...

, Duquesne (UP-2 71 NEA-3; LIFE-1) * Quentin Greenough, Oregon State (AP-2, LIFE-3) * Vic Lindskog, Stanford (CP-2) *

Bob Gude Henry Paul "Bob" Gude, Jr. (February 25, 1918 – October 6, 1998) was an American football player. He was a prominent center for the Vanderbilt Commodores of Vanderbilt University. Gude was frequently compared to former Commodore greats Carl Hink ...

, Vanderbilt (CP-3)

Quarterbacks

Frankie Albert Frank Cullen Albert (January 27, 1920 – September 4, 2002) was an American gridiron football player and coach. He played as a quarterback with the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football League (NFL). Albert attended Stanford University, ...

, Stanford (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB-1; AP-1; CO; INS-1; NEA-1; NW; SN; UP-2 25 CP-1; LIFE-1; PARA; WC-1; NYDN) *

Angelo Bertelli Angelo Bortolo Bertelli (June 18, 1921 – June 26, 1999) was an American football player. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1943 playing as a quarterback for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Early life Bertelli was born in West Springfield, Mass ...

, Notre Dame (CP-2

s hb S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''. Histor ...

Billy Hillenbrand William Frank Hillenbrand (March 29, 1922July 17, 1994) was an American football halfback who played professionally in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). He was born in Armstrong, Indiana. He attended Indiana University, where he play ...

, Indiana (CP-2, LIFE-2) * Bill Sewell, Washington State (AP-3; NEA-3)

Halfbacks

, Minnesota (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB-1; AP-1; CO; INS-1; NEA-2; NW; SN; UP-1 67 CP-1; NYS-1; LIFE; PARA; WC-1, LIFE-1; NYDN) *

, Georgia (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB-1; AP-1; INS-2; LIB; NEA-3; SN; UP-1 99 CP-1; LIFE; WC-1, LIFE-1) *

, Virginia (College and Pro Football Hall of Fame) (AP-1; CO; INS-2; LIB b NEA-2; NW; UP-1 b, 598 CP-2; NYS-1 s qb LIFE-3) *

Jack Crain Jack Crain (January 7, 1920 – October 22, 1994) was a football player for the University of Texas at Austin who later served three terms in the Texas House of Representatives. He was named an All Southwest Conference player in 1939 and 194 ...

, Texas (AP-2; UP-2 73 NEA-2; CP-3 s qb LIFE-1; NYDN) * Jimmy Nelson, Alabama (AP-3; NEA-3; CP-3) * Derace Moser, Texas A&M (AP-2; INS-2; NEA-1; CP-3) * Jack Jenkins, Vanderbilt (AP-3) * Bill Busik, Navy (LIFE-2) *

, Notre Dame (LIFE-2) * Hank Mazur, Army (LIFE-3)

Fullbacks

, Michigan (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB-1; AP-2; CO; INS-1; LIB; NEA-1; NW; SN; UP-1 67 CP-1; NYS-1; PARA; WC-1, LIFE-3; NYDN) *

Steve Lach Stephen John Lach (August 6, 1920 – July 12, 1961) was an American football player. Lach was among a list of sixty-one nominees to the College Football Hall of Fame in March 1960. He was elected in 1980. Track and field athlete Lach competed ...

, Duke (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP-2; INS-1 b LIB b NEA-1; UP-2 b, 249 CP-2; NYS-1

PARA; LIFE-2) *

Steve Filipowicz Stephen Charles "Flip" Filipowicz (June 28, 1921 – February 21, 1975) was a professional American football and baseball player. Filipowicz and Olympic great Jim Thorpe share the distinction of being the only two men to have played for the Ne ...

, Fordham (AP-3; UP-2 11 LIFE-3) * John Grigas, Holy Cross (INS-2; NEA-3) *

Merle Hapes Merle Alison Hapes (May 19, 1919July 18, 1994) was a professional American football fullback in the National Football League (NFL). He played two seasons for the New York Giants (1942, 1946). He and quarterback Frank Filchock were involved in ...

, Ole Miss (NEA-2) *

Pete Layden John Peter Layden, Jr. (December 30, 1919 – July 18, 1982) was an outfielder in Major League Baseball who played for the St. Louis Browns. He also played as quarterback, running back, cornerback, kick returner, punt returner, and punter for ...

, Texas (CP-3)

Key

Bold = Consensus All-American * -1 – First-team selection * -2 – Second-team selection * -3 – Third-team selection

Official selectors

* AAB = All-America Board of Football, having

Pop Warner Glenn Scobey Warner (April 5, 1871 – September 7, 1954), most commonly known as Pop Warner, was an American college football coach at various institutions who is responsible for several key aspects of the modern game. Included among his inn ...

as its chairman, selected by 48 football coaches on "the long-established All-America Board of Football, a group of professional selectors speaking for all states, all conferences, all sections of the football world" * AP =

based on "a nation-wide survey of expert opinion" * CO = ''

'', "the pioneer of the all-star field", selected by

and published in the December 13 issue of ''Collier's'' * INS =

International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.

, selected from a ballot of INS bureaus * LIB = ''

'' magazine, an "All-Players All-America team" based on polling of 2,000 varsity football players from over 100 leading colleges, asking them to select the best players against whom they played * NEA = NEA Sports Syndicate, selected "with the aid of coaches, scouts, officials and football writers" * NW = ''

'' * SN = The ''

'' * UP =

, based on voting from "sports and football writers from coast to coast"; point totals received by each player displayed in brackets

Other selectors

* CP = Central Press Association, also known as the "Captains' All-American team", "picked by a staff of experts after culling the selections of the nation's football captains" * LIFE = ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'' magazine selected by sports announcer

Bill Stern Bill Stern (July 1, 1907 – November 19, 1971) was an American actor and sportscaster who announced the nation's first remote sports broadcast and the first telecast of a baseball game. In 1984, Stern was part of the American Sportscaster ...

* NYS = ''

New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...

'', 17th year for the New York newspaper selecting its All-America team * PARA =

Paramount News Paramount News is the name on the newsreels produced by Paramount Pictures from 1927 to 1957. History The Paramount newsreel operation began in 1927 with Emanuel Cohen as an editor. It typically distributed two issues per week to theaters across ...

, selected by Bill Slater, sports broadcaster and the primary voice of Paramount News reels beginning in 1936 * WC =

Walter Camp Football Foundation The Walter Camp Football Foundation (WCFF) is one of the organizations whose College Football All-America Team is recognized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The organization also presents various awards. It is named in honor of foo ...

* NYDN =

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

, fifth annual "All-America Sportswriters' All-America" based on polling of 100 sports departments in 48 states

References

{{College Football All-America Teams

All-America Team The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

College Football All-America Teams