Heismanpundit.com continues its series on looking back at past winners. This week we look back at the winner of the 1946 Heisman:
1946 Heisman- Army’s Glenn Davis
By Chip Haunss, Special To Heismanpundit.com
It is 1946 and Harry Truman is President. The United States has just come out of the end of World War II. The Nuremberg trials follow the end of Nazi Germany, where 12 Nazi leaders are sentenced to hang, seven are imprisoned and three are acquitted.
The United States establishes the Atomic Energy Commission and the country is facing the worst work stoppages since 1919. The cost of a first class stamp is three cents and the unemployment rate is 3.9%.
The St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series, the Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup and the Chicago Bears win the NFL Championship. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Army Black Knights split the NCAA National Championship and the Black Knights’ own Glenn Davis is awarded the 1946 Heisman Trophy.
Davis is one of the most accomplished players in the history of college football, having put up some incredible numbers while at West Point. “Mr. Outside,” as he was known, was such a great player that prior to winning the Heisman in 1946, Davis, as a sophomore, was the runner up in 1944 to Ohio State’s Les Horvath and again as a junior in 1945 to teammate Felix “Doc” Blanchard.
Long before he arrived at West Point, Davis was a phenomenal athlete, earning 13 letters in four sports in high school. During his senior season at Bonita High School in LaVerne, California, he scored an amazing 256 points.
This prompted the Los Angles Times to call him “the best athlete ever developed in Southern California.”
Davis left such a legacy in Southern California that the annual award for the area’s high school football player of the year is given in Davis’ name.
Davis entered the United States Military Academy in the summer of 1943 and despite attaining one of the highest scores on the freshman physical fitness test, he struggled in the classroom. Davis failed a freshman math class and was dismissed from West Point. After he enrolled and passed a summer school math class in California he was readmitted to the Academy in the fall of 1944.
During the 1944 season Davis emerged as one of the best running backs in the country. He and Blanchard formed what would become one of the most prolific backfields in the history of college football. That season Blanchard moved to fullback and Davis move to halfback, earning their nicknames, as penned by New York Sun sportswriter George Trevor: “Mr. Inside” for Blanchard and “Mr. Outside” for Davis.
Davis and Blanchard were on the cover of Time Magazine in 1945
Davis ended the season with 667 yards rushing, and caught another 13 passes for 221 yards. Davis led the nation in scoring with 120 points (20 total touchdowns). The sophomore halfback led Army to an undefeated and untied season–its first since 1916–and the National Championship.
Davis won both the Maxwell Trophy and Walter Camp Trophy, but finished second to Ohio State’s Les Horvath in the Heisman voting.
Bob Carroll, founder of the Professional Football Researcher’s Association (PFRA) said after the 1944 season “[Davis] possessed a devastating change of pace, a powerful leg drive, and a strong stiff arm.”
In 1945, he put up even better numbers, rushing for 994 yards and averaging 11.5 yards per carry, tops in the nation. He scored 18 more touchdowns as the Black Knights produced another perfect season to win their second-straight National Championship. However, Blanchard, who led the nation in scoring, took home the Heisman in 1945.
Blanchard paid Davis the ultimate compliment when he accepted the award, telling the audience “I’d have voted for Glenn Davis.”
Davis and Blanchard were larger than life by 1946
Prior to the 1946 season the duo graced the cover of Life magazine and earned the nickname “Touchdown Twins.” The 1946 season got off to inauspicious start when Blanchard went down in the opener with a knee injury, opening the door for Davis to have the national spotlight all to himself. He didn’t disappoint.
Davis rushed for 712 yards, caught 20 passes for another 348 yards and finished the season with 13 touchdowns. No game that season would showcase his talents more than a 20-13 victory at Michigan. Davis rushed for 105 yards, caught seven passes for an additional 159 yards and threw for a touchdown. He also intercepted two Wolverine passes for good measure (remember that this was the one-platoon era where players participated on both sides of the ball).
After the game Army Coach Earl “Red” Blaik called Davis “the best player I have seen, anywhere, anytime.”
The Black Knights were headed to their third straight undefeated season and third straight National Championship when they met then No. 1 Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium on November 9. The teams played to a scoreless tie, ending Army’s winning streak at 25. Davis and Army would win its final two games and split the National Championship with Notre Dame.
At the end of the ’46 season Davis was awarded the Heisman at last, as well as the Maxwell Trophy and the Walter Camp Trophy. He was also was named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year.
With Davis and Blanchard winning back-to-back Heismans, the “Touchdown Twins” became the second set of teammates to win the award in consecutive seasons.
The Final Heisman Results from 1946 were as follows:
Place Name School Class Position Points
1 Glenn Davis Army Senior HB 792
2 Charlie Trippi Georgia Senior HB 435
3 John Lujack Notre Dame Junior QB 379
4 Felix Blanchard Army Senior FB 267
5 Arnie Tucker Army Senior QB 257
6 Herman Wedermeyer St. Mary’s Junior HB 101
7 Burr Baldwin UCLA Senior E 49
8 Bobby Layne Texas Junior QB 45
(Courtesy of Heisman.com)
Davis finished his career with 2,957 yards rushing and an NCAA record average of 8.26 yards per carry. Additionally, he threw for 855 yards and returned two punts for touchdowns. He ended his career with 4,129 yards rushing and receiving and 59 touchdowns, and from 1944-1946 Davis never lost a game, leading Army to a 27-0-1 record.
His 59 career touchdowns are still an Army record and his 2,957 yards rushing ranks him third all-time for the Black Knights.
He and Blanchard combined to score 97 touchdowns and 585 points, an NCAA record that stood for 60 years until it was broken by Southern California’s Reggie Bush and LenDale White last season.
Despite all of his accolades, Davis never was one to get caught up in reading his own clippings. In 1995 he told the Associated Press:
“I wasn’t the kind of guy who liked to pick the newspaper up to find out how I was doing. I just did my thing the best I could.”
Prior to leaving for his military service, Davis and Blanchard went to Los Angeles to film The Spirit of West Point, a movie that was made about their Army careers. Ironically, Davis who was healthy throughout his West Point career, tore a knee ligament during filming of the movie, and was never the same.
“That was the end of me,” Davis said. “I never could cut on that knee again.”
After he finished the film, Davis completed his three-year military obligation, and joined the Los Angeles Rams in 1950. He played two seasons for the Rams. He led them to the 1950 Championship game, which they dropped to the Cleveland Browns, 30-28, and to the 1951 NFL Championship, where they defeated the Browns, 24-17. Davis’ knee deteriorated in 1951, forcing him to retire after that season.
Davis was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1961.
Davis’ post-football life was interesting to say the least. He was at one time engaged to Elizabeth Taylor, and later married actress Terry Moore. The oddest twist of all occurred in 1995, when Davis, a widower, was at the Heisman dinner. It was there he met Yvonne Ameeche, whose husband Alan won the 1954 Heisman Trophy, but died in 1988 during heart surgery. Davis and Yvonne fell in love and married a year later.
Glenn “Mr. Outside” Davis passed away on Mach 9, 2005 due to complications from prostate cancer. He was 80.
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