The 1949 Portland Pilots 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 the

University of Portland , mottoeng = The truth will set you free , established = 1901 , type = Private university , religious_affiliation = Catholic (Congregation of Holy Cross) , endowment = $218 million , president = Robert D. Kelly , students = 3,731 (fall 20 ...

as an independent during the

1949 college football season The 1949 college football season finished with four teams that were unbeaten and untied-- Notre Dame, Oklahoma, California, and Army had won all their games at season's end. Notre Dame, however, was the overwhelming choice for national champion ...

. The team compiled a 3–5 record. The coaching staff was led by former Notre Dame star Harry "The Horse" Wright in his first year as head coach. Wright was assisted by two other Notre Dame alumni—Neil Green as line coach and

Floyd Simmons Floyd Macon Simmons (April 10, 1923 – April 1, 2008) was an American athlete and actor who competed mainly in the decathlon. He was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. Biography Raised in Charlotte, Simmons was the son of a builder ...

as backfield coach. Key players included quarterback Danny Christianson, left halfback John Freeman, right halfback Larry Wissbaum, and end Joe Marshello. In February 1950, Rev. T. J. Mehling, president of the University of Portland, announced that the school was abandoning its football program in order to focus its efforts on its basketball program. Mehling cited the "extraordinary expenses" associated with maintaining a first-rate football program. Portland's decision to cease competition in intercollegiate football was part of a trend among west coast Catholic universities in terminating their football programs: Gonzaga (1942); Saint Mary's (1950); Loyola (1951);

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

(1951); and Santa Clara (1952).

Schedule

References

{{Portland Pilots football navbox

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Portland Pilots football seasons

Portland Pilots football The Portland Pilots football team represented the University of Portland in the sport of American football from 1909 to 1942 and 1946 to 1949. Prior to 1935, the school was known as Columbia University, and the football team was known as the "Irish ...