1941 Philadelphia Eagles season
Encyclopedia
The 1941
Philadelphia Eagles
season was their ninth in the league
. The team improved on their previous output
of 1–10, winning two games. The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season.
from Shibe Park where they played in 1940.
In late 1940, the football Pittsburgh Pirates
owner Art Rooney
bought half interest in the Eagles and sold the Pirates to Alexis Thompson. Before the start of the 1941 season Rooney and Thompson swap city and NFL rights for Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Pirates players of 1940 and before are now Philadelphia Eagles and the Philadelphia Eagles players are now members of the renamed Pittsburgh Steelers.
Coach Greasy Neal has the Eagles hold training camp in the High School Bowl,in Two Rivers, Wisconsin
about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Green Bay, Wisconsin
and 90 miles north of Milwaukee, WI on Lake Michigan
.
was held on December 10, 1940. The Eagles would get the 1st pick in the 22 rounds of the draft. Because these player were drafted before the Eagles and Steelers franchise swap of cities, these players ended up playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1941. The Pittsburgh draft picks would come to Philadelphia.
The Chicago Bears
(From Philadelphia Eagles
) had the number one pick in the draft. They choose Tom Harmon
, the 1940 Heisman Trophy
winner, a Halfback
out of the University of Michigan
Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.
These picks were the players that the Pittsburgh Pirates made before the team swap between owners.
to the Chicago Bears 73–0. The Eagles will host the Bears in week 12 and travel to Washington, DC to re-play the Redskins in week 14 to close out the 1941 season.
, in the US territory of Hawaii
. The attack started about time of kickoff for game.
The 1941 Philadelphia Eagles roster is made up of 39 players which 32 are rookies. The average years in NFL is 1/2 a year.
1941 NFL season
The 1941 NFL season was the 22nd regular season of the National Football League. Before the season, Elmer Layden was named the first Commissioner of the NFL, while Carl Storck resigned as league president....
Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
season was their ninth in the league
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. The team improved on their previous output
1940 Philadelphia Eagles season
The 1940 Philadelphia Eagles season was their eighth in the league. The team failed to improve on their previous output of 1–9–1, losing ten games...
of 1–10, winning two games. The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season.
Off Season
Eagle make move back to larger Municipal StadiumJohn F. Kennedy Stadium
John F. Kennedy Stadium was an open-air stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that stood from 1925 to 1992. The South Philadelphia stadium was situated on the east side of the far southern end of Broad Street at a location that is now part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex...
from Shibe Park where they played in 1940.
In late 1940, the football Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
owner Art Rooney
Art Rooney
Arthur Joseph "Art" Rooney, Sr. , often referred to as "The Chief", was the founding owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers American football franchise in the National Football League.-Family history:...
bought half interest in the Eagles and sold the Pirates to Alexis Thompson. Before the start of the 1941 season Rooney and Thompson swap city and NFL rights for Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Pirates players of 1940 and before are now Philadelphia Eagles and the Philadelphia Eagles players are now members of the renamed Pittsburgh Steelers.
Coach Greasy Neal has the Eagles hold training camp in the High School Bowl,in Two Rivers, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...
and 90 miles north of Milwaukee, WI on Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
.
NFL Draft
The 1941 NFL Draft1941 NFL Draft
The 1941 National Football League Draft was held on December 10, 1940.Despite having three picks in the first round, only Norm Standlee ever played for the Chicago Bears.-Player selections:-Round one:-Round two:-Round three:-Round four:...
was held on December 10, 1940. The Eagles would get the 1st pick in the 22 rounds of the draft. Because these player were drafted before the Eagles and Steelers franchise swap of cities, these players ended up playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1941. The Pittsburgh draft picks would come to Philadelphia.
The Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
(From Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
) had the number one pick in the draft. They choose Tom Harmon
Tom Harmon
Thomas Dudley Harmon was a star player in American college football, a sports broadcaster, and patriarch of a family of American actors...
, the 1940 Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...
winner, a Halfback
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...
out of the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
Player Selections
The table shows the Eagles selections and what picks they had that were traded away and the team that ended up with that pick. It is possible the Eagles' pick ended up with this team via another team that the Eagles made a trade with.Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.
These picks were the players that the Pittsburgh Pirates made before the team swap between owners.
| = Pro Bowl Pro Bowl In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those... er |
= Hall of Fame Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees... r |
= Picks made by Pittsburgh Pirates that became Eagles in 1941 |
| Rd | Pick | |Position | School | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | PICK WAS TAKEN BY THE | CHICAGO BEARS | |||
| 2 | 11 | Art Jones Art Jones (American football) Arthur Edward "Art" Jones, Jr. was a professional American football defensive back in the National Football League. He played two seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers .-References:... |
Back Running back A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running... |
Richmond | ||
| 3 | 16 | Marion Pugh | Back | Texas A&M | ||
| 4 | 26 | Al Ghesquiere | Back | University of Detroit | ||
| 5 | 31 | Royal Kahler Royal Kahler Royal James Kahler was a player in the National Football League.-Career:Kahler was drafted in the fifth round of the 1941 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles and played that season with the Pittsburgh Steelers... |
Tackle | University of Nebraska | ||
| Pitt 33 |
Vic Sears Vic Sears Victor Wilson Sears was an American football offensive lineman in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football at Oregon State University and was drafted in the fifth round of the 1941 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Sears is a member of the NFL's... |
Tackle | Oregon State | |||
| 6 | 41 | Howard "Red" Hickey Red Hickey Howard Wayne "Red" Hickey was an American football player and coach who played for two teams and served as head coach for the San Francisco 49ers, where he was most famous for creating the shotgun formation in 1960.... |
End | University of Arkansas University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in... |
||
| Pitt 42 |
Bob Suffridge Bob Suffridge Robert Lee "Bob" Suffridge was an American football player in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles. He played college football at the University of Tennessee, where he was later inducted into the school's hall of fame and the College Football Hall of Fame... |
Guard | Tennessee | |||
| 7 | 51 | Julius "Mush" Battista | Guard | Florida | ||
| 8 | 61 | PICK WAS TAKEN BY THE | CHICAGO BEARS | |||
| 9 | 71 | P. K. Rogers | Back | East Texas State | ||
| 10 | 81 | Don Williams | Tackle | Texas | ||
| Pitt 82 |
Ralph Fritz Ralph Fritz Ralph C. Fritz was an American football player and coach. A native of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, Fritz attended Kiski Preparatory School before enrolling at the University of Michigan. He played guard for the Michigan Wolverines football team from 1939 to 1940. Fritz later played... |
Guard | Michigan | |||
| 11 | 91 | Marshall Stenstrom | Back | Oregon | ||
| 12 | 101 | John Patrick | Back | Penn State | ||
| 13 | 111 | Joe Hoague Joe Hoague Joseph Daniell Hoague was a professional American football player in the National Football League with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and later the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh Steagles, and the Boston Yanks... |
Back | Colgate | ||
| 14 | 121 | Les Dodson | Back | Mississippi | ||
| 15 | 131 | Alex Lukachick | End | Boston College | ||
| 16 | 141 | Bill Conatser | Back | Texas A&M | ||
| 17 | 151 | John Yauckoes | Tackle | Boston College | ||
| 18 | 161 | Joe McFadden | Back | Georgetown (DC) | ||
| 19 | 171 | John Shonk | End | West Virginia | ||
| Pitt 173 |
George Kerr | Guard | Boston College | |||
| 20 | 181 | L. B. Russell | Back | Hardin-Simmons | ||
| 21 | 201 | Charley Henke(From Washington) | Guard | Texas A&M | ||
| Pitt 202 |
Jim Castiglia Jim Castiglia James Vincent Castiglia was an American football fullback in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles. He also played for the Baltimore Colts of the All America Football Conference... |
Back | Georgetown (DC) | |||
| 22 | 203 | Mike Fernella(From Chicago Bears) | Tackle | Akron | ||
Schedule
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 13, 1941 | New York Giants New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League... |
L 24–0 |
| 2 | September 21, 1941 | at Pittsburgh Steelers Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC... |
W 10–7 |
| 3 | September 27, 1941 | Brooklyn Dodgers Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL) The Brooklyn Dodgers were an American football team that played in the National Football League from 1930 to 1943, and in 1944 as the Brooklyn Tigers. The team played its home games at Ebbets Field. In 1945, because of financial difficulties, the team was merged with the Boston Yanks... |
L 24–13 |
| 4 | October 12, 1941 | at New York Giants New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League... |
L 16–0 |
| 5 | October 19, 1941 | Washington Redskins Washington Redskins The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,... |
L 21–17 |
| 6 | October 26, 1941 | Chicago Cardinals | W 21–14 |
| 7 | November 2, 1941 | at Brooklyn Dodgers Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL) The Brooklyn Dodgers were an American football team that played in the National Football League from 1930 to 1943, and in 1944 as the Brooklyn Tigers. The team played its home games at Ebbets Field. In 1945, because of financial difficulties, the team was merged with the Boston Yanks... |
L 15–6 |
| 8 | November 9, 1941 | Pittsburgh Steelers Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC... |
T 7–7 |
| 9 | November 16, 1941 | at Detroit Lions Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and... |
L 21–17 |
| 10 | November 30, 1941 | Chicago Bears Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League... |
L 49–14 |
| 11 | December 7, 1941 | at Washington Redskins Washington Redskins The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,... |
L 20–14 |
Game Recaps
The Eagles played 11 games over a NFL season that was 14 weeks long. The season started Sunday, September 7 and ended Sunday, December 7, 1941.Week 1 Bye
The Eagles had the week off as the NFL only scheduled 1 game this week end, Pittsburgh at Cleveland Rams.Week 3 at Steelers
The Eagles travel across the state of Pennsylvania to play the re-named Pittsburgh Steelers for the first time since the franchises swapped cities.Week 7 vs Redskins
The defending 1940 NFL Eastern Division Champions, Washington Redskins make a visit to Philadelphia to play the Eagles. Washington lost the 1940 NFL Championship Game1940 NFL Championship Game
The 1940 National Football League Championship Game, was the 8th in NFL history. The game was played at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. on December 8, 1940. The Chicago Bears defeated the Washington Redskins, 73-0, the most one-sided victory in NFL history...
to the Chicago Bears 73–0. The Eagles will host the Bears in week 12 and travel to Washington, DC to re-play the Redskins in week 14 to close out the 1941 season.
Week 10 vs Steelers
The Eagles' across state rivals return to Philadelphia for a rematch of a game of game won by the Eagles played in week 3. The Eagles enter the game with 2 wins and the Steelers are winless.Week 14 at Redskins
At the Eagles – Washington Redskins game in Washington, DC military personnel and US Gov't officials were getting paged concerning the attack on Pearl HarborAttack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
, in the US territory of Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
. The attack started about time of kickoff for game.
Standings
| NFL Eastern Eastern and Western Divisions (NFL) 1933-69 The Eastern and Western Divisions of the National Football League, renamed the American and National Conferences in 1950 and then the Eastern and Western Conferences in 1953, were organized as a result of the disputed NFL championship of 1932... |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | STK | |
| New York Giants 1941 New York Giants season The 1941 New York Giants season was the seventeenth season for the club in the National Football League.-Season recap:The Giants managed to put together a quite respectable team that year. Ed Danowski was lured out of retirement, Tuffy Leemans' back healed, and Mel Hein was talked out of a... |
8 | 3 | 0 | .727 | 238 | 114 | L-1 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL) season The 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers season was their 12th in the league. The team failed to improve on their previous season's output of 8-3, winning only seven games. They failed to qualify for the playoffs for the 10th consecutive season.-Schedule:-Standings:... |
7 | 4 | 0 | .636 | 158 | 127 | W-2 |
| Washington Redskins 1941 Washington Redskins season The 1941 Washington Redskins began with the team trying to improve on their 9-2 record from 1940.-Schedule:-Standings:... |
6 | 5 | 0 | .545 | 176 | 174 | W-1 |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 2 | 8 | 1 | .200 | 119 | 218 | L-3 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers 1941 Pittsburgh Steelers season The 1941 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the club's ninth as a member of the National Football League. In the off season, the team had been sold and then re-acquired in a bizarre series of transactions which has come to be referred to as the "Pennsylvania Polka"... |
1 | 9 | 1 | .100 | 103 | 276 | L-2 |
1941 Roster
(All time List of Philadelphia Eagles players in franchise history)The 1941 Philadelphia Eagles roster is made up of 39 players which 32 are rookies. The average years in NFL is 1/2 a year.
| = 1941 Pro Bowl Pro Bowl In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those... Pro All-Star |
| NO. | |AGE | |GP | |WT | |YRS | Len Barnum Len Barnum Leonard Warner Barnum was an American football quarterback in the National Football League for the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles. He attended West Virginia Wesleyan College... > | 29 | B-P-PK | 11 | 8 | 200 | 6–0 | 3 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | FB | 9 | 2 | 188 | 5–11 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 25 | HB-PK | 11 | 0 | 170 | 5–8 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 33 | C | 4 | 4 | 220 | 6–3 | 7 | |||||||||||
| 23 | C-LB-E | 7 | 0 | 225 | 6–2 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 24 | E-DB | 7 | 2 | 194 | 5–11 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 23 | FB | 11 | 6 | 208 | 5–11 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 24 | G | 10 | 1 | 210 | 6–0 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 28 | G | 9 | 8 | 204 | 5–11 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 23 | HB | 11 | 4 | 180 | 6–0 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 25 | G | 5 | 2 | 210 | 5–10 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 27 | T | 11 | 9 | 228 | 6–2 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 22 | C | 3 | 0 | 223 | 6–2 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 25 | E-DE | 3 | 0 | 197 | 6–1 | Rookie | none | ||||||||||
| 23 | FB-LB | 11 | 2 | 208 | 6–1 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 26 | T | 11 | 0 | 217 | 6–1 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 24 | G | 10 | 1 | 202 | 5–9 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 21 | G | 5 | 1 | 223 | 6–0 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 23 | HB | 8 | 0 | 175 | 5–9 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 23 | HB | 6 | 0 | 187 | 5–10 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 26 | C | 11 | 7 | 210 | 6–3 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 24 | E | 1 | 0 | 211 | 6–3 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 23 | E | 6 | 0 | 215 | 6–2 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 24 | B | 1 | 0 | 195 | 6–0 | 1 | |||||||||||
| 23 | E-DE | 11 | 8 | 179 | 6–1 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 23 | E | 11 | 11 | 190 | 6–1 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 22 | HB | 11 | 7 | 180 | 5–11 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 23 | HB | 8 | 1 | 175 | 5–11 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 24 | G | 1 | 0 | 205 | 6–1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| 24 | E | 10 | 1 | 186 | 6–0 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 26 | T-G | 10 | 10 | 216 | 6–0 | 3 | |||||||||||
| 23 | T-DT | 11 | 2 | 223 | 6–3 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 23 | E | 10 | 0 | 190 | 6–1 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 22 | T | 6 | 0 | 254 | 6–2 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 25 | G | 10 | 9 | 205 | 6–0 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 25 | QB | 11 | 5 | 192 | 6–1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| 25 | FB-HB | 6 | 3 | 198 | 6–0 | 2 | |||||||||||
| 24 | QB-HB | 11 | 1 | 163 | 5–9 | 1 | |||||||||||
| 23 | T | 10 | 1 | 220 | 6–1 | Rookie | |||||||||||
| 39 Players Team Average |
24.3 | 11 | 201.7 | 6–0.2 | 0.5 |
- Link to all time List of Philadelphia Eagles players in franchise history
Honors and Rewards
- Dick Humbert finishes 2nd in Receptions with 29. NFL Leader had twice as many
- Dick Humbert a rookie End – Defensive End makes the All-Star team.