Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1426496
52 NOV. 13, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED IRISH ECHOES JIM LEFEBVRE T he Frank Leahy era at Notre Dame began in 1941 and by its third year, in 1943, Leahy had the Irish atop the col- lege football world, winning the school's fourth consensus national championship and its first as awarded by the Associated Press poll. Notre Dame was voted first despite losing its final game 19-14 to the powerful Great Lakes Naval Station team. The next two seasons, Leahy served in the U.S. Navy himself, and Notre Dame posted records of 8-2-0 and 7-2-1 under Ed McKeever and Hugh Devore, respectively. With his wartime service concluded, Leahy returned to guide Notre Dame in 1946, and he brought a plethora of military veterans along with him. The '46 Irish were loaded with talented, experienced players, including: • Tackle George Connor, a Chicagoan who played two years at Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., earning second-team All-America honors in 1943 before serv- ing two years in the U.S. Navy. He was selected by the New York Giants in the 1946 NFL Draft but chose to play at Notre Dame to be closer to his ailing father. He would become the first winner of the Out- land Trophy after the 1946 season. • End Jim Martin had joined the Marines upon graduating from high school in Cleveland, and served with the elite Fifth Amphibious Recon Battalion, earning a Bronze Star for his scouting work in the Pacific. Leahy had met Martin at Iwo Jima and recruited him to Notre Dame. Martin, a 22-year-old freshman, made an immediate impact on the football field. • Tackle Ziggy Czarobski played for Notre Dame in 1942-43 before his two years of military service. He was a 24-year- old veteran when he returned to campus to star for the '46 Irish. • Center George Strohmeyer was a heralded blocker, linebacker and Golden Gloves boxing champ from McAllen, Texas, before playing freshman football at Texas A&M, then joining the U.S. Navy. He caught Leahy's attention, earning Ser- vice Football All-America honors in 1944 and 1945. Like Martin, he was 22 when he joined Leahy at Notre Dame in 1946. • Quarterback Johnny Lujack had be- come Notre Dame's starting signal-caller as a sophomore in 1943 when the Marines activated Angelo Bertelli six games into the season. In 1944-45, Lujack served as an ensign in the U.S. Navy, on the lookout for German submarines in the English Chan- nel. He was a consensus All-American in 1946, setting up his run to the Heisman Trophy in 1947. • Halfback Emil Sitko went into the mili- tary directly from Fort Wayne Central High School, and starred for Great Lakes Naval Station, scoring a touchdown in the Blue- jackets' 1943 victory over Notre Dame. Leahy welcomed him in 1946 as a 23-year- old freshman. • Future Notre Dame head coach Terry Brennan was a multi-sport star at Mar- quette University High School in Milwau- kee and secured the starting left halfback spot as a sophomore. • Guard Bill Fischer also won a starting position as a sophomore, sporting a 6-2, 230-pound frame to clear the way for Irish backs. The Irish opened the 1946 season by crushing Illinois 26-6 before a throng of 75,119 in Champaign. The Illini would go on to an 8-2 season that included a 45-14 win over UCLA in the Rose Bowl. Next came one-sided victories over Pitt (33-0), Purdue (49-6), No. 17 Iowa (41- 6) and Navy (28-0). Leahy's squad ap- peared unstoppable as it headed to Yankee Stadium for its Nov. 9 showdown against archrival, No. 1 Army. T h e C a d e t s w e r e l e d b y t h e i r dynamic backfield duo of "Mr. Inside" Doc Blanchard and "Mr. Outside" Glenn Davis. Together, they would lead Army to a record of 27-0-1 in 1944-46, with national cham- pionships in 1944 and 1945. Blanchard had won the Heisman Trophy in 1945 and Davis would be the winner in 1946. Army brought a record of 6-0 into the showdown dubbed "The Game of the Cen- tury," with impressive wins against Okla- homa (21-7), No. 4 Michigan (20-13) and No. 13 Duke (19-0). The Cadets were av- eraging nearly 30 points per game and their 25-game winning streak stretched back to 1943, with their last loss coming to Notre Dame (26-0). But on this day, before a capacity crowd of 74,121 that included military leaders, major politicians, business icons and fa- mous entertainers, it was defense that ruled the action. The Irish held Blanchard and Davis to a total of 79 net rushing yards. On Notre Dame's 1946 national championship team finished 8-0-1 with a 0-0 tie against Army. The Irish won their games by an average score of 34-3 and edged the Cadets for No. 1 in the final AP poll. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS 1946 National Champs Rank Among College Football's Greatest Teams