The 1944 New Hampshire Wildcats football team represented the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, m ...

in the

1944 college football season The 1944 college football season was the 76th season of intercollegiate football in the United States. Competition included schools from the Big Ten Conference, the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the Big Six Co ...

. The Wildcats were led by first-year head coach Herbert Snow and completed the season with a record of 1–3. The team played its home games at

Lewis Field Boone Pickens Stadium (previously known as Lewis Field) has been home to the Oklahoma State University Cowboys football team in rudimentary form since 1919, and as a complete stadium since 1920. Aligned in an east-west direction since 1920, th ...

(also known as Lewis Stadium) in Durham, New Hampshire.

Background

New Hampshire had not fielded a team in 1943, due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. In mid-September 1944, university administrators approved an "informal" team, limited to four games, with a roster consisting of 17-year-olds and returning veterans. The program's most recent

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

, Charles M. Justice, had entered the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

in April 1944. Selected as his successor was Herbert Snow, a Springfield College graduate who had been the head coach at

Wellesley High School Wellesley High School is a public high school in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States, educating students on grades 9 through 12. The principal is Jamie Chisum, who took the position in 2014 after the departure of Andrew Keough. As of 2022 ...

in Massachusetts. The team began practices in early October, with only one player from their 1942 squad—Claude Henry, a reserve back who had returned to the university after serving in the

Marine Corps Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...

Schedule

The 1944 games remain the last time that the Middlebury and New Hampshire football programs have met.

Roster

Source:

Game summaries

October 21: at Maine

October 28: vs. Middlebury

November 4: at Middlebury

November 11: vs. Maine

Statistics

Scores by quarter

New Hampshire scoring

Honors

Quarterback Bill Pizzano was named to the All-New England Small College Team; he was later inducted to the university's athletic hall of fame, in 2004.