Johnny Lujack was ‘king of the hill’ at Notre Dame

Johnny Lujack’s senior season as quarterback of the Notre Dame football team in 1947 was spectacular. He easily won the Heisman Trophy as the nation’s top collegiate player…while leading his team to a 9-0 record.

Notre Dame Coach Frank Leahy and Johnny Lujack

Notre Dame quarterback Johnny Lujack, left, receives the Heisman Trophy from Wilbur Jurden, president of the Downtown Athletic Club in New York, on Dec. 10, 1947.  

However, “the argument” about who had the best team in the land in 1947 wasn’t settled on the playing field. In fact, it still hasn’t been settled…in the minds of many football fans. (This was the second year in a row that controversy surrounded the final Associated Press rankings.)

Also in the conversation in 1947 was the Michigan Wolverines, a team that went 10-0.

 After the last regular season game, the Associated Press sportswriters out of the blue voted to “leapfrog” Notre Dame over Michigan as the top-ranked team.

Michigan still had one game remaining…a Rose Bowl contest with Southern California. Notre Dame’s season was over.

(The late Lou Somogyi, a football writer at Notre Dame, said his university’s policy from 1925-68 was “not to go to bowl games, primarily because they were nothing more than glorified exhibitions.”)

Entering the Rose Bowl game, Southern Cal was ranked No. 3 with a 7-1-1 record, after a loss to Notre Dame (38-7) and an early season tie with Rice (7-7).

In the Rose Bowl game, Michigan steamrolled Southern Cal (49-0), but the national title went to Notre Dame.

Michigan was robbed, commented Grantland Rice, the dean of the nation’s sports writers (shown below). He lauded Michigan, saying, “It is the best all-around college football team I’ve seen….”

 

Detroit Free Press Sports Editor Lyall Smith argued the debate (about who’s No. 1) should be answered by comparing the performance of Notre Dame and Michigan against three common opponents.

Smith said: “Notre Dame beat Pitt, 40-6, a margin of 34 points; Michigan beat Pitt 59-0. Notre Dame defeated Northwestern, 26-19, a margin of seven points; Michigan beat the Wildcats 49 to 21, a 28-point advantage. Notre Dame dropped Southern Cal, 36-7, in what Coach Frank Leahy termed his team’s ‘greatest game of the year,’ while Michigan slaughtered the same Trojans, 49-0.”

“Against those three common opponents, the Irish scored 104 points to 32. Michigan’s margin was 167 to 21.”

The AP took a lot of heat. It sent out “an unofficial post-bowl ballot to poll sports editors of its member newspapers throughout the country: ‘Which is the better football team – Michigan or Notre Dame?’”

Michigan was voted No. 1 in the post-bowl poll by a vote of 226 to 119. The AP reported: “The nation’s sports writers gave the final answer to the raging controversy on the relative strength of the Notre Dame and Michigan football teams, and it was the Wolverines over the Irish by almost two to one.”

In the hearts of the Notre Dame faithful, Johnny Lujack was the best quarterback in school history.

Even though his collegiate career was interrupted by service with the Navy in 1944-45 during World War II, he guided Notre Dame football to three national titles in the wrap-around years of 1943 and 1946-47.

At Notre Dame, Lujack earned varsity letters in four sports – football, basketball, baseball and track and field – as a freshman. No one else has accomplished that feat in Notre Dame history.

Drafted by the Chicago Bears (fourth overall pick in the 1948 National Football League draft), Lujack played four years as a professional. He posted stellar numbers on both sides of the ball, leading the team in scoring and in interceptions. Lujack was selected to the NFL Pro Bowl twice.

World War II altered the norms of college football

While still in the midst of World War II, the 1944 college football season marched on, with Notre Dame tabbed as a pre-season favorite to defend its title as national champion.

 

The Fighting Irish had some holes to fill though, namely at quarterback. The two players who shared that position in 1943 were no longer with the team. Angelo Bertelli was a Marine and Johnny Lujack was in the Navy.

Frank Dancewicz (shown below), a junior, emerged as Notre Dame’s primary signal-caller for the 1944 gridiron campaign. Notre Dame posted an 8-2 record in 1944 to earn a No. 9 national ranking.

 

Dancewicz was back for a final year as Notre Dame quarterback in 1945. The Fighting Irish finished at 7-2-1, and once again ranked 9th in the final poll.

However, Dancewicz was 0-2 versus Army. The Black Knights beat the tar out of Notre Dame in 1944 (59-0) and again in 1945 (48-0), enroute to back-to-back Army national championships. 

Meanwhile, Notre Dame fans offered up prayers for their boys on the front lines of the war effort.

As a Marine, Bertelli advanced to the rank of second lieutenant. He was stationed for a time at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C., but was eventually deployed to the Pacific.

Bertelli fought at the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. (He was nearly killed when a Japanese mortar shell landed 15 feet away from his position.)

 

Later in 1945, Bertelli was a member of the Marine battalion that invaded Sasebo Harbor, Japan, to secure Omura airfield. World War II ended with Bertelli stationed in Nagasaki, Japan.

After returning to the United States, Bertelli signed for the 1946 season with the Los Angeles Dons in the upstart All-America Football Conference. After several knee surgeries, he retired prior to the 1949 season.

He settled in Clifton, N.J., and founded Bertelli Enterprises, Inc., a retail liquor outlet. For much of two decades, Bertelli was the radio broadcast analyst for Princeton football games.

Lujack’s stint with the Navy involved two years of duty as a junior officer aboard a “Navy ship that prowled the English Channel in pursuit of German U-boats.”

Lujack made it back to Notre Dame in time for the 1946 football season and was re-inserted into the lineup as starting quarterback. He had a brilliant season; the Fighting Irish posted a record of 8-0-1. The tie came against Army (9-0-1).

In the Army-Notre Dame game, the two teams slogged it out for four quarters and proved nothing. The result was a 0-0 tie. Lujack made the outstanding play of the day – on defense.

“Army’s famed Doc Blanchard (1945 Heisman Trophy winner) had broken into the open field and had what seemed like a clear path to the end zone only to be taken down on a textbook tackle by Notre Dame’s Johnny Lujack,” wrote sports journalist Michael Weinreb.

 

The mid-season contest had been hyped as the “game of the century,” but it turned out to be the “birth of the argument,” Weinreb asserted.

 The Associated Press had Army ranked No. 1 and Notre Dame No. 2 all season long…until the final poll, when the sportswriters flipped the two teams.

“We were not awarded the national championship in 1946,” commented Army coach Earl “Red” Blaik. “It was voted to Notre Dame. This always seemed rather strange to me, particularly in view of the fact that we were still undefeated.”

 Amen to that. Weinreb and many college football fans contend that Notre Dame was “gifted” the mythical national championship in 1946…a practice that would be repeated.

1943 college football season was one for the record book

Notre Dame quarterback Angelo Bertelli earned his key to enter college football’s fictional “Heisman House” as the nation’s top player in 1943…while he was occupying a Marine Corps’ barracks at Parris Island, S.C.

 

One of the oddities associated with college football during World War II is the fact that “the game went on,” while student-athletes continued to be activated into military service.

Bertelli (shown below) had gotten off to a red-hot start in 1943 (his senior year) as quarterback with the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame in South Bend., Ind. With Bertelli under center, Notre Dame became the nation’s top-ranked team, rolling up lopsided victories over Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Navy.

 

Bertelli was dubbed “the T-formation magician.” Through the first six games, Notre Dame’s offense was averaging nearly 44 points per game, while its defense was holding opponents to barely 5 points per game.

After Bertelli (48) answered the call to duty, Johnny Lujack (32) , a sophomore, was elevated to starting quarterback. He performed admirably in his first two outings, as Notre Dame disposed of Army and Northwestern.

 

Notre Dame’s final two games on its 1943 schedule were against two military base teams that were organized during the war years. (Military football programs were valued for their ability to enhance the training of the nation’s warfighters.)

Next up for Notre Dame was the Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks (representing the Navy’s pre-flight school based at the University of Iowa). Iowa Pre-Flight was 8-0, having beaten Illinois, Ohio State, Iowa State, Iowa, Missouri, Marquette and two other military squads.

 

Yet, coming into the game at South Bend, no one gave the Seahawks much of a chance. Shockingly, the Seahawks held a slim 13-7 lead well into the fourth quarter. Lujack rallied the Irish to a late touchdown. The extra point attempt was good, so Notre Dame escaped with a 14-13 victory.

Notre Dame’s season finale was at Great Lakes Naval Training Station near Chicago. The Great Lakes Bluejackets squad, which had lost only two games, was led by Steve Lach, a running back out of Duke University in Durham, N.C. (He was the fourth overall pick in the 1942 NFL draft by the Chicago Cardinals.)

 

Lach (37) proved to be the game MVP, as the Bluejackets pulled out a dramatic come-from-behind victory. With Notre Dame ahead 14-12 and 66 seconds left on the game clock, the Bluejackets had the ball on its own 37-yard line.

 Bluejackets’ coach Tony Hinkle moved Lach to quarterback to take advantage of his “athleticism” and switched the regular quarterback Paul Anderson to end. 

On the first play, Lach threw a strike to Cecil Pirkey for a nice gain to the Notre Dame 46.

 

On the next play, with 33 seconds remaining, Lach dropped back to pass but was forced to scramble, running to elude tacklers. He spotted Anderson, 15 yards behind the nearest defender, and lofted the ball in his direction.

Anderson made the catch near the 5 and scored easily, completing a 46-yard play. The Great Lakes kicker made the extra point, to give the Bluejackets a 19-14 advantage.

Notre Dame had one more possession, but Lujack’s desperation pass was intercepted by a Bluejackets defensive back. Naval sirens signaled the game was over. Notre Dame lost.

The Associated Press called the game the “sports surprise of the year.” Having defeated five top-10 teams, Notre Dame still finished the season atop the rankings. (Imagine that!)

Despite his abbreviated senior season, Bertelli compiled more than enough votes to capture the coveted Heisman Trophy in 1943.

 

Johnny Lujack’s day in the sun would come.

Military bases played ‘college level’ football during WW II

For a brief period of time during World War II, Camp Davis Army Air Field at Holly Springs had a football team that was highly competitive on the gridiron. Its schedule in the 1942 and 1943 seasons included a mixture of other military teams as well as squads from area colleges and universities.

 Eddie Dooley, a former star quarterback at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., who worked as sports journalist and radio broadcaster in 1942, saw it coming. He said:

“Football is a body-toughener. Football lights the fighting spark in fighting men. It develops aggressiveness, teamwork, stamina, physical and mental coordination under active stress, and therefore it holds a foremost place in our national wartime training program. Teams by the hundreds are in formation at various Army camps and posts and Navy bases.”

 

The Camp Davis Fighting AA’s (named for anti-aircraft guns that the soldiers trained to fire) was also nicknamed the “Blue Brigade.” The Camp Davis team captain was lineman John Mellus, who graduated from Villanova (Pa.) University, a second team All-American.

 

Mellus was selected in the 1938 National Football League (NFL) draft by the New York Giants and was a first-team NFL all-star in 1941. The Army drafted Mellus in 1942 and he landed at Camp Davis.

Another standout player for Camp Davis was Norm Standlee, who played fullback at Stanford (Calif.) University, and earned All-American second team honors as well.

 

In the 1941 NFL draft, Standlee went in the first round as the third overall pick to the Chicago Bears. He helped the Bears win the league championship over Mellus’ Giants that year. Standlee, too, was drafted by the Army and wound up at Camp Davis.

 

In 1942, Camp Davis posted a record of 4-3-2, registering wins over High Point College, Navy Pre-Flight Cloudbusters B Team (from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Cherry Point Marines Flying Leathernecks and Air Force Daniel Field Fliers from Augusta, Ga.

The 1943 season saw a vast improvement as Camp Davis went 8-2, disposing of Wake Forest College, Charleston (S.C) Coast Guard, N.C. State College, Davidson College, Army Fort Monroe Gunners from Hampton, Va., Presbyterian College, Air Force Daniel Field Fliers and Army Fort Bragg.

All servicemen were granted immediate eligibility to play on the military teams. Many bases stocked their teams with former pro players and college stars, said Christopher Klein, an author and historian. He remarked: “With rosters that included NFL players and All-Americans, the service teams often had size and speed advantages.”

Challenged with a shrinking pool of student-athletes enrolled, about 250 institutions dropped varsity football altogether during the war years. “Many of the collegiate teams that continued to play relied on freshmen too young to be drafted and those excused from military service because of medical conditions or deferments,” Klein said.

However, several universities and colleges were tapped by the federal government to offer military officer training programs on their campuses. These schools benefited from having a large influx of “new recruits” who they could weave into their football programs.

One such school was the University of Michigan. An alumnus called this situation “one of the greatest aggregations of gridiron talent ever brought together” on the campus in Ann Arbor.

For the 1943 season opener against Army Camp Grant (Rockford, Ill.), Michigan’s starting line-up consisted of six Marines, four Sailors and one civilian, a senior engineering student who had secured a deferment from his local draft board.

One of the Marines who stepped into the starting lineup at Michigan was Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.

 

A few of the military teams during this period in football history challenged for the national championship.

Pender County hosts the N.C. Blueberry Festival in June

Pender County, N.C., has about 15 miles of oceanfront property facing the Atlantic Ocean, and Topsail Beach is a world-famous summer destination for vacationers.

Drive a few miles inland and the landscape totally changes. You’re surrounded by acres and acres of lush farmlands. Burgaw, the seat of Pender County government, is the epicenter of North Carolina’s blueberry growing region.

Locals lovingly refer to Burgaw as “Blueberrytown.” Everyone is invited to come and enjoy the North Carolina Blueberry Festival. Save the date; it’s June 14-15, 2024.

 

Blueberry season typically runs from late May into early July. Many of the local farms offer tours. Festival organizers guarantee a “berry” good time for all. The Miss Blueberry Scholarship Pageant selects “queens” in 10 age groups.

 

Burgaw owes it existence to the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad that began operation in 1840. The rail line crossed Burgaw Creek, and railroad officials decided to build a station nearby, naming it Burgaw Depot.

State historians have identified the original building, the present warehouse section, as being built circa 1850. That makes it the oldest railroad structure in the state still standing. A post office opened at Burgaw Depot in 1854.

Burgaw takes its name from a Native American tribe that once inhabited the area along the creek. Old timers say “burgaw” is a tribal language word that means “mud hole.”

Mike Taylor, who recently retired as director of the Pender County Library, has a different interpretation. He says the word “burgaw” actually comes from Germany and means a “fortified place on a wet meadow.” Much better.

Pender County was separated from New Hanover County in 1875. The railroad company deeded a plot of land for the construction of a courthouse at Burgaw in 1876. The town was incorporated in 1879, and the post office name was changed from Burgaw Depot to Burgaw that same year.

Burgaw’s present-day motto is “Good Town Year Round.” Some say it’s a “perfect small southern town,” with about 3,400 residents and more than 30 motion picture and television programing credits.

The Pender County tourism office has produced a video, “Hometown Hollywood,” that delves into Burgaw’s role in the film industry. One of the narrators is Mike Taylor. He said the first movie shot in Burgaw was “Silver Bullet,” in 1985, a “horror thriller” based on author Stephen King’s “Cycle of the Werewolf.”

 

About 350 local citizens appeared in “Silver Bullet” as “extras,” Taylor said. “It was really something.”

History buffs should travel about 13 miles west of Burgaw to see the Moores Creek National Battlefield, where the North Carolina Patriots battled an army of Loyalists at Moores Creek Bridge on Feb. 27, 1776.

It was the first Revolutionary War battle on North Carolina soil, a decisive victory for the Patriots, which was accomplished in just three minutes. About 70 Loyalists were killed or wounded, and 850 men were taken prisoner. The Patriots lost a single soldier, John Grady.

 At the 86-acre national battlefield park, a monument pays tribute to Grady. The inscription reads: “Here lies the remains of Private John Grady of Duplin County, who fell bravely fighting for his country – the first martyr in the cause of freedom in North Carolina….”)

 

The Battle of Moores Creek Bridge was significant for several reasons. It marked the permanent end of royal authority in North Carolina, and it spurred the creation of the Halifax Resolves on April 12, 1776, instructing North Carolina’s delegates to the Continental Congress to vote for independence. 

North Carolina was the first American colony to take such action.

Bow to General Johnson: ‘King of Carolina Beach Music’

General Norman Johnson Jr. of Norfolk, Va., earned the undisputed title as “King of Carolina Beach Music.” He was simply the best there ever was, commented The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer in its obituary notice of Johnson’s passing in 2010. He died from lung cancer at age 67.

 

Jim Newsom, a musician and journalist in Norfolk, proclaims that Johnson ranks as beach music’s original and only “five-star general.”

Johnson’s voice could “wrap itself around a lyric and pull out every ounce of emotion,” Newsom wrote.

In a listing of the “All Time Beach Music Top 100,” compiled by the deejays at 94.9 The Surf, a beach music radio station in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., General Johnson totally dominates. His musical groups claim 11 of those 100 slots.

He is mentioned nine times with Chairmen of the Board songs and twice as the lead singer with his former group, The Showmen, which originated in Norfolk in 1961. Back-up singers with The Showmen were Leslie Felton, Gene Knight, Dorsey Knight and Milton Wells.

 

The Showmen had two big hits. “It Will Stand” (1961), which became “a rock’n’roll anthem,” and “39-21-40 Shape” (1964), which continues as a beach music classic.

Oddly, the latter song’s title was misprinted by the Imperial record company as “39-21-46.” For some unknown reason, the label was never corrected.

“39-21-40 Shape” ranks #13 on The Surf’s top-100 chart, while “It Will Stand” is #31.

 In 1968, it was time for Johnson to move on. He amicably left The Showmen and found a new home in Detroit, Mich., aligning with Holland-Dozier-Holland, a stellar songwriting and production team that had composed 130 charting songs for Motown Records. (Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland exited Motown Records to start their own labels, Invictus Records and Hot Wax Records.)

Johnson formed the Chairmen of the Board, bringing in Detroit area vocalists Danny Woods, Eddie Custis, Harrison Kennedy and Ken Knox, forming an ensemble that was also proficient with several musical instruments.

General Johnson and the Chairmen of the Board charted six major hits in the 1970s, including “Give Me Just a Little More Time,” “Everything’s Tuesday” and “(You’ve Got Me) Dangling on a String.” (The first two tunes continue to resonate today, ranking high on The Surf’s top 100-list – at #18 and #56, respectively.)

The core group begin to drift apart, and Johnson opted to embark on a solo career in 1976…but brought back the Chairmen of the Board in 1978 (with Woods and Knox) to focus chiefly on “beach music.” Johnson partnered in a new venture – Surfside Records in Charlotte N.C.

The hits just kept on coming for the “new and improved” General Johnson and the Chairmen of the Board in the 1980s. Six of the Surfside label songs are in The Surf’s top-100. Counting down:

“Beach Fever” #40; “Down at the Beach Club” #39; “I’d Rather Be in Carolina” #29; “Gone Fishin’” #26; “On the Beach” #22; and “Carolina Girls” #1.

 

“Carolina Girls” was released in 1980. Was it a bit of a “take that” jab directed at The Beach Boys, who had a smash hit in 1965 with “California Girls”…said to be “the cutest girls in the world?”

Whereas, on the other hand, “Carolina Girls” are “sweet Southern pearls…so fine…one of a kind… more precious than diamonds…the best in the world.”

Contributions by The Showmen (and other beach music kingpins) are immortalized in the lyrics of “I Love Beach Music,” a 1979 hit released by The Embers, a group that formed in Raleigh, N.C., in 1958.