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1939 Stanford Indians football team

American college football season

Summary

American college football season

FieldValue
year1939
teamStanford Indians
sportfootball
imageClaude E. Thornhill.jpg
captionHead coach Tiny Thornhill
conferencePacific Coast Conference
short_confPCC
record1–7–1
conf_record0–6
head_coachTiny Thornhill
hc_year7th
off_schemeSingle-wing
captainStan Andersen
stadiumStanford Stadium

The 1939 Stanford Indians football team represented Stanford University as a member of the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) during the 1939 college football season. Seventh-year head coach 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.

Stanford was ranked at No. 111 (out of 609 teams) in the final Litkenhous Ratings for 1939.

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

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" halfback Bob "Bones" Hamilton to deliver a halftime pep talk. Hamilton told the downtrodden players, "You are by far and large the worst group of players who have ever worn the Stanford red." The insult motivated the team to score 14 unanswered points for their only win of the season.

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."

Schedule

|{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = t |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w

Players drafted by the NFL

Stan AndersenTackle12101Chicago Cardinals

References

References

  1. 0-8032-7632-X.
  2. E. E. Litkenhous. (December 31, 1939). "Vols Second In Final Litkenhous Grid Rankings; Southern California Tenth". Johnson City Sunday Press.
  3. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7PQaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KEwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4989,5771737&dq=stanford+football&hl=en Stanford Retains Coach Thornhill], ''The Pittsburgh Press'', February 13, 1939.
  4. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EkgzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ne4HAAAAIBAJ&pg=6147,184600&dq=stanford+football&hl=en Trojans Stage Thriller To Beat Irish], ''Lodi News-Sentinel'', November 27, 1939.
  5. Ron Fimrite, [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1092785/index.htm 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] {{Webarchive. link. (2013-10-29 , ''Sports Illustrated'', September 5, 1977.)
  6. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0xAvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uKYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1527,2566613&dq=stanford+football&hl=en Dartmouth Upset by Stanford; Navy Wins], ''Berkeley Daily Gazette'', November 29, 1939.
  7. (October 1, 1939). "Oregon State crushes Stanford, 12–0". The San Francisco Examiner.
  8. Morgan, Edward P.. (October 8, 1939). "Oregon whips Stanford, 10–0: Northerners triumph over Indians second time in 40 years". Oakland Tribune.
  9. Al Wolf. (October 15, 1939). "Stanford Holds Bruins Even: Jackie Robinson Saves U.C.L.A. From Defeat With Dazzling Run". Los Angeles Times.
  10. (October 29, 1939). "Washington downs Stanford 8 to 5". The Humboldt Times.
  11. (November 5, 1939). "Santa Clara Outsmarts, Outplays Stanford, 27 to 7". Oakland Tribune.
  12. Paul Zimmerman. (November 12, 1939). "Powerful Trojans Smother Stanford Indians by 33–0: Worst Licking in Long Series". The Los Angeles Times.
  13. (November 19, 1939). "Washington State College marches to 7-to-0 victory over Stanford: Renfro scores on long drive". The Spokesman-Review.
  14. Orman, Ed W.. (November 19, 1939). "Golden Bears batter Stanford, 32 to 14, in annual Big Game". The Fresno Bee.
  15. Guenther, Jack. (December 3, 1939). "Victory-starved Stanford upsets Dartmouth foe, 14–3". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
  16. . ["1939 Stanford Cardinal Schedule and Results"](https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/stanford/1939-schedule.html). *[[Sports Reference]]*.
  17. "1940 NFL Draft".
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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