Football during WWII

5,862 Views | 37 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by tmaggies
Liquid Wrench
How long do you want to ignore this user?
I've done some online reading about the ways college and pro teams adapted to the shortages of manpower and resources during the war, but was wondering if anyone might know of a single volume I could pick up on the subject. Searched Amazon without luck but figured this board would know better. Thanks for any suggestions.
cbr
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I have some cool A&M kiddie corps stuff, along with some now forgotten military post war league stuff, (the 'sky marshals' whipped the **** out of a swc schedule in 46, beating the sips, rice, Tcu, etc by scores like 66-0) but don't know any published material.
The Original AG 76
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
This would be a great topic for one of this boards aspiring authors.
Seriously ..I think its a fascinating and not well documented topic. Better HURRY while there still might be a few eye witness story tellers still around.
CanyonAg77
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
My father-in-law didn't turn 18 until the fall of 1945. He was recruited out of Shawnee, Oklahoma, to play for Oklahoma A&M. The team was still pretty much young kids, but they had a few returning veterans, including one guy who had been shot down over Europe and escaped and evaded back to Allied lines.

He still has his high school football jersey, and his Oklahoma A&M letter jacket. Although he did not get the actual letter, because of wartime shortages. He said the college team had decent supplies, but the high school team had pretty poor equipment because of war time rationing.

Lots of people put Army down as the Mythical National Champions of 1945, but OKAM was undefeated and beat St. Mary's in the January 1946 Sugar Bowl. So the Football Coaches Association went back in 2016 and awarded MNCs to the teams they thought deserved it, and gave the 1945 MNC to OKAM.

We found this out right before his 90th birthday last September, and were able to surprise him with the news that he had played on a NC football team.

We also called up Oklahoma State, and they were thrilled to regain contact with him, as they were down to just one other known survivor of that team. They sent him a framed photo of the team, and other items. They also invited him to a game, and we ended up taking him to OSU vs. Baylor last fall. We had a great time.

He took his letter jacket to the game, and repeated the story about not having a letter on the jacket. OSU had one made and sent to him.

He only played that one semester for OKAM. When his mom came to New Orleans to watch the Sugar Bowl, she brought his draft notice with her. He elected to join the Navy, and spent two years on a destroyer. After discharge, he changed majors and used his GI Bill to enroll at University of Oklahoma.

He tried to play for OU in 1948, but the OKAM coach found out and had the NCAA make him sit out one year of eligibility. He played a little in 1949, but injured his knee, and quit the team. OU won the MNC in 1950, so he almost played for NC teams at two different schools.
CanyonAg77
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Here's some more stuff on that 1945 Oklahoma A&M team

War Veterans Who Played on 1945 Team
Gene Fitter Pilot in Europe
Bob Hargrove Lieutenant overseas
Jim Reynolds Piloted 52 missions over Germany
Terry Monroe Naval Air Corps
Bert Cole Was shot down over Yugoslavia
Otis Schellstede Paratrooper who dropped on D-Day
J.D. Cheek Served with famed 45th Division

My father-in-law (father of three Texas Aggies) is #51


NormanAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Great posts, Canyon!
CanyonAg77
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Thanks, at some point i need to put a longer post and photos on "Old Rivalries".
Liquid Wrench
How long do you want to ignore this user?
The Original AG 76 said:

This would be a great topic for one of this boards aspiring authors.
Seriously ..I think its a fascinating and not well documented topic. Better HURRY while there still might be a few eye witness story tellers still around.
I've *briefly* spoken with Bill Yeoman on it. He was from Glendale, AZ. Both Arizona schools had suspended football and he came to A&M. Played football and basketball as a freshman before going to West Point. I'd love to follow up with him for a longer conversation. Just realized he's now 90.

I'm surprised I wasn't able to find a book on this topic. Seems rich. Maybe I should start collecting all the reading I've done and calling it my "research" .

I appreciate Canyon's story and any similar info or insights others might have.

My interest was piqued a couple years back when I stumbled on this from the newspaper archives:
http://goo.gl/Jyq5p
BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Tu played military reserves - A&M didn't ! ( See "K iddie Corps " references ) !

During one season Tu imported 15-20 at one time from Southwestern to help their team !
BigJim49AustinnowDallas
ABATTBQ87
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
A&M played Washington State on December 6th 1941 in Washington and I would bet that this was one of the last college football games played prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor
ABATTBQ87
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
REMEMBERING THE EVERGREEN BOWL, DEC. 6, 1941



cbr
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
https://texags.com/forums/5/topics/2039347/1

James 'Babe' Hallmark '47. Babe grew up in Kilgore during the depression. Enrolled early at A&M as war broke out to become an officer. Star track, hoops and football player for Homer Norton. His jersey bore the number 12.

In the 1944 Orange Bowl, the quarterback for A&M was none other than James "Babe" Hallmark, who was an All-Southwest Conference quarterback and All-American as a sophomore in the 1943 season, helped the Aggies beat LSU 28-13. The teams had a rematch not quite three months later, and, in spite of two touchdowns (and two extra points) by Hallmark, Texas A&M lost, 19-14. Hallmark led the southwest conference in passing and total yards, was third in the nation in passing that season, and followed his college career with a two-year stint in the Army, partially in World War II. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in 1946, but hurt his knee the first season. He went on to coach at Tyler Junior College.





He married the beautiful Nelleva Denton, captain of the world famous Kilgore Rangerettes, in 1945.

Was TJC assistant football coach, 1950 to 1963.
Served as head coach from 1963 until 1969.
Had an overall coaching record of 148 wins and 60 losses with eight teams in bowl games. He is a member of TJC's Circle of Honor with his long time friend Floyd Wagstaff.
Retired from coaching and founded Hibbs-Hallmark Insurance Company in Tyler Texas, a successful business to this day.

I knew Babe and Nelleva (known as "Deet" or "Captain" depending on when she blessed your life) as proud members of the greatest generation.

For his last A&M game, I literally busted him out of his memory care unit, and we drove to meet his '43 Kiddie Corps reunion boys. The Aggies won that day. He was sharp as a tack and he had a great time. I caught all kinds of hell for that later but it was worth it.

I asked him once when his favorite time in life was, and even though he was struggling with health, and the evils of Alzheimers in both he and his lovely wife, even though he lived dirt poor in the depression and saw the face of war, he answered "I've enjoyed every day of my life."

______________________________________________


I dont know why the pics arent loading, i will try to repost;



another excerpt:


_____________________________________________


Thank you all for the well wishes, and stories. The man left huge shoes to fill, and no doubt about it.

I don't want to go overboard on everyone, but I did find a few things that might be of interest in reminiscing this weekend. Some things I never knew about.

For instance, towards the end of the war, the Armed Services started a Service Championship Football League.

My grandfather was recruited from the Army Air Corp to play QB for the 'Skymasters.'



They eventually won the Services Challenge, but of interest were some clippings showing that they were playing a mixed schedule of D1 college teams and other services teams.

In 1945 the skymasters whipped up on the University of Texas, SMU, Rice, and the Texas Aggies by a combined score of 210 - 6, with ut being the only team to score on them....



I am guessing those were some pretty bad dudes, as that team was put together by none other than this guy:





I also never even knew that TJC won a national championship during my grandfather's years...


I found copies of my grandfather's original NFL offer letters, from the Giants, Bears and Redskins. I noticed that the Bears offer letter was signed by George Halas.





Finally, I leave you with a picture of the 9th grade PE class from my grandmother's Kilgore HS 1942 yearbook, which shows a little bit of how life has changed.







RIP




cbr
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG




cbr
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
OK, how the hell do i get facebook pics to load? img with brackets isnt working


ABATTBQ87
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
cbr said:

OK, how the hell do i get facebook pics to load? img with brackets isnt working



right click on image, open image in new tab, copy url, paste with brackets img, /img

cbr
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG

cbr
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG

cbr
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Yes, he was #12 for A&M, set many records and won many games in his career, cut short by WW2.


cbr
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
cbr
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG


cbr
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
cbr
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG


BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
12/6/41 Tu beat top rated Oregon ( I believe ) 71 - 7 ! I was there.
BigJim49AustinnowDallas
Liquid Wrench
How long do you want to ignore this user?
That's a great find, ABATTBQ87.


I found some newspaper clippings of that game and one of our big stars for that game was Willie Zapalac, who I remember as a Saints assistant coach when I was a kid.

According to sports-reference.com, ten games were played that day. Interestingly, UTEP played the 206th Coast Artillery. I didn't know base teams were playing college teams before they were needed to fill out schedules during the war.

Getting pretty jealous of cbr's collection now! Thanks for posting them, I'd love to see anything else you feel like sharing.

Imagine going to bed feeling victorious Saturday night, and hearing about Pearl Harbor the next day.

BigJim, I wouldn't mind reading or hearing your memories of the game as well as how you firs heard or read about the attack, if you felt like sharing.
Liquid Wrench
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Btw, check out this AP illustration I found in a newspaper search. From November 14, 1941(in the Corsicana Light):



There must have been an awful sense of dread in some quarters leading up to December 7.
CanyonAg77
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Another WWII / football type of story....because of the change from an 8 year to a twelve year public school system in West Texas, my dad graduated in May of 1945, at age 16. He didn't start A&M that fall, but came in January of 1946. When football tryouts came in the spring, Dad, a very good athlete, went out for the team.

He didn't really have a chance.

There he was, a scrawny 17-year-old, going up against returned WWII veterans who were as much as 24-25 years old, and battle-hardened. They were a tough bunch, to say the least.

He never regretted trying out, and certainly didn't begrudge them their spot, but he would have loved to play football for A&M.
MGS
How long do you want to ignore this user?
BigJim49 AustinNowDallas said:

Tu played military reserves - A&M didn't ! ( See "K iddie Corps " references ) !

During one season Tu imported 15-20 at one time from Southwestern to help their team !
Speaking of the Longhorns, Tom Landry played in 1942, but quit to join the Army after his brother was killed in the war. He rejoined the team in '47.
NormanAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
About 15 years ago I met a old gentleman who went to HS with my FIL in Erie, KS, a VERY small town in eastern Kansas, in the early 40's. He was a basketball star in HS and enlisted in the Army after graduating HS in 1943.

The man is 6'7", which was pretty tall for that time and after basic training and some follow on training he was "drafted" to play on an Army basketball team. The players were assigned to some sort of "morale and recreation" MOS. Initially, they toured around the US playing teams from various Army posts, Army units, etc. They may have played some college teams, but I can't remember for sure.

Towards the end of the war his team was sent to Europe and they toured Army installations in Italy and Austria in areas that had been "liberated" by the Allies. Growing up in the 50's I had heard a lot of "war stories" from my dad, uncles on both sides, family friends, etc, etc, but this guy's "war story" was unique.

Edit: I should have added that my FIL's war story was much more typical - he drove a tank in the Philippines.
CanyonAg77
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Back to my father-in-law, once he was in the Navy, he was based out of San Diego for a time. Some admiral or other higher-up wanted him to play for the base football team. Basically, like your friend and basketball. FIL wanted no part of that, he wanted to get on a destroyer.

I'm a little fuzzy about how he did it, but I believe that he put in for submarine duty. There was a shortage of people willing to serve there, so the Admiral could not put a hold on his transfer. In the meantime, a slot opened on the Purdy, DD-734, for a his quartermaster rating, and since the Purdy was about to deploy, he got priority there and shipped out.
NormanAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
This thread reminds me of an issue I dealt with as a young AF Lt in 1973. I was assigned to a very small weather unit at Cannon AFB, NM as a wing weather officer. Our detachment commander was an O-3 and I was the only other officer in the 22 man unit. The commander was sent on a month long TDY and I filled in as acting commander.

We had a young A1C weather observer who had played JUCO QB at a Los Angeles area jr college. Somehow he pissed off his coach and the coach told recruiters from Div II schools that were interested in him not to offer. So the kid ended up signing up with the AF.

As a tenant unit, our members were allowed to join other unit intramural sports teams on base (I played slow pitch and volleyball for another unit). Somehow one of the F-111 fighter squadrons heard about our Airman's past football career and begged him to join their flag football team, which he did. And the fighter squadron team blew away the competition.

One of the F-111 pilots played football at North Dakota State - a Div II power back then - and it still is. The pilot called his old coach about our Airman, the coach was able to get some tape from the Jr College (the old coach had left by then) and was impressed.

Next thing I know the kid comes into my office with a leave request. The ND State coach had sent him a round trip plane ticket to North Dakota for a "try-out". And that resulted in a scholarship offer. At this point in the story I should mention that the AF and Army National Guard higher ups in North Dakota were rabid ND State fans. They flew to every away football game in a Guard plane every season.

So the kid has been in the AF less than a year - on a four year hitch. But the AF was drawing down and was offering "early outs" for those with 2+ years in IF they would join a Guard or Reserve unit. The pilot who started the whole thing took our Airman to the base Personnel Office to see if there was anyway our guy could apply for that program - and of course the answer was no.

Two days later I get a call from the Pentagon informing me the kid WILL be released early and WILL accept an offer to join an AF Guard unit in ND. The ND Guard guys had obviously pulled some strings - and our Airman was on a plane to ND a few days later.

cbr
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Hallmark's football talent kept him at A&M instead of britain until '44. He'd have been in b-17's, where his brothers died. I might not even be here.
BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
ChiliBeans said:

That's a great find, ABATTBQ87.


I found some newspaper clippings of that game and one of our big stars for that game was Willie Zapalac, who I remember as a Saints assistant coach when I was a kid.

According to sports-reference.com, ten games were played that day. Interestingly, UTEP played the 206th Coast Artillery. I didn't know base teams were playing college teams before they were needed to fill out schedules during the war.

Getting pretty jealous of cbr's collection now! Thanks for posting them, I'd love to see anything else you feel like sharing.

Imagine going to bed feeling victorious Saturday night, and hearing about Pearl Harbor the next day.

BigJim, I wouldn't mind reading or hearing your memories of the game as well as how you firs heard or read about the attack, if you felt like sharing.
Chili, the game was such a runaway i don't remember much about it . My hero at the time was Jack Crain scatback from Nocona. He got 2 tds that day. After the game I got his autograph - long lost. Tu was 8-1-1 - they were upset by TCU 14-7and tied Baylor. 7-7 . no bowl bid. This team was probably the best offensive team ever in the SWConference !

Next day I was on a bus to downtown and heard mutterings from other bus riders about the Jap attack. Later I was in the Navy in1946 and stationed 3 weeks in Pearl Harbor at Ford Island where the Battleships were sunk. Didn't go to see the sunken ships probably because of lack of transportation . Been kicking myself for that ever since !

For info on A&M and Tu football - go to " The Fightin Texas Aggies " and " 100 years of Texas Longhorn Football " both by Gene Schoor - Taylor Publishing ( where my daughter worked - I am mentioned as source and wrote a piece on the Texas Special play put in by Gene Stallings his second year ) Shameless I know !

Those were the days !


BigJim49AustinnowDallas
Liquid Wrench
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Thanks Jim, I'll see if I can find any news clippings on the game.

I finally found one book on this topic:
https://www.amazon.com/Football-Military-Lend-Lease-Players-College/dp/0786442190



Quote:

Not coincidentally, the sport of football naturally employs terms usually associated with war, such as "aerial attack," "blitz," and "trench warfare." During World War II, the U. S. military and colleges joined forces, fielding competitive teams to prepare men for combat. The book highlights the Department of the Navy's role in preserving the game and football's impact on national morale and the war effort through their "Lend-Lease" to colleges of officer candidates, including All-America and professional players. It describes wartime college and military football throughout the globe and features a foreword by veteran ESPN college football commentator Beano Cook. It contains 81 photographs and illustrations; listings of college and military teams, records, scores, big games, and statistics; player and team profiles; and a glossary of period football terminology.
Gonna have to check this out. Though based on the reading I've done so far, preparing men for combat certainly was not the only reason for all the efforts made to keep the game alive during the war, and I'm a little skeptical about that purpose.
Liquid Wrench
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Does this look familiar, Jim?



The game recap shared the above-the-fold front page of the December 7th American-Statesman with this:

BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Good stuff, Chili !

Kutner ( blocking for Crain in the picture ) in the TCU game had a pass hit him in the chest and away ! cost Tu a tie at least .
BigJim49AustinnowDallas
Page 1 of 2
 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.