The 1946 Saint Mary's Gaels football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Saint Mary's College of California Saint Mary's College of California is a Private college, private Catholic Church, Catholic college in Moraga, California. Established in 1863, it is affiliated with the Catholic Church and administered by the De La Salle Brothers. The college of ...

during the

1946 college football season The 1946 college football season was the 78th 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 C ...

. In their fifth season under head coach James Phelan, the Gaels compiled a 6–3 record and were outscored by opponents by a combined total of 229 to 160. The team was led on offense by

Herman Wedemeyer Herman John Wedemeyer (May 20, 1924 – January 25, 1999) was an American actor, football player, and politician. He is best known for portraying Sergeant/Detective "Duke" Lukela on the crime drama ''Hawaii Five-O'' (1972–1980). He also appear ...

who ranked seventh in the nation with 1,220 yards of total offense—625 rushing yards and 595 passing yards. He was selected by both 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 20th c ...

and 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 ...

as a first-team halfback on the 1946 All-Pacific Coast football team. In 1979, Wedemeyer was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

. Saint Mary's was ranked at No. 72 in the final Litkenhous Difference by Score System rankings for 1946.

Schedule

After the season

The 1947 NFL Draft was held on December 16, 1946. The following Gael was selected.

References

{{Saint Mary's Gaels football navbox Saint Mary's Saint Mary's Gaels football seasons

Saint Mary's Gaels football : ''For information on all Saint Mary's College of California sports, see Saint Mary's Gaels'' The Saint Mary's Gaels football program was the intercollegiate American football team for Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga, California. Th ...