Holy Cross Crusaders (1945-7)

A while back, we looked at a couple schools (Boston University, Rhode Island) that played in obscure bowl games. Now let’s take a gander at a small school that played in a slightly bigger bowl game — the 1945 Holy Cross Crusaders, who went 8-2, were ranked No. 16 in the nation by the Associated Press and ended the season with a loss to Miami in the Orange Bowl — yes, THAT Orange Bowl.

Unlike many New England schools (including Harvard, Boston College and most of the future Yankee Conference cow colleges), Holy Cross elected to go with a full program throughout World War II. The Crusaders went 6-2 in 1943 and 5-2-2 in ’44 going into the ’45 season under first-year coach John “Ox” DaGrosa. Holy Cross marched through its typical schedule of Ivy and other small, private Eastern schools (Villanova, Colgate, etc.), with its only setback coming to Temple in the next-to-last regular-season game. The Crusaders crushed arch-rival Boston College, 46-0, in the season finale to clinch a spot in the Orange Bowl against Miami.

The Orange Bowl game was first played after the 1934 season as a low-level bowl game (the first three games all attracted four-digit crowds), but quickly took off in popularity as big-name schools (Tennessee, Georgia Tech, etc.) got involved. Holy Cross’ showdown with Miami on Jan. 1 1946 drew 35,709, the second-largest crowd in the game’s history (no doubt helped by the host school’s participation, but crowds of 60,000-plus became standard a few years later, whether The U was there or not).  

This cartoon from the Tomahawk student paper
commemorates Holy Cross' appearance in the 1946 Orange Bowl.
Ah, the days before GIFs ... 

As for the game itself, Miami snapped a 6-6 tie in improbable fashion on a play that would be the stuff of legend today. The Cross was at the Hurricanes’ 26-yard line with 15 seconds remaining, too far away for a field goal in those pre-specialist days. Ox DaGrosa refused to settle for a tie and went for a pass play. Gene DeFillipo’s pass bounced off the hands of receiver Bob Conway and into the hands of Miami’s Al Hudson, who ran the ball back 89 yards for a game-winning pick-6 as time expired. Can you imagine if a game like that ended now? Poor DeFillipo and DaGrosa would be crucified on social media and on SportsCenter, and the ending certainly would win an ESPY as play of the year.

From top to bottom, Al Hudson's 89-yard, game-winning,
walk-off pix-six that gave Miami the 1946 Orange Bowl win 
over Holy Cross. Images taken from the highlight film.
Maybe I should be writing about those fiery orange
Hurricanes' unis. 

Despite the down ending, the game capped a memorable season, and Holy Cross football never reached these heights again, although basketball won the NCAA title in 1947 and baseball won the College World Series in ’52, so the athletic program was on a serious hot streak. Ox DaGrosa stepped down after the 1947 season (when only 10 players showed up on the first day of training camp and he had to suit up baseball players to fill out the roster; the ‘Saders still finished 4-4-2 and beat BC) and died a few years later.

TipTop 25, in its review of the ’45 AP poll, drops the Crusaders to No. 24, noting their two losses came to team that were unranked in the original poll. Works for me.

Holy Cross’ uniforms for ’45 were typical of the period: Silver helmets and pants, purple and white jerseys. In ’46, however, Ox DaGrosa took a left turn, switching to white helmets, jerseys with alternate-colored shoulder panels and pants with stripes down the back. Very un-Holy Cross, as you can see. In ’47, the silver helmets and conventional pants returned, and the paneled jerseys were ditched for more conservative versions in ’48, after former HC and Chicago Bears star Bill Osmanski became coach.