Surf Wiki
Save to docs
sports

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1945 Army Cadets football team

American college football season

American college football season

FieldValue
year1945
teamArmy Cadets
sportfootball
APRank1
record9–0
conferenceIndependent
head_coachEarl Blaik
hc_year5th
captainJohn Green
stadiumMichie Stadium
championAP Poll national champion
Eastern champion

Eastern champion The 1945 Army Cadets football team was an American football team that represented the United States Military Academy as an independent. In their fifth season under head coach Earl Blaik, the Cadets compiled a 9–0 record, shut out five of nine opponents (including a 48–0 victory over No. 2 Notre Dame and a 61–0 victory over No. 6 Penn), and outscored all opponents by a total of 412 to 46. Army's 1945 season was part of a 32-game undefeated streak that included the entire 1944, 1945, and 1946 seasons.

In the final AP poll released on December 2, Army was unanimously ranked No. 1 nationally with 1,160 points, more than 200 points ahead of No. 2 Navy. The Cadets repeated as winners of the Dr. Henry L. Williams trophy for the AP national championship. Army also won the Lambert Trophy as the best football team in the east.

All eight other contemporary NCAA-designated major selectors also recognized Army as the 1945 national champion, including the Boand System, Dunkel System, DeVold System, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, Litkenhous Ratings, Poling System, and Williamson System. Army also garnered five retrospective selections by later major selectors Berryman (QPRS), Billingsley Report, College Football Researchers Association, and Sagarin Ratings; the National Championship Foundation selected them as co-champions with Alabama.

The team led the nation with an average of 462.7 yards of total offense per game, including 359.8 rushing yards per game. The offense was led by backs Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis. Blanchard scored 114 points in 1945 and received both the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award as the best player in college football. Davis rushed for 944 yards and led the nation with an average of 11.51 rushing yards per carry.

Four Army players were consensus first-team picks on the 1945 All-America college football team: Blanchard; Davis; tackle Tex Coulter; and guard John Green. In a departure from normal practice, the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) named all eleven Army starters as its All-American team for 1945. Other notable players included quarterback Arnold Tucker (NEA) and end Hank Foldberg.

The undefeated 1945 Army team was one of the strongest of all time, as during World War II, loose player transfer rules allowed service academies to assemble many of the nation's best players.

Schedule

|{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w

Rankings

Army was the wire-to-wire No. 1 in the season's AP poll and won the Dr. Henry L. Williams Trophy.

Personnel

Players

  • Shelton Biles, guard, Kingsport, Tennessee
  • Doc Blanchard (College Football Hall of Fame), fullback, Bishopville, South Carolina, 6', 208 pounds
  • Roland Catarinella, guard
  • Bobby Chabot
  • Tex Coulter, tackle, San Antonio, Texas, 6'3", 220 pounds
  • Glenn Davis (College Football Hall of Fame), Claremont, California, 5'9", 170 pounds
  • Hank Foldberg, end, Dallas, Texas, 6'1", 195 pounds
  • Herschel E. Fuson, Middlesboro, Kentucky, 6'1", 215 pounds
  • Arthur L. Gerometta, guard, Gary, Indiana, 5'10", 190 pounds
  • John Green (College Football Hall of Fame), guard and captain, Shelbyville, Kentucky, 5'8-1/2", 190 pounds
  • Shorty McWilliams, wingback, Meridan, Mississippi, 5'11", 175 pounds
  • Albert M. Nemetz, tackle, Prince George, Virginia, 6', 190 pounds
  • Dick Pitzer, end, Connellsville, Pennsylvania, 6'1", 195 pounds
  • Barney Poole (College Football Hall of Fame), end, Gloster, Mississippi
  • Arnold Tucker (College Football Hall of Fame), quarterback, Miami, Florida, 5'9", 175 pounds

Coaches

  • Earl Blaik (College Football Hall of Fame), head coach
  • Paul Amen, assistant coach
  • Andy Gustafson (College Football Hall of Fame), backfield coach
  • Herman Hickman (College Football Hall of Fame), line coach
  • Stu Holcomb, assistant coach
  • Harvey Jablonsky (College Football Hall of Fame), assistant coach
  • Bill Bevan, trainer

Awards and honors

Team

  • Dr. Henry L. Williams trophy, AP poll national champions
  • Litkenhous trophy, national champions
  • Lambert Trophy, best football team in the East

Individual

  • Doc Blanchard, Heisman Trophy
  • Doc Blanchard, Maxwell Award
  • Doc Blanchard, James E. Sullivan Award

References

References

  1. "1945 Army Black Knights Schedule and Results". Sports Reference LLC.
  2. (December 4, 1945). "Army Unanimous Choice as Top Team in AP's Final Poll". Abilene Reporter-News.
  3. (December 4, 1945). "Army Lambert Winner". The Boston Globe.
  4. (July 2020). "2020 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records". The National Collegiate Athletic Association.
  5. (1946). "The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide including the Official Rules 1946". A.S. Barnes and Company.
  6. (December 3, 1945). "Uconn Ace Crowned New Scoring Champ". The Cincinnati Enquirer.
  7. (December 4, 1945). "Trophy Given To Blanchard". Arizona Republic.
  8. (December 4, 1945). "Blanchard Also Wins Maxwell Club Award". The Boston Globe.
  9. (1946). "The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Guide including the Official Rules 1946". A.S. Barnes and Company.
  10. (2016). "Football Award Winners". National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
  11. Harry Grayson. (November 27, 1945). "Army's And Nea's 1945 All American Chosen: Men Hail From Nine States". Olean Times Herald.
  12. Connelly, Bill. (10 December 2016). "What made 1945 Army the greatest college football team of all time". Vox Media, LLC.
  13. Jimmy Powers. (September 30, 1945). "Army Roughs Fliers, 32-0; Davis, M'Williams Score 2". New York Daily News.
  14. Karl Ruby. (September 30, 1945). "Army Punctures Comets' Scrappy Line for 32-0 Win". The Courier-Journal.
  15. Dick Young. (October 7, 1945). "Army Eleven Levels Wake Forest by 54-0". New York Daily News.
  16. Jack Smith. (October 14, 1945). "Army Outspeeds Wolves, 28-7; Davis, Blanchard Run 70 Yds.". New York Daily News.
  17. (October 14, 1945). "Michigan Extends Army in 28-7 Loss". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
  18. Dick Young. (October 21, 1945). "Army Beats PT's, 55-13, After Trailing in 1st, 0-13". New York Daily News.
  19. Dick Young. (October 28, 1945). "Army Rips Duke, 48-13, On Long Dashes at PG". New York Daily News.
  20. (November 4, 1945). "Army Subs Sink Villanova, 54-0; Doc, Glenn Get 2". New York Daily News.
  21. Gene Ward. (November 11, 1945). "Army Whips Notre Dame, 48-0". New York Daily News.
  22. Morrow, Art. (November 18, 1945). "73,000 See Army's Power Batter Penn, 61-0; Davis and Blanchard Both Score 3 Times". [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]].
  23. Jerry Nason. (December 2, 1945). "Navy Goes Down With Guns Blazing Before Army, 32-13: Blanchard and Davis Score 5 Touchdowns". The Boston Sunday Globe.
  24. (July 18, 2013). "Litkenhous Ratings Championship trophy". [[Litkenhous Ratings]].
  25. "NCAA College Football Awards - ESPN".
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1945-college-football-season army-black-knights-football-seasons college-football-national-champions lambert-meadowlands-trophy-seasons college-football-undefeated-seasons 1945-in-sports-in-new-york-(state)
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1945 Army Cadets football team — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report