USD Football 1991

BY JOHN BARTIMOLE At a time when it was rare to have one runner gain 1,000 yards in a nine-game season, this team had two. In the days when it was unusual to use the pass as anything but a last-gasp tool, this team threw for 1,261 meaningful yards en route to a perfect 9-0 season. When it was difficult to run up huge scores because of the emphasis on the ground game, this team managed to outscore its rivals, 339-126. This team is still the one they talk about at Bucknell University-this great 1951 team that went 9-0, graduated many play- ers onto stellar professional and athletic careers, and placed 10 of its members in the university's Athletic Hall of Fame. "When Bucknell football fans talk about great teams, this '51 team is at the top of their list," Brad Tufts, associate athletic director at Bucknell, said. "Even though

we've had teams win the Lambert Cup (1960 and 1964), that '51 team is the mea- suring stick for all the others. It was an exceptional team that really clicked." The '5 1 Bison didn 't win the Lambert Trophy-symbolic of supremacy in eastern football-simply because the award hadn't yet been initiated. Still, the team holds the distinction of being Bucknell 's last unde- feated football squad, and the team to record the most victories in a single season. Even more impressive, in addition to the nine games Bucknell won in '5 1, the team had won its last four (after a rough 2-3 start) in 1950, and followed the '51 session by winning its first four, stringing together a 17-game undefeated streak. "This was in the days of two-platoon football ," Tufts said. "It was also in the days when teams ran the ball almost exclu- sively. Yet, the '5 1 team threw the ball well when it had to." The '51 Bison averaged a phenomenal 463.3 yards per game-almost all on the ground-smashing the eastern record for yardage previously held by the great '45 Blanchard-Davis team at Anny. Because of the ferociousness of the ground a11ack, which gained an average of 323.2 yards per game, the Bison, coached by Henry Lawrence, were able to pass the ball with extreme effectiveness when nec- essary. In fact, the team averaged more than 26 yards per completion, a statistic that would make any of 1oday's super- charged offenses ecstatic.

Bucknell's Brad Myers fights for yardage during the Bison's 21-20 · victory over Colgate.

The 1951 Bucknell Bisons thundered to a record-setting perfect season.

An interesting note about the Herd's passing game was its diversity: quarter- back Tommy Dean did most of the throw- ing, completing 28 of 66 passes for four TDs and 549 yards. But a trio of running backs-Glenn Aspinwall, Bob Albert and Brad Myers-also threw the ball, picking up almost 700 aerial yards between them. The '5 1 squad remains s pecia l to Bucknell fans and to eastern football, rep- resenting the heart of that 17-game win- ning streak and boasting some of the most well-known of Bucknell 's players. For example, the starting defensive tackle on that memorable team was George Young, a first team Little All-America selection who signed with the Dallas Texans of the AFL, but who is best known for being the gener- A SELDOM A freelance writer living in Olean, N.Y. John Bartimole writes for the Big East Conference, the NCAA and numerous sports publications. DISCOURAGED HERD TOUCHDOWN ILLUSTRATED