The 1956 Saint Joseph's Pumas 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 wit ...

team that represented Saint Joseph's College of

Rensselaer, Indiana Rensselaer is a city located along the Iroquois River (Indiana-Illinois), Iroquois River in Marion Township, Jasper County, Indiana, Marion Township, Jasper County, Indiana, Jasper County, Indiana, United States. The population was 5,859 at the 201 ...

as a member of the

Indiana Collegiate Conference The Indiana Collegiate Conference (ICC) was a college athletic conference in the United States from 1951 to 1978. It consisted solely of schools in Indiana. The charter members of the conference were Indiana State University, Butler University, ...

(ICC) during the

1956 NAIA football season The 1956 NAIA football season was the first season of college football sponsored by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. The season was played from August to December 1956, culminating in the inaugural NAIA Football National C ...

. In their third year under head coach Bob Jauron, the Pumas compiled an 8–1–1 record (6–0 against ICC opponents), won the ICC championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 360 to 32. Saint Joseph's tied with

Montana State Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 68 fields, and doctoral degrees in 35 field ...

in the

1956 Aluminum Bowl The Aluminum Bowl was a one-time postseason college football bowl game held in 1956 as the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) championship game. It featured the Montana State University-Bozeman and St. Joseph's College. Monta ...

. The two teams were declared co-winners of the 1956 NAIA Football National Championship.

Season overview

Saint Joseph's lost the opening game of the season to Xavier, as Xavier score the winning touchdown in the game's closing seconds. The Pumas then won the remaining eight games of the regular season, including six shut outs, and scoring 59 points against , 66 against Ball State, and 71 against Illinois-Navy Pier. During the regular season, the Pumas broke 15 ICC records, including the season records for most points scored, most yards gained, and fewest points and yards allowed. Defensively, the team's average of 109 yards of total offense allowed per game ranked best among all small colleges. The Pumas were invited to play in the NAIA national championship game, then known as the Aluminum Bowl. They faced

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

. The game ended in a scoreless tie, and the teams thus shared the 1956 NAIA national championship. Saint Joseph's outscored opponents by a total of 360 to 32 on the season. The Pumas shut out seven of their ten opponents and limited all opponents to an average of 3.2 points per game.

Awards and honors

Junior quarterback Ralph Tite was selected by the conference coaches as the most outstanding back in the ICC. Five Saint Joseph's players were named to the first team on the All-ICC team selected by the conference's seven coaches: quarterback Ralph Tite (second consecutive year); halfback Ray Banary; end George Sherwood (unanimous choice); tackle Ken Bates; and center

Jerry Selinger Jerome "Jerry" Selinger (July 17, 1935 - June 16, 2017) was a Canadian football player who played for the Ottawa Rough Riders. He won the Grey Cup with them in 1960, 1968 and 1969. He played college football at St. Joseph's College in Indiana ...

(unanimous choice). Jerry Selinger later played 13 seasons in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

, winning three Grey Cup championships.

Schedule

References

{{NAIA football national champion navbox Saint Joseph's Saint Joseph's Pumas football seasons NAIA Football National Champions

Saint Joseph's Pumas football Saint Joseph's College (SJC; colloquially, Saint Joe) is an unaccredited private Catholic college in Rensselaer, Indiana. It was founded in 1889 and suspended academic operations in 2017 with approximately 1,100 students enrolled. In 2021, the ...