Charles Christopher "Chuckin' Charlie" O'Rourke (May 10, 1917 – April 14, 2000) 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 ...

player and coach. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

and professionally with

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) and the

Los Angeles Dons The Los Angeles Dons were an American football team in the newly formed football league the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) from 1946 to 1949, and played their home games in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Dons were the first profes ...

and

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

of the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the ...

(AAFC). O'Rourke quarterbacked the

Boston College Eagles football The Boston College Eagles football team represents Boston College in the sport of American football. The Eagles compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of ...

team to one of its most famous wins. His 24-yard run late in the fourth quarter gave the 1940 Eagles a 19–13 victory over

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

in the

1941 Sugar Bowl The 1941 Sugar Bowl featured the fourth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers and the fifth-ranked Boston College Eagles, both with records of 10–0 and high-scoring It was played on Wednesday, January 1, 1941, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, In the ...

, staking BC's claim to a

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

. O'Rourke served as the head football coach at University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) from 1952 to 1959, compiling a record of 21–39–4. In 1972, he came the first Boston College player to be 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 ...

Early life

Born in 1917, O'Rourke grew up in

Malden, Massachusetts Malden is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 66,263 people. History Malden, a hilly woodland area north of the Mystic River, was settled by Puritans in 1640 on la ...

and played football at

Malden High School Malden High School is a public high school in Malden, Massachusetts. Established in 1857, the school is part of the Malden Public Schools and is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). A 2013 study conducted ...

Boston College

Although all of his records have been broken, O'Rourke was one of

's first star quarterbacks. In three seasons, he completed 69 of 150 passes for 1,108 yards and 14 touchdowns.

1940 season

The 1940 team is perhaps the greatest football team in the history of Boston College. After the previous year's team earned the school's first appearance in a bowl game (Boston College lost to Clemson in the

1940 Cotton Bowl Classic The 1940 Cotton Bowl Classic was the fourth edition of the postseason college football Cotton Bowl Classic, bowl game, between the 1939 Clemson Tigers football team, Clemson Tigers and the 1939 Boston College Eagles football team, Boston College Ea ...

) O'Rourke's running backs included veterans Frank Maznicki, Lou Montgomery (Boston College's first African-American football player), and team captain

Henry Toczylowski Henry M. "Hammering Hank" Toczylowski (February 2, 1919 – October 10, 1982) was an American football player and coach. A graduate of Lynn Classical High School and St. John's Preparatory School he played college football at the quarterback p ...

. They were joined by a talented newcomer named Mike Holovak. The team also had wonderful receivers including Henry Woronicz,

Gene Goodreault Eugene Joseph Goodreault (July 31, 1918 – July 13, 2010) was an American football player. He played at the end position for Boston College from 1938 to 1940 and was selected as a consensus first-team All-American in 1940. He was inducted i ...

, Ed Zabilski, and

Don Currivan Donald F. Currivan (March 6, 1920 – May 16, 1956) was an American football end. He was born and raised in Mansfield, Massachusetts and graduated from Mansfield High School in 1938. He then attended and graduated from Boston College in 1942. F ...

. The team was undefeated outscoring its opponents 320–52 and held six teams scoreless. Boston College impressed the sports community by defeating Tulane 27–7 in the second week of the season and defeating Georgetown 19–18, snapping Georgetown's streak of twenty-two consecutive wins. On January 1, 1941, Boston College defeated Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl, 19–13. BC claims it won the national title in a three-way tie with

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

and

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, however the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

does not recognize Boston College as a national champion in that year.

Professional career

O'Rourke's professional career began in 1942 with the

. He saw limited playing time behind incumbent starter Sid Luckman, completing 37 of 88 passes for 951 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions. The 11 touchdowns set a new Bears rookie record which still stands. O'Rourke also intercepted three passes on defense, returned two punts, and made 23 punts for 817 yards for the 11–0 Bears. After three years in the Navy, O'Rourke returned to football in 1946 with the

of the

(AAFC). In two seasons in Los Angeles he completed 194 of 354 passes for 2,699 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 30 interceptions. In 1948 he joined the AAFC's

as a punter and back up quarterback behind

Y. A. Tittle Yelberton Abraham Tittle Jr. (October 24, 1926 – October 8, 2017) was a professional American football quarterback. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants, and Baltimore Colts, after spe ...

. In 1949, he played only five games before retiring and becoming an assistant coach for Baltimore until the team folded in 1950.

Coaching career

Aside from his two years as an NFL coach, O'Rourke was head football coach at

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

(UMass) from 1952 to 1959. In seasons he compiled a 21–39–4 record with only one winning season (1952).

O'Rourke–McFadden Trophy

To honor the famed meeting between O'Rourke and

Banks McFadden James Banks McFadden (February 7, 1917 – June 4, 2005) was an American football and basketball player and coach. McFadden is best known for his association with Clemson University, where he spent 43 years as a player, coach, and administrator. H ...

in the

, the

O'Rourke–McFadden Trophy The O'Rourke–McFadden Trophy was created in 2008 by the Boston College Gridiron Club to commemorate the tradition at Clemson and Boston College while honoring the legacy of Charlie O'Rourke and Banks McFadden. O'Rourke and McFadden are memb ...

was introduced in 2008 and is awarded to the winner of the annual football game between

and Clemson. The game is in-conference rivalry since Boston College joined the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC) in 2005, and both teams play in the ACC's Atlantic Division.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Orourke, Charlie 1917 births 2000 deaths American football quarterbacks Canadian emigrants to the United States Baltimore Colts (1947–1950) coaches Baltimore Colts (1947–1950) players Boston College Eagles football players Chicago Bears players Los Angeles Dons players UMass Minutemen football coaches College Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Brockton, Massachusetts Sportspeople from Malden, Massachusetts Sportspeople from Montreal Coaches of American football from Massachusetts Players of American football from Massachusetts Gridiron football people from Quebec Canadian players of American football