UMass Redmen (1959)

This is kind of a random team to profile at first glance, but the 1959 UMass Redmen (Minutemen) marked the end of an era: This was the last year of UMass' decades-long stretch as a plodding, so-so program before it became a New England powerhouse for the next 40-plus years. 

A cool shot of Alumni Field, UMass' old stadium, in 1959.

The Team: UMass went 3-5-1, 2-2 in Yankee Conference play (oddly, only YC champ UConn had a winning record in league play, at 4-0), with the wins coming over Maine, Brandeis (its final year fielding a football team) and New Hampshire. The tie was a nil-nil draw with Northeastern.

'59 UMass in action. 

The Players: Halfback Tom Delnickas was the only UMass player to make the YC all-conference first team, which named only 11 players in those one-platoon days. Jerry Cullen (G), Ralph Maloney (E) and Will Reynolds (E) were named to the second team. Reynolds led the team with 399 yards running and six TDs.

The 1959 UMass coaching staff. Dick MacPherson
went on to coach the Minutemen from 1971-77, winning 
four Yankee Conference titles.

The Coach: "Chuckin'" Charlie O'Rourke was one of the greatest players in Boston College history (you can read more about his teams here and here), but he could not translate his playing success to the sideline, going only 21-39-4 from 1952-59 with one winning season.

The Uniforms: This was the last year UMass wore gold as a primary color (other examples can be found here, here and here), as the gold pants were dumped after the season. (As I've said a million billion times before, they make the players resemble Boston College.) This also was the second and final year the Redmen wore a white helmet with a number on the side; they went to blank white lids in 1960 and blank maroon headgear in '63.

A nice close-up of the '59 UMass road uniform.

An aside: I haven't kept track, but UMass might hold the record (at least on this project) for most jersey colors (white, maroon, gold, black and gray). 

The Fallout: In 1960, Chuck Studley took over as coach and guided UMass to a 7-2 record in his only season before leaving for Cincinnati. His successor, Vic Fusia, went 59-32-2 from 1961-70 and won five Yankee Conference titles to establish a long, long run of excellence.

Looks like this young UMass fan is trying to
kidnap the Rhode Island goat. Maybe give it to UConn?