Phil C
02-15-2006, 04:01 PM
The media made much ado about the Texas vs USC having two heisman trophy winners and a finalists but did you know at one time a game was played that had a heisman trophy winner and another oen to win it that year and two future years.
In 1946 Army ranked no. 1 played Notre Dame ranked No. 2 in New York. Army's Feliz "Doc" Blanchard had won the Heisman Trophy the year before and was the first junior to do so and had not some injuries happened to him in 1946 he would probably have repeated but his teammate Glenn Davis won it that year. Doc made a carreer out of the army and retired in 1971 as a colonel. Davis served his four year commission in the Army and did play two years in the NFL and played on a championship team with the Los Angeles Rams but unfortunately injuries cut short his NFL career. He ran a car dealarship in Iowa till he retired in 1988.
Notre Dame had two future Heisman winners on that team. One was the qb John Lujack who was a big star that won it the next year in 1947 leading ND to the National Championship. He went on to play in the NFL four years with the Bears.
Also a freshman but good player on the 1946 Notre Dame team Leon Hart an end who was a great receiver and good defensive player. He won the Heisman his senior year. ND won 3 national championships while he was there and he went on to have 8 successful years with Detroit that had Bobby Layne at QB and Doak at RB and Detroit won 3 NFL championships (there were no super bowls back then). He is the only player to win 3 mncs in college and 3 nfl titles as a pro.
The media had a large influence on wanting to stop Army from winning the third mnc and had always favored ND or a big 10 school. Army had out played Notre Dame that day getting inside the Irish 30 six times but could not score. Notre Dame only threatned one time and it was stopped by an interception and on a play right afterward Doc almost broke loose for a long td run and only a shoestring tackle by Lujack saved the Irish.
In spite of being outplayed Notre Dame was awarded the mnc in 1946. The rest of the season though ND ran over it's opponents and even though Army won the rest of its' games two they were much closer probably due to injuries in the late season.
In 1946 Army ranked no. 1 played Notre Dame ranked No. 2 in New York. Army's Feliz "Doc" Blanchard had won the Heisman Trophy the year before and was the first junior to do so and had not some injuries happened to him in 1946 he would probably have repeated but his teammate Glenn Davis won it that year. Doc made a carreer out of the army and retired in 1971 as a colonel. Davis served his four year commission in the Army and did play two years in the NFL and played on a championship team with the Los Angeles Rams but unfortunately injuries cut short his NFL career. He ran a car dealarship in Iowa till he retired in 1988.
Notre Dame had two future Heisman winners on that team. One was the qb John Lujack who was a big star that won it the next year in 1947 leading ND to the National Championship. He went on to play in the NFL four years with the Bears.
Also a freshman but good player on the 1946 Notre Dame team Leon Hart an end who was a great receiver and good defensive player. He won the Heisman his senior year. ND won 3 national championships while he was there and he went on to have 8 successful years with Detroit that had Bobby Layne at QB and Doak at RB and Detroit won 3 NFL championships (there were no super bowls back then). He is the only player to win 3 mncs in college and 3 nfl titles as a pro.
The media had a large influence on wanting to stop Army from winning the third mnc and had always favored ND or a big 10 school. Army had out played Notre Dame that day getting inside the Irish 30 six times but could not score. Notre Dame only threatned one time and it was stopped by an interception and on a play right afterward Doc almost broke loose for a long td run and only a shoestring tackle by Lujack saved the Irish.
In spite of being outplayed Notre Dame was awarded the mnc in 1946. The rest of the season though ND ran over it's opponents and even though Army won the rest of its' games two they were much closer probably due to injuries in the late season.