1942 Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets football team

1942 Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets football
1942 Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets football
Conference	Independent
Ranking
AP	No. 1 (APS)
Record	8–3–1
Head coach	Tony Hinkle (1st season);
Home stadium	Soldier Field
	Seasons ← 1941 1943 →

The 1942 Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets football team represented the United States Navy's Great Lakes Naval Training Station (Great Lakes NTS) during the 1942 college football season. Playing a schedule that included six Big Nine Conference football teams, Notre Dame, Pitt, Michigan State, and Missouri, the team compiled an 8–3–1 record, shut out seven opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 222 to 55.^[1]^[2] The team was ranked No. 1 among the service teams in a poll of 91 sports writers conducted by the Associated Press.^[3]

ConferenceIndependent

APNo. 1 (APS)

Record8–3–1

Headcoach

Tony Hinkle (1st season)

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1942 military service football records
v t e	Conf.			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
No. 11 Second Air Force		–		11	–	0	–	1
No. 9 Manhattan Beach Coast Guard		–		6	–	0	–	1
No. 17 March Field		–		11	–	2	–	0
No. 3 Georgia Pre-Flight		–		7	–	1	–	1
No. 4 North Carolina Pre-Flight		–		8	–	2	–	1
No. 6 Jacksonville NAS		–		9	–	3	–	0
No. 1 Great Lakes Navy		–		8	–	3	–	1
No. 2 Iowa Pre-Flight		–		7	–	3	–	1
No. 15 Fort Riley		–		6	–	3	–	0
No. 14 Fort Monmouth		–		5	–	2	–	2
No. 5 Saint Mary's Pre-Flight		–		6	–	3	–	1
No. T–20 Fort Douglas		–		5	–	3	–	0
No. 10 Corpus Christi NAS		–		4	–	3	–	1
No. 16 Camp Davis		–		4	–	3	–	2
Albuquerque AAB		–		5	–	4	–	0
No. 13 Lakehurst NAS		–		4	–	4	–	1
Santa Ana AAB		–		4	–	4	–	0
Will Rogers AB		–		4	–	4	–	0
No. 7 Camp Grant		–		4	–	5	–	0
No. 8 Pensacola NAS		–		3	–	5	–	1
No. T–18 Fort Totten		–		3	–	5	–	1
Camp Pickett		–		1	–	6	–	0
No. 12 Fort Knox		–		2	–	6	–	0
Alameda Coast Guard		–		1	–	7	–	1
No. T–18 Spence Field		–		0	–	4	–	0
No. T–20 Daniel Field		–		0	–	6	–	0

Rankings from AP Service Poll

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The team's head coach was Tony Hinkle, who coached football, baseball, and basketball at Butler University before the war.^[2] Butler agreed in March 1942 to send Hinkle to Great Lakes NTS to assist in the war effort.^[4]

The team was made up of college and professional football players who were serving in the Navy and stationed at Great Lakes NTS. The team was led on offense by Bruce Smith, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1941 while playing for Minnesota. Other players included: Rudy Mucha, a consensus All-American center in 1940 who spent the 1941 season in the NFL, Bob Sweiger (fullback, Minnesota), Pete Kmetovic (halfback, Stanford), Vic Marino (All-Big Ten guard from Ohio State) Bill Radovich (guard, USC/Detroit Lions), Carl Mulleneaux (end, Utah State), and Steve Belichick, father of Bill Belichick who played for the Detroit Lions in 1941.^[2]

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[2]

[3]

[4]

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 26	at Michigan	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI	L 0–9	17,031	^[5]
October 3	at Iowa	Iowa Stadium Iowa City, IA	W 25–0	8,600	^[6]
October 10	vs. Pittsburgh	Cleveland Municipal Stadium Cleveland, OH	W 7–6	12,315	^[7]
October 17	No. 7 Wisconsin	Soldier Field Chicago, IL	L 7–13	30,000	^[8]
October 24	at Michigan State	Macklin Field East Lansing, MI	L 0–14	12,000	^[9]
October 31	vs. Missouri	Sportsman's Park St. Louis, MO	W 17–0	16,627	^[10]
November 7	at Purdue	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN	W 42–0	12,000	^[11]
November 11	at Camp Grant	Bell Bowl Camp Grant, IL	W 33–0	8,000	^[12]
November 15	at Marquette	Marquette Stadium Milwaukee, WI	W 24–0	20,000	^[13]
November 21	at Illinois	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	W 6–0	10,856	^[14]
November 26	at Northwestern	Dyche Stadium Evanston, IL	W 48–0	18,500	^[15]
December 5	No. 8 Notre Dame	Soldier Field Chicago, IL	T 13–13	35,000	^[16]
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

1942 Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets football team

Schedule

References

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