One Dozen All-Americas

Even before the first whistle blew this season, sportswriters knew which four men belonged in anybody's All-America backfield. Obviously, two of them were Army's durable Davis & Blanchard; the other two were Georgia's Charlie Trippi and Notre Dame's Quarterback Johnny Lujack. Last week, with every sports editor puffing into print with his own All-America team, the same four men turned up on almost everybody's list. Only Grantland Rice--who picks Collier's All-America team, the nearest thing to an official selection--was different. Granny Rice couldn't decide between Lujack and Army's Arnold Tucker, finally took the easy way out by picking a five-man backfield.*

In the line, where heroes are not so self-evident, there was more competition and more difference of opinion. Cagey West Coasters, aware that all the backfield positions were filled, began boosting as early as October for U.C.L.A.'s star end, Burr Baldwin. Baldwin, one of a half-dozen capable ends in the U.S., made All-Americas hands down.

As every year, choosing All-Americas was partly a logrolling operation in which sports editors voted noisily for the local man they were plugging, then filled in the rest with names they had heard of--even if they hadn't seen them in action (the New York Daily News named a guard as an All-America tackle). Grantland Rice had personally seen nine of the dozen he picked. His list relied largely on his board of sports editors. Since the editors also voted in the wire association polls, his choices were fairly representative. The Rice line:

The Southwest had its favored son, big (214 Ib.) Weldon Humble of Rice Institute, who played guard but was fast enough to play halfback. Notre Dame's line, the toughest in football, won two places--Guard John Mastrangelo and Tackle George Connor. Army contributed (besides Tucker, Blanchard & Davis) a 200-lb. end, Hank Foldberg. Georgia Tech, which 18 years ago had an All-America center, "Peter" Fund, had another in Paul Duke. The beefiest man on this season's All-America is Tennessee's 230-lb. tackle, Dick Huffman.

* Once before, in 1930, Rice made Orville Mohler No. 5 in a backfield of Frank, Carideo, Ernie Pinckert, Bob Dodd and Leonard Macaluso.

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