The 1957 Pittsburg State Gorillas 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 Pittsburg State College (now known as

Pittsburg State University Pittsburg State University (Pitt State or PSU) is a public university in Pittsburg, Kansas. It enrolls approximately 7,400 students (6,000 undergraduates and 1,400 graduate students) and is a member of the Kansas Board of Regents. History P ...

) as a member of the

Central Intercollegiate Conference The Central Intercollegiate Conference (CIC) was an American intercollegiate athletic conference that operated from 1928 to 1968. It was less often referred to as the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (CIAC), particularly towards the begi ...

(CIC) during the

1957 NAIA football season The 1957 NAIA football season was the second season of college football sponsored by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. The season was played from August to December 1957, culminating in the second annual NAIA Football Nationa ...

. In their ninth season under head coach

Carnie Smith Carnie Henry Smith (January 29, 1911 – January 25, 1979) was an American football player and coach. Smith was the seventh head football coach at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. He held that posi ...

, the Gorillas compiled a perfect 11–0 record (5–0 against CIC opponents) and outscored opponents by a total of 347 to 79. They won the CIC championship and defeated , 27–26, before a national television audience in the

Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has b ...

to win the NAIA championship. Carnie Smith was the unanimous pick as the CIC Coach of the Year, and Tom Miller was named the CIC Lineman of the Year. A total of eleven Pittsburg State players were included on the All-CIC teams selected by 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 ...

(UP): quarterback John Matous (UP-2); halfbacks Dick Adamson (UP-1) and Bill Samuels (UP-2); fullback John Ewing (UP-1); end Carroll Cobble (UP-1); tackles Ted Stahura (UP-1) and Leonard Mansfield (UP-1); guards Miller (UP-1) and Kenny Yoss (UP-2); and center Robert Gordon (UP-2).

Schedule

References

{{NAIA football national champion navbox Pittsburg State Pittsburg State Gorillas football seasons NAIA Football National Champions College football undefeated seasons

Pittsburg State Gorillas football The Pittsburg State Gorillas football team represents Pittsburg State University in collegiate level football. The Pittsburg State football team was formed in 1908, competes in NCAA Division II and is affiliated with the Mid-America Intercollegi ...