UConn Huskies (1942)

Yikes ... and away.

Not too long ago, I posted the above 1942 photo on the Facebook page of an unnamed University of Connecticut player in suspended animation, possibly leaping for a football — or a catnip mouse. (The original came from this site, which I’d highly recommend to anyone with an interest in UConn or college football in general; it’s quite the rabbit hole.) Now let’s take a closer look at the ’42 Huskies …

The Team: UConn went 6-2, with the losses coming to Maryland and Wesleyan (?!?). The wins included future Yankee Conference rivals Maine, UMass and Rhode Island, with the rest coming against Middlebury, Springfield and Coast Guard.

The 1942  UConn team, gathering in practice uniforms
for a rather informal team photo.

The Players: There are two I want to single out: Six-five, 220-pound end Walt Dropo is easily one of this bigger legends (literally and figuratively) in Connecticut sports history. The Moose from Moosup, Connecticut was a star in football, basketball and baseball; according to his Wikipedia page, he was the the school’s all-time leading scorer in hoops and was a first-round draft pick of the 1947 BAA (NBA) Draft by the Providence Steamrollers. The Chicago Bears picked him in the ninth round of the ’46 NFL Draft. His brother, Milton, was a center for the Huskies’ football team.

The versatile Walt Dropo appears to be
pulling down a rebound in this 1942 Connecticut Campus pic.

But it was in baseball where Dropo made his mark, signing with the Boston Red Sox, where he took baseball by storm in 1950, leading the AL in RBIs and winning Rookie of the Year honors. In ’51, Dropo broke his wrist and was never the same player again. You can read more about his feats here.

The other player I want to note is guard Al Pinsky, who also doubled as sports editor of the Connecticut Campus, the school paper. Can you imagine him doing a post-game interview?

Al: “Hey quarterback, why’d you throw that interception in the fourth quarter?”

QB: “Because you missed your blocking assignment and I had to hurry my throw, you jabroni.”

Al Pinksy was pretty versatile in his own right.

The Coach: Joseph Orlean “J.O.” Christian guided the Huskies from 1934-49, going 66-51-4; he is second behind only Randy Edsall on UConn’s all-time win list. He also coached the baseball team from 1936-61, going 254-170-7 with a pair of College World Series appearances (the baseball field is named in his honor). After his coaching days, Christian was commissioner of the Yankee Conference from 1966-71.

The Uniforms: UConn wore just one jersey that season, but mixed it up with multiple helmets and pants. The white shirts are very distinctive, with navy shoulder panels and three stripes at the very end of the sleeves. The Huskies wore white and navy helmets, while the pants alternated between navy and what appears to be a sandy color. The socks feature a striped pattern similar to the jersey sleeves.

The Fallout: Thanks to World War II, UConn did not field a team in ’43, but came back in ‘44 to go 7-1 in each of the next two seasons; the ’44 bunch outscored its foes 152-13.

Colby Mules (1972)

These days, I live about 20 minutes from Waterville, Maine, and Colby College, which, according to the townsfolk, is either singlehandedly leading the revival of downtown Waterville or is "that place on the hill" singlehandedly taking over the city, whether the residents like it or not.

One thing everyone can agree on is this: Colby is not known for football (well, outside of Baltimore Ravens GM Eric DeCosta). From 1962-78, the Mules had only one winning record and have had but two since 2000. Today, we're going to look at the 1972 bunch -- the lone winner in that aforementioned 17-year span. (I should eventually profile the 2000 team that shared the NESCAC title, which is kinda like Columbia winning the Ivy League or Rhody taking the CAA.) More importantly, the '72 Mules answer a question that has been on America's minds for decades: What if you mashed up the Baltimore Colts unis with those of the Detroit Lions?

About five years ago, I profiled the 1962 team that resembled the latter-day Baltimore/early Indianapolis Colts.

Colby players were full of joy in 1972.

The Team: Colby went 7-1, the Mules' best record since the 1940 bunch went undefeated (6-0-1), and their most wins since 1909 (7-0). Colby outscored its opponents 222-150; toss out a 49-0 loss to Hobart, and the margin is 222-101.

The Players: The leader of this team was sophomore Peter Gorniewicz, who set school records with 1,170 rushing yards, 15 touchdowns and 90 points scored. He finished his career with 4,114 yards, which apparently was a New England record at one point. QB Brian Cone, who was named team MVP, handed the ball off to Gorniewicz and also kicked field goals. Cornerback Aubrey Moore led the team in interceptions with four.

The Coach: Dick McGee guided the Mules from 1967-78, going 29-64 (the '72 team was his best, by far), and also was athletic director from 1974-87. He also did quite a bit for community sports in central Maine, as you can read here in this excellent tribute following his death in 2015 (and I'm not just saying that because I work for the Central Maine papers! 😎).

Colby players take in the action, 1973.

The Uniforms: Now, time to answer that question America was debating in '72. The result? Not bad. The blue seems to be a little darker than that used by the Lions or Colts (side rant: I've never liked the term "Honolulu blue" to describe the Lions' jerseys), but it works well. The horseshoe on the silver helmet doesn't look too much out of place; I found it odd only upon first sight. The striping, names and number fonts and pure Champion all the way, very similar to what Boston College had in the 70s. Interesting that the Mules wore names on the back; most teams (at least around New England) still eschewed the practice at this point in time.

True fact: The Maine Legislature outlawed
live animal mascots in the 1960s.

The Aftermath: Gorniewicz had another big season in '73, but the Mules fell to 1-7 and didn't  had another winning season until 1979.

(The bulk of the info on this team, plus the pictures, came from this excellent article from The Colby Alumnus, Fall 1972. Check it out.)

A headline from the Colby Echo describes Colby's lone
win of the '73 season, over Bates. So much for academic schools
having more intelligent humor.