1938: Football

Attendance.

Football in the United States in 1938 enjoyed one of the most prosperous years in its history. Both the intercollegiate and professional teams played before record crowds, confirming once again that this sport is second to none in its popularity with the American public.

No official figures are available on the total of people who witness college football throughout the country, but some idea of the vastness of the number may be gained from the fact that Notre Dame played before almost a half-million spectators in the course of nine games. On one Saturday four contests in the East each attracted 70,000 or more. An all-time record for the South was set when 52,000 gathered for the meeting between Duke and Pittsburgh at Durham, N. C., and the Pittsburgh-Fordham game was played before 75,800, the largest turnout for any sporting event in the history of Pittsburgh.

The largest crowd of the year attended the Army-Navy game, when more than 102,000 people sat in the Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in freezing weather to see this Service event. When Notre Dame and Southern California played at Los Angeles, there were 101,000 present; Southern California and California drew 95,000, California and Stanford, 82,000, and Michigan and Northwestern, 80,000.

Professional football had an even more gratifying response from the public, though it does not attract the numbers that does the collegiate game.

Outstanding College Teams and Games.

The outstanding college teams of the year, as voted in a nation-wide poll, were Texas Christian University, Tennessee, and Duke. Together with these three, Oklahoma also won all of its scheduled games and a high ranking. Notre Dame was generally rated as the leading eleven of the season until it met with unexpected defeat in its final contest against Southern California, another of the best. In addition to these six. Carnegie Tech, Pittsburgh, Southern California. Holy Cross, Minnesota, Alabama, Michigan and Cornell had great strength, and Villanova, Northwestern, California, Tulane, Santa Clara, St. Mary's, Texas Tech, Fordham. Army and Dartmouth also stood out. Pittsburgh was ranked ahead of all others until it met with stunning defeat at the hands of Carnegie Tech.

Minnesota again won the Western Conference championship. Southern California and California shared the Pacific Coast title. Texas Christian University won the Southwestern honors: Tennessee, the Southeastern; Duke, the Southern; and Oklahoma, the Big Six (for the first time). Carnegie Tech was voted the leading team of the East. Cornell won the Ivy League honors, Harvard came out on top in the Big Three, Amherst in the Little Three, and Rutgers in the Middle Three.

Southern California and Duke played before 91,000 in the Rose Bowl at Pasadena, Calif., on January 2, 1939, the former winning on a forward pass in the last minute of the game, 7 to 3. Texas Christian defeated Carnegie Tech in the Sugar Bowl at New Orleans by the score of 15 to 7, and Tennessee won from Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl at Miami. Fla., 17 to 0. In the Cotton Bowl at Dallas, Tex., St. Mary's prevailed over Texas Tech, 20 to 13.

Outstanding Players.

David O'Brien of Texas Christian University was voted the Heisman Memorial Trophy as the outstanding college player of the year. Marshall Goldberg of Pittsburgh, Robert MacLeod of Dartmouth and Sidney Luckman of Columbia also won nation-wide acclaim. Other shining lights were Ki Aldrich of Texas Christian University, Vic Bottari of California, Ralph Heikkinen of Michigan, Edward Beinor of Notre Dame, Roland Young of Oklahoma, Bowden Wyatt and George Cafego of Tennessee, Sidney Roth, William McKeever and Jerome Holland of Cornell, Bill Osmanski and Joe Delancy of Holy Cross. Parker Hall of Mississippi and Harry Smith of Southern California; also, John Pingel, of Michigan State, Dan Hill and Eric Tipton of Duke, Ray Carnelly of Carnegie. Alvord Wolff of Santa Clara. Howard Weiss of Wisconsin, John Wysocki of Villanova, Robert Suffridge of Tennessee. Granny Lansdell of Southern California, Edward Bock of Iowa State. Francis Twedell of Minnesota, Lou Brock of Purduc. Bill Daddio and Harold Stebbins of Pittsburgh and Billy Patterson of Baylor.

Style of Playing.

There were no new developments in the style of college football. The trend was generally towards more conservative football in the restricted use of the lateral pass and of the five-man line. At the same time, there was more scoring. The forward pass was a vital factor in the success of most of the leading teams. The field goal was more in evidence than it has been in some years and the trend towards 'controlled' punting to the sidelines continued. The two changes in the rules, eliminating the penalty for a pass thrown into the end zone prior to the fourth down, and bringing the ball out fifteen yards from the sideline instead of ten when it crosses the sideline between the goal lines, worked out to the general satisfaction. They were responsible in part for the high scoring averages registered.

There was an unusual number of exceptional forward passers. These included: Luckman of Columbia, O'Brien of Texas Christian University, Patterson of Baylor, Cahill of Holy Cross, Lain of Rice, Pingel of Michigan State, Hall of Mississippi and Lansdell of Southern California.

The year was a highly successful one, not only for varsity college football but also for 150-pound elevens and also for six-man teams. The increase in the number of six-man teams was particularly noticeable, though the interest of the public is almost entirely in the eleven-man teams.

Professional Football.

The New York Giants won the championship of the National Football League. After defeating the Washington Redskins, champions in 1937, for the Eastern Division honors, they overcame the Green Bay Packers, Western champions, in one of the most thrilling games of football New York has ever seen.

The professional brand of football has taken a big hold on the fancy of the public. The liberal use of the forward pass, which may be made from any point behind the line of scrimmage under professional rules, and the frequency with which long field goals are kicked through the uprights stationed on the goal line, add to the popularity of the league games. The excellence of the blocking and the fierceness of the tackling also are factors in their appeal.

Among the leading professional players of the year were Hein, Danowski, Widseth Cuff, Leemans and Dell Isola of the New York Giants, Hutson, Hinkle, Letlow, Isbell and Gantenbein of Green Bay, Fortmann, Stydahar, Bausch and Musso of the Chicago Bears, Edwards, Karcher and Baugh of the Washington Redskins, Parker and Kinnard of the Brooklyn Dodgers, L. Cardwell and Shepherd of the Detroit Lions, G. Tinsley and Blazins of the Chicago Cardinals, Hewitt and Carter of the Philadelphia Eagles, White and Gentry of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Drake and Benton of the Cleveland Rams.

Football in Canada.

Across the border in Canada, the Dominion variety of football, too, had a big year. A record crowd of 18,486 people paid to see the Canadian Rugby Union final, in which the Toronto Argonauts won the Canadian football championship for the second successive year. Led by the remarkable Buster Storey, the Argos scored four touchdowns in the final quarter to defeat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 30-7, in the East-West play-off at Toronto on December 10.

The game was acclaimed as the finest football spectacle ever seen in the Dominion, and the Argonauts as one of the strongest teams ever developed there. The Argos had won the championship of the East by crushing the Sarnia Imperials, while the Bombers withstood the challenge of the Regina Roughriders and the Calgary Bronks to take the title in the West.

The Canadian game has adopted numerous features of the American code in recent years, particularly forward passing, and long-distance kicking plays a prominent part in the attack. Kicking won the title for the Argos in 1937; but it was their running attack that ruined the Bombers in 1938.

McGill won the championship of the Canadian Intercollegiate Rugby Football Union for the first time in ten years. No small factors in its success were its forward passing and its strong line play.

Rugby.

Rugby, the game from which American football stems, continued to have a big vogue in England, and a team from Cambridge University came over again for a series of matches with college and all-star teams. The Cantabs were much too good for the Americans, running up 221 points to 6 for their opponents in six games. Rugby has not been making much headway in the United States, although Americans admire the beautiful three-quarter passing movement and the dexterous kicking of the British game, which is played with an informality that adds to its appeal. They miss the hard blocking and tackling and spectacular forward passing, which are largely responsible for the tremendous popularity of football. See also SOCCER.