Official list of the best college football players of 1941
The1941 All-America college football team is composed ofcollege football players who were selected asAll-Americans by various organizations and writers that choseAll-America college football teams in 1941. The nine selectors recognized by theNCAA as "official" for the 1941 season are (1)Collier's Weekly Grantland Rice , (2) theAssociated Press , (3) theUnited Press , (4) the All-America Board, (5) theInternational News Service (INS), (6)Liberty Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), (8)Newsweek Sporting News
Harvard centerEndicott Peabody , who won the 1941 Knute Rockne Award, was the only player to be unanimously named to the first team of all nine official selectors.Dick Wildung of Minnesota andBob Westfall of Michigan each received eight official first-team designations.Bruce Smith of Minnesota won the 1941Heisman Trophy and received seven official first-team nominations.
TheUnited Press made its selections based on voting from sports editors and football writers and published the point totals for each player. The players receiving the highest point totals were Virginia backBill Dudley (598), Endicott Peabody (540), Tulane tackleErnie Blandin (503), and Minnesota tackleDick Wildung (487).[ 1]
Liberty Frank Sinkwich was selected by the greatest percentage, receiving votes from 96 of the 99 opponents who faced him.[ 2]
Consensus All-Americans [ edit ] For the year 1941, the NCAA recognizes nine published All-American teams as "official" designations for purposes of its consensus determinations. The following chart identifies the NCAA-recognized consensus All-Americans and displays which first-team designations they received.
Name Position School Number Official selectors Other selectors Endicott Peabody Guard Harvard 9/9 AAB, AP, CO, INS, LIB, NEA, NW, SN, UP CP, NYS, LIFE, PARA, WC Dick Wildung Tackle Minnesota 8/9 AAB, AP, INS, LIB, NEA, NW, SN, UP CP, LIFE, PARA, WC Bob Westfall Fullback Michigan 8/9 AAB, CO, INS, LIB, NEA, NW, SN, UP CP, NYS, PARA, WC Frankie Albert Quarterback Stanford 7/9 AAB, AP, CO, INS, NEA, NW, SN CP, LIFE, PARA, WC Bruce Smith Halfback Minnesota 7/9 AAB, AP, CO, INS, NW, SN, UP CP, NYS, LIFE, PARA, WC Holt Rast End Alabama 6/9 AAB, INS, LIB, SN, NW, UP CP, LIFE, PARA, WC Darold Jenkins Center Missouri 6/9 AAB, AP, NEA, NW, SN, UP CP, NYS, WC Bob Dove End Notre Dame 5/9 AAB, INS, NEA, NW, UP LIFE; WC Ernie Blandin Tackle Tulane 5/9 CO, LIB, NEA, NW, UP NYS Bill Dudley Halfback Virginia 5/9 AP, CO, LIB, NW, UP NYS Frank Sinkwich Halfback Georgia 5/9 AAB, AP, LIB, SN, UP CP, LIFE, WC Ray Frankowski Guard Washington 4/9 AAB, NEA, NW, UP LIFE, WC
All-American selections for 1941 [ edit ] Holt Rast (AAB-1; AP-2; INS-1; LIB; NEA-2; SN; NW; UP-1 [253]; CP-1; LIFE-1; PARA; WC-1, NYDN) Bob Dove (AAB-1; AP-3; INS-1; NEA-1; NW; UP-1 [367]; LIFE-1; WC-1, NYDN) Malcolm Kutner , Texas (College Football Hall of Fame)(AP-1; INS-2; CO; CP-2. LIFE-2) Dave Schreiner , Wisconsin (College Football Hall of Fame)(AP-1) Joe Blalock , Clemson(SN; UP-2 [232]; CP-1, LIFE-3) John Rokisky , Duquesne(AP-2; INS-2; NEA-1; CO; CP-2; PARA) Jim Lansing , Fordham(LIB; CP-3) Nick Susoeff , Washington State(AP-3) Bob Froude, Navy(UP-2 [197]) James Sterling, Texas A&M(NEA-2; NYS-1) Bob Motl , Northwestern(NEA-3) Alyn Beals , Santa Clara(NEA-3) Billy Henderson, Texas A&M(CP-3, LIFE-2) Dale Gentry , Washington State(NYS-1; LIFE-3) Dick Wildung (AAB-1; AP-1; INS-1; LIB; NEA-1; NW; SN; UP-1 [487]; CP-1; LIFE-1; PARA; WC-1; NYDN) Ernie Blandin (AP-2; CO; INS-2; LIB; NEA-1; NW; UP-1 [503]; NYS-1) Bob Reinhard , California(AP-1; UP-2 [213]; INS-1; NEA-2; CO; CP-3; PARA, LIFE-2) Alf Bauman , Northwestern(AAB-1; AP-2; INS-2; NEA-2; SN; CP-2; LIFE-1; NYS-1; NYDN) Jim Daniell , Ohio State(CP-1) Al Wistert , Michigan(UP-2 [270]; CP-2 [as G], LIFE-2) Gene Flathmann, Navy(CP-2) Bill Chewning, Navy(AP-3; NEA-3) Mike Karmazin , Duke(AP-3, LIFE-2 [as G]) Floyd Spendlove, Utah(NEA-3) Paul Lillis, Notre Dame(CP-3, LIFE-3) John Wyhonic , Alabama(LIFE-3) Endicott Peabody (AAB-1; AP-1; CO; INS-1; LIB; NEA-1; NW; SN; UP-1 [540]; CP-1; NYS-1; LIFE-1; PARA; WC-1; NYDN) Ray Frankowski (AAB-1; AP-2; INS-2; NEA-1; NW; UP-1 [369]; LIFE-1; WC-1) Chal Daniel , Texas(AP-3; INS-1; NEA-3; SN; CP-1, LIFE-3) Ralph Fife , Pittsburgh(AP-1; UP-2 [252]; NEA-2; CP-3, LIFE-2; NYDN) Bernard Crimmins , Notre Dame(CO; LIB; INS-2; NEA-2; UP-2 [364]; PARA) Chuck Taylor , Stanford (NYS-1)Martin Ruby , Texas A&M(CP-2) Ted Ramsey, SMU(AP-2) Tom Melton, Purdue(AP-3) Richard Pfister, Harvard(NEA-3) Art Goforth, Rice(CP-3) Urban Odson , Minnesota(LIFE-3) Darold Jenkins (AAB-1; AP-1; INS-2; NEA-1; NW; SN; UP-1 [325]; CP-1; NYS-1; WC-1, LIFE-2) Vince Banonis , Detroit (College Football Hall of Fame)(AP-3; CO; INS-1; LIB; NEA-2; PARA; NYDN) Al DeMao , Duquesne(UP-2 [171]; NEA-3; LIFE-1) Quentin Greenough , Oregon State(AP-2, LIFE-3) Vic Lindskog , Stanford(CP-2) Bob Gude , Vanderbilt(CP-3) Bruce Smith (AAB-1; AP-1; CO; INS-1; NEA-2; NW; SN; UP-1 [467]; CP-1; NYS-1; LIFE; PARA; WC-1, LIFE-1; NYDN) Frank Sinkwich (AAB-1; AP-1; INS-2; LIB; NEA-3; SN; UP-1 [399]; CP-1; LIFE; WC-1, LIFE-1) Bill Dudley (AP-1; CO; INS-2; LIB [qb]; NEA-2; NW; UP-1 [qb, 598]; CP-2; NYS-1 [as qb], LIFE-3) Jack Crain , Texas(AP-2; UP-2 [373]; NEA-2; CP-3 [as qb]; LIFE-1; NYDN) Jimmy Nelson , Alabama(AP-3; NEA-3; CP-3) Derace Moser , Texas A&M(AP-2; INS-2; NEA-1; CP-3) Jack Jenkins , Vanderbilt(AP-3) Bill Busik, Navy(LIFE-2) Angelo Bertelli , Notre Dame(LIFE-2) Hank Mazur, Army(LIFE-3) Bob Westfall (AAB-1; AP-2; CO; INS-1; LIB; NEA-1; NW; SN; UP-1 [467]; CP-1; NYS-1; PARA; WC-1, LIFE-3; NYDN) Steve Lach , Duke (College Football Hall of Fame)(AP-2; INS-1 [hb]; LIB [hb]; NEA-1; UP-2 [hb, 249]; CP-2; NYS-1 [as hb]; PARA; LIFE-2) Steve Filipowicz , Fordham(AP-3; UP-2 [211], LIFE-3) John Grigas , Holy Cross(INS-2; NEA-3) Merle Hapes , Ole Miss(NEA-2) Pete Layden , Texas(CP-3) Bold = Consensus All-American[ 3]
-1 – First-team selection -2 – Second-team selection -3 – Third-team selection AAB = All-America Board of Football, havingPop Warner as its chairman, selected by 48 football coaches on "the long-established All-America Board of Football, a group of professional selectors speaking for all states, all conferences, all sections of the football world"[ 4] AP =Associated Press based on "a nation-wide survey of expert opinion"[ 5] [ 6] CO =Collier's Weekly Grantland Rice and published in the December 13 issue ofCollier's [ 7] INS =International News Service , selected from a ballot of INS bureaus[ 8] LIB =Liberty [ 2] NEA =NEA Sports Syndicate , selected "with the aid of coaches, scouts, officials and football writers"[ 9] NW =Newsweek [ 10] SN = TheSporting News [ 10] UP =United Press , based on voting from "sports and football writers from coast to coast"; point totals received by each player displayed in brackets[ 1] ^a b Harry Ferguson (December 3, 1941)."United Press Names Dove All-America End: Gophers Only Club To Gain Two Positions" .The South Bend Tribune . pp. III-1, III-2 – viaNewspapers.com . ^a b "Sinkwich Gets Most Votes on All-Foes Eleven: 96 of 96 Pick Bulldog Flash; Dudley Second" .The Atlanta Constitution . December 31, 1941. p. 15 – viaNewspapers.com .^ "Football Award Winners" (PDF) . National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2016. p. 8. RetrievedOctober 21, 2017 .^ Christy Walsh (December 14, 1941)."Darold Jenkins of Missouri Voted Nation's Best Center On All-Star Team Selected By 48 Coaches" .St. Louis Post-Dispatch . pp. IV-1, IV-2 – viaNewspapers.com . ^ Dillon Graham (December 12, 1941)."Three Juniors on 1941 All-American Team" .The Evening Independent . ^ Dillon Graham (December 12, 1941)."Middle West Dominates A.P. All-American Team" .The Davenport Democrat and Leader . p. 27 – viaNewspapers.com . ^ "Collier's Put Dudley On Its 'All-American' .The Staunton News-Leader . December 5, 1941. p. 9 – viaNewspapers.com .^ Lawton Carver (December 1, 1941)."Albert Tops INS All-America Grid Selections" .Reading Eagle . ^ Harry Grayson (November 23, 1941)."Steve Lach Makes NEA All-America First Team" .The High Point Enterprise – viaNewspapers.com .^a b ESPN College Football Encyclopedia . ESPN Books. 2005. p. 1184.ISBN 1401337031 ^ Walter L. Johns (December 7, 1941)."Midwest, South Top Captains' All-Americas" .Reading Eagle . ^ "Al DeMao, Rokisky on All-America Teams" .The Pittsburgh Press . November 29, 1941.^ "Northwestern, Michigan Stars On All-America" .Streator Daily Times-Press . November 29, 1941. p. 1 – viaNewspapers.com .^ "Rokisky Named" .Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph . November 29, 1941. p. 9 – viaNewspapers.com .^ "Walter Camp Football Foundation All-American Selections" . Walter Camp Football Foundation. Archived fromthe original on December 18, 2007.^ Jimmy Powers (November 30, 1941)."The News All-America" .New York Daily News . p. 37C – viaNewspapers.com .
