The 1951 Backfield

TigerBlog saw two people in the supermarket the other day who were wearing NFL football jerseys.

This is not an uncommon sight. What was very surprising was who the players were whose jerseys they were wearing.

First, there was a New York Jets Chad Pennington jersey. The other one, even more stunningly, was a Bobby Hoying Philadelphia Eagles jersey.

What the heck? 

Both Pennington and Hoying at one time were considered to be franchise quarterbacks for those two teams, and, well, neither really was. Actually, as TB looked it up, he learned that Pennington had a much better career than he thought.

Hoying? He didn't last quite as long, though he did make a dramatic impact in the 1997 season. In fact, he played in two games that year and threw 11 touchdown passes. Unfortunately for him, those would be the only 11 TD passes he would throw in his carerer.

Pennington, for his part, actually had a pretty good career, highlighted by three facts:

1) he played for 11 seasons, eight with the Jets and three with the Dolphins

2) when he retired, he had the NFL's career record for completion percentage at 66.0 percent. Today he's still second. Can you tell TB which quarterback is now first?

3) Pennington himself is the answer to an extraordinary trivia question. Did you know that he is the only quarterback between 2002 and 2019 to lead his team to the AFC East championship other than Tom Brady? Pennington did it in 2002 with the Jets and 2008 with the Dolphins.

As for the NFL record-holder for career completion percentage? It's now Drew Brees.

So Chad Pennington did just fine for himself in the NFL. Maybe the surprise is that you don't see more Chad Pennington jerseys in the supermarket? 

Speaking of quarterbacks, TigerBlog received a call yesterday from a man named John who asked about the starting backfield of the 1951 Princeton football team. The conversation started when the man, whom TB had never spoken to before, said "so you're the department historian?"

TB has yet to have anyone start a conversation like that with him that hasn't gone in a fairly fascinating direction. 

The 1951 Princeton team was led, of course, by Dick Kazmaier, the dual-threat running/passing back who would win the Heisman Trophy that year after lead the Tigers to a 9-0 record. For Princeton it was the second-straight 9-0 season, and those 18 wins over two years were unmatched by the program until 2018 and 2019, when the team also won 18 games.

Also, since the two unbeaten seasons in two years, Princeton has had two unbeaten seasons in the 70 years since (1964, 2018). Unbeaten seasons are not easy to come by, even for great teams. 

Princeton might have been 9-0 at the end of the 1951 season, but at least one source didn't like the team's chances before the season began. This is from the Daily Princetonian of Sept. 24, 1951:

Ordinarily, this would be considered as a good Princeton team. This year Captain Dave Hickok and his famous partner, Dick Kazmaier, have to face comparison with last year's powerhouse. The chances of equalling last season's record look slim indeed. 

Meanwhile, back at the backfield in 1951, you first have to understand that that Kazmaier, despite being able to run or pass, was not considered the quarterback. In the single-wing, the quarterback was more like what you would consider an H-back today, a player who mostly blocks and can carry the ball every now and then, if ever.

This was also from the same Prince preview:

Russ McNeil still holds forth at fullback although he is receiving real competition from Soph Homer Smith. George Stevens' experience is enabling him to hold the quarterback spot in spite of the fine play of Francis Lovecchio, a vicious blocker. Dick Pivirotto has looked good consistently at wingback. He seems to have the job cinched—unless Dick Yaffa shows rapid improvement.

TB loved this, mostly because it is a combination of the same basic way of writing a preview story with a style of writing that long since vanished from sportswriting. 

Maybe TB could help bring that way of writing back?