1939 Stanford Indians football team

The 1939 Stanford Indians football team represented Stanford University in during the 1939 college football season. Seventh-year head coach Claude "Tiny" Thornhill led the team to a 1–7–1 record, which ultimately contributed to his relief at the end of the season. He was replaced by Clark Shaughnessy, who surprised critics by leading the following year's team, largely made up of the same players, to the Rose Bowl.[1] Shaughnessy noted that the players were not suited to the single-wing offense that Thornhill had employed.[2]

1939 Stanford Indians football
ConferencePacific Coast Conference
1939 record1–7–1 (0–6–1 PCC)
Head coach
Offensive schemeSingle-wing formation
CaptainStan Andersen
Home stadiumStanford Stadium
1939 Pacific Coast Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L T  W L T
No. 3 USC $ 5 –0 –2  8 –0 –2
No. 7 UCLA 5 –0 –3  6 –0 –4
Oregon State 6 –1 –1  9 –1 –1
Washington 4 –4 –0  4 –5 –1
Oregon 3 –3 –1  3 –4 –1
Washington State 3 –5 –0  4 –5 –0
Montana 1 –2 –0  3 –6 –0
California 2 –5 –0  3 –7 –0
Stanford 0 –6 –1  1 –7 –1
Idaho 0 –3 –0  2 –6 –0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

Before the season, the Stanford Board of Athletic Control retained Thornhill as head coach, despite opposition from some of the alumni base.[3] The Indians finished last in the Pacific Coast Conference with a 0–6–1 record against league opponents.[4] It was the first time in history that Stanford failed to win a single Pacific Coast Conference game in a season.[5] Contemporary sources called the 1939 squad the worst football team to represent Stanford University in the history of the program.[1]

Stanford's only victory came in the season finale against Dartmouth at the Polo Grounds in New York City. At halftime, Stanford trailed 3–0, and Thornhill and his assistants, at a loss for words, asked former "Vow Boys" back Bones Hamilton to deliver a halftime pep talk. He told the downtrodden players, "You are by far and large the worst group of players who have ever worn the Stanford red."[1] The insult motivated the team to score 14 unanswered points to take away their only win of the season.[1]

After the game, the United Press wrote, "Stanford, the worst team the West Coast has produced in years, pulled the day's gridiron surprise by walloping the strong Dartmouth eleven."[6]

Schedule
DateOpponentSiteResult
September 30Oregon State
L 12–0
October 7vs. Oregon
L 10–0
October 14UCLA
  • Stanford Stadium
  • Stanford, CA
T 14–14
October 28at Washington
L 8–5
November 4Santa Clara*
  • Stanford Stadium
  • Stanford, CA
L 27–7
November 11at USC
L 33–0
November 18Washington State
  • Stanford Stadium
  • Stanford, CA
L 7–0
November 25California
L 32–14
December 2vs. Dartmouth*
W 14–3
  • *Non-conference game

Players drafted by the NFL
PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL club
Hampton PoolEnd977Chicago Bears
Stan AndersenTackle12101Chicago Cardinals

[7]

References
  1. Ron Fimrite, A Melding Of Men All Suited To A T; Clark Shaughnessy was a dour theoretician, Frankie Albert an unrestrained quarterback and Stanford a team of losers, but combined they forever changed the game of football, Sports Illustrated, September 5, 1977.
  2. James W. Johnson, The Wow Boys: a Coach, a Team, and a Turning Point in College Football, pp. xvii-xix, University of Nebraska Press, 2006, ISBN 0-8032-7632-X.
  3. Stanford Retains Coach Thornhill, The Pittsburgh Press, February 13, 1939.
  4. Stanford Game-by-Game Results; 1935–1939 Archived 2011-10-19 at the Wayback Machine, College Football Data Warehouse, retrieved August 14, 2010.
  5. Trojans Stage Thriller To Beat Irish, Lodi News-Sentinel, November 27, 1939.
  6. Dartmouth Upset by Stanford; Navy Wins, Berkeley Daily Gazette, November 29, 1939.
  7. "1940 NFL Draft". Retrieved September 16, 2014.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.