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Annapolis, can't possibly compete with jocks at such cash-cow sports powerhouses as USC, Alabama, Texas, Colorado and other top teams. Everyone knows that football players at those sports factories are pampered and groomed to do their major work on the field, rather than in the classroom.

Examples are two great college runners I'd put on my list, but who are hardly remembered today. They're Glenn Davis and Felix "Doc" Blanchard. They starred for West Point in three undefeated seasons in the mid-1940s. Davis was Mr. Outside because his off-end sweeps were so fast, and Blanchard was Mr. Inside, because he bulldozed right into the middle of the line. Davis weighed 150, and Doc weighed less than 200 pounds, and they probably wouldn't qualify as starters on a minor college team today.

Going back much further in college football history, I'd vote for Jim Thorpe, a native American who played at Carlisle, a college created for Indian students from all over the country. Thorpe was a phenom, because he did everything in all sports, as well as excel at football, including playing as runner, defensive lineman and kicker. In 1911, Thorpe scored all 18 points when the little, unknown college beat Harvard, then one of the nation's top-rated teams.

After an 11-1 year, because of Thorpe, Carlisle became national college champs, when they beat Army 27-6. An Army defensive player tried to tackle Thorpe, was flipped high in the air and broke his leg. The accident ended his football career, but not his Army future. The injured cadet was Dwight D. Eisenhower. Thorpe was voted All-American for 1911 and 1912.

Not many people remember the oldtime college footballers called sixty-minute men. Those guys, like Jim Thorpe, played the entire game on both offense and defense. Bronislaw (Bronko) Nagurski of the University of Minnesota was such a player. He was an outstanding passer and runner on offense, and tackle on defense. For three seasons, he won double honors as an All-American in both positions 1929. No one player has done that since.

I certainly realize that there are many great college players of more recent years who belong on anyone's list of the best of the best, including some of my personal favorites: Tony Dorsett of Pitt, Archie Griffin of Ohio State, Bo Jackson of Auburn, Herschel Walker of Georgia, O.J. Simpson of USC, Jim Brown of Syracuse and many, many others. Many of those players earned All-American and Heisman Trophy honors. However, for this writing, I hope readers have permitted me to go back for a nostalgic visit with college running stars of another era.

Learn more about this author, Ted Sherman.
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