Gridiron America is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear.
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode, we time travel back to November 9, 1946, in the first of our planned public domain time capsule episodes, and put the listener in front of their old school AM radio, as number one ranked Army takes on number two ranked Notre Dame, in a classic game of gridiron trench warfare, at Yankee Stadium, in front of a packed house of 74,121.
Going into this match up, both teams were undefeated, and averaged over 30 points a game going into the game. Army had a 25-game winning streak, last losing to Notre Dame in 1943 (26–0), but had won the last two contests between the schools by scores of 59–0 and 48–0. Army had the defending Heisman Trophy winner, Doc Blanchard, also known as "Mr. Inside", the man who would win it that year, Glenn Davis, also known as "Mr. Outside", and one of the nation's top quarterbacks in Arnold Tucker.
Notre Dame had the quarterback who would win the Heisman the next year, Johnny Lujack, and end Leon Hart of Notre Dame won the Heisman in 1949 (the only time ever that a college football game had four Heisman Trophy winners). Lujack, along with several other teammates and coach Frank Leahy, had returned to the team for the 1946 season after serving in World War II. Both Tucker and Lujack were also outstanding defensive backs at a time when football players, college as well as professional, usually played both offense and defense.
GRIDIRON AMERICA BACKGROUND
Gridiron America (formerly, the From the 55 Yardline podcast), is anchored by former sports executive David Cieslinski, former international professional football player Mike Tackett, and football nerd Greg St. James.
All three are avid armchair sports historians and sports simulation enthusiasts, who, despite the vastness of geography, have found a way to leverage technology to help keep the games they love truly alive, both on the screen or tabletop.
Gridiron America Radio is dedicated to both current and historical American football talk, including the “what if” questions that all sports fans ask and try to answer with the help of statistics, math and computer modeling provided by SportsMaster Simulation Games www.SportsMaster-Simulation.games. In addition to the gridiron game, the team will on occasion look at other sports through the same eyes of that of grown men who still remember their childhood and the thrill of rolling the dice or picking up a joystick.
The show was previously co-hosted by retired sports journalist Scott Adamson, whose sports writing can be found at www.Adamsonmedia.com.
David, Mike and Greg, can be contacted directly via the podcast’s website at www.GridironAmerica.net, as well as:
On X at https://x.com/GridironAMRadio
On Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GridironAmerica/
On Threads at https://www.threads.com/@gridironamerica
On Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/gridironamerica
