World War II Chronicle: January 2, 1942
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Page 13 mentions a U.S. pilot named Duke who achieved “ace in a day” status over Rangoon on Christmas. This is former Army Air Corps lieutenant Robert P. “Duke” Hedman, and his Dec. 25 victims include four Ki-21 Sally bombers and a Ki-43 Hayabusa fighter. Charles Older also became an ace on Christmas. Older resigned his Marine Corps Reserve commission to fly with the Flying Tigers and becomes a judge after the war, presiding over the trial of Charles Manson. Trailing just behind him is Robert T. Smith with 4.5 and Edmund Overend with three… The sports section begins on page 18, featuring a preview of today’s East-West bowl game by Grantland Rice.
1942 Cotton Bowl
Texas A&M’s offense outplayed the Crimson Tide, as the statistics indicate, but Alabama’s defense and special teams put them ahead. One of the highlights was players taking the oath of enlistment at halftime.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| Alabama | 0 | 7 | 13 | 9 | 29 |
| Texas A&M | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 21 |
SCORING SUMMARY: A&M Cowley 12 pass from Daniels (Webster kick), ALA Craft 8 run (Hecht kick), ALA Nelson 72 punt return, ALA Nelson 21 run (Hecht kick), ALA FG Hecht 31, ALA Rast 10 interception return, A&M Webster 1 run (Webster kick), A&M Sterling 35 pass from Moser (Webster kick)
| Alabama | TEAM STATISTICS | Texas A&M |
| 1 | First Downs | 13 |
| 59 | Rushing Yards | 115 |
| 1-7-0 | Passing | 14-41-7 |
| 16 | Passing Yards | 194 |
| 75 | Total Yards | 309 |
| 16-36.3 | Punts – Average | 7-36.4 |
| 2-1 | Fumbles – Lost | 6-5 |
| 8-81 | Penalties – Yards | 1-5 |
RUSHING: ALA Nelson 9-38, 1 TD; Hughes 3-6. A&M Webster 12-52, 1 TD; Moser 16-32. PASSING: ALA Nelson 1-7-0, 16 yards. A&M Daniels 6-19-2, 87 yards, 1 TD Moser 5-23-4, 107 yards, 1 TD. RECEIVING: ALA Rast 1-16. A&M Sterling 5-112, 1 TD; Cowley 4-39, 1 TD. MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS: ALA Jimmy Nelson, halfback; Holt Rast, end; Don Whitmire, tackle. A&M Martin Ruby, tackle. ATTENDANCE: 38,000
Orange Bowl
Frankie Sinkwich, wearing a special helmet to protect his broken jaw, logged one of the best bowl game performances in college football history. Throwing three touchdown passes and rushing for a fourth, Sinkwich’s Georgia Bulldogs cruises to victory over the Horned Frogs in Miami.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| Georgia | 19 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 40 |
| Texas Christian | 7 | 0 | 7 | 12 | 26 |
SCORING SUMMARY: Ga. Keuper 2 run (Costa kick), Ga. Conger 61 pass from Sinkwich, Ga. Kimsey 60 pass from Sinkwich, TCU Gillespie 4 run (Medanich kick), Ga. Davis 15 pass from Sinkwich (Costa kick), Ga. Davis 23 pass from Todd (Costa kick), Ga. Sinkwich 43 run (Costa kick), TCU Alford 20 pass from Nix (Roach kick), TCU Alford 15 pass from Nix (run failed), TCU Kring 53 pass from Gillespie (run failed)
| Georgia | TEAM STATISTICS | TCU |
| 12 | First Downs | 8 |
| 218 | Rushing Yards | 71 |
| 12-24-4 | Passing | 9-24-6 |
| 281 | Passing Yards | 137 |
| 499 | Total Yards | 208 |
| 4-22.2 | Punts – Average | 7-37 |
| 3-3 | Fumbles – Lost | 1-0 |
| 7-54 | Penalties – Yards | 2-24 |
ATTENDANCE: 35,786
Rose Bowl
The War Department decided that Pasadena, California was too close to the threat of enemy attacks to play at the Rose Bowl, so the Duke Blue Devils got to play in Raleigh. They borrowed bleachers from their neighbors at the University of North Carolina to accommodate an additional 20,000 fans. It takes Oregon state five days to cross the country by train, including stops at the University of Chicago to practice at Stagg Field and Washington, D.C. where they scrimmaged at Griffith Stadium. One of their players, “Jack” Yoshihara, was not allowed to leave Corvallis due to travel restrictions on Japanese-Americans.
Home-field advantage did not help Wallace Wade’s club, who are upset by Oregon State. Duke’s 16 points is the highest total the Beavers allowed all year and OSU’s 20 is the highest tally Wade has ever allowed.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| Oregon State | 7 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 20 |
| Duke | 0 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 16 |
SCORING SUMMARY: OSC Durdan 15 run (Simas kick), DUKE Lach 4 run (Gantt kick), OSC Zellick 31 pass from Dethman (Simas kick), DUKE Siegfried 1 run (Prothro kick), OSC Gray 68 pass from Dethman, DUKE Safety.
| Oregon State | TEAM STATISTICS | Duke |
| 14 | First Downs | 15 |
| 154 | Rushing Yards | 222 |
| 5-15-2 | Passing | 5-16-4 |
| 148 | Passing Yards | 73 |
| 302 | Total Yards | 295 |
| 47.8 | Punts – Average | 46.4 |
| 1-1 | Fumbles – Lost | 3-3 |
| 2-20 | Penalties – Yards | 3-25 |
RUSHING: OSC Durdan 17-43, 1 TD; Dethman 11-42. DUKE Lach 12-124, 1 TD; Davis 12-80. PASSING: OSC Dethman 6-7-0, 148 yards, 2 TD. DUKE Rute 3-8-1, 81 yards. RECEIVING: OSC Gray 1-68, 1 TD; Zellick 1-32, 1 TD. DUKE Gantt 4-93, Smith 1-18. ATTENDANCE: 56,000.
Sugar Bowl
Fordham Rams coach “Sleepy Jim” Crowley utilized one of Knute Rockne’s1 defensive schemes — the “Box and Seven” — to shut down Missouri’s potent Split T offense. The Tiger backfield averaged over 300 yards a game in 1941, but putting seven defenders on the line cut their yardage in half and kept Mizzou out of the end zone. Rain kept Fordham’s passing attack at bay. Fordham never made it into the red zone and Missouri never made it past their opponent’s 18-yard-line. With three minutes to go and the ball on the 35 yard line, Bob Steuber attempted a field goal that would have put the Tigers ahead, but it fell short.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| Fordham | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Missouri | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
SCORING SUMMARY: Ford. Safety (Santilli blocked punt into end zone)
| Fordham | TEAM STATISTICS | Missouri |
| 10 | First Downs | 8 |
| 137 | Rushing Yards | 148 |
| 0-4-0 | Passing | 2-5-2 |
| 0 | Passing Yards | 21 |
| 137 | Total Yards | 168 |
| 3-1 | Fumbles – Lost | 3-2 |
ATTENDANCE: 68,154
Sun Bowl
Although the game was scoreless until the last two minutes, Tulsa halfback Glenn Dobbs had a dominant performance, shattering every Sun Bowl passing record. His brother Bobby is also on the team.2
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| Tulsa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Texas Tech | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
SCORING SUMMARY: TUL Judd 25 pass from Dobbs
| Tulsa | TEAM STATISTICS | Texas Tech |
| 15 | First Downs | 4 |
| 96 | Rushing Yards | 62 |
| 24-39-2 | Passing | 2-10-1 |
| 239 | Passing Yards | 42 |
| 335 | Total Yards | 104 |
| 2-75 | Punt Returns – Yards | 5-126 |
| 13-37 | Punts – Average | 12-43 |
| 0-0 | Fumbles – Lost | 5-2 |
| 6-60 | Penalties – Yards | 8-90 |
ATTENDANCE: 14,000
1: Crowley was part of Rockne’s famed “Four Horsemen” backfield at Notre Dame.
2: The Chicago Cardinals select Glenn as the third overall pick of the 1943 NFL Draft, but both Dobbs brothers will be serving in the Army Air Force — stay tuned for more.
Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 2 January 1942. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1942-01-02/ed-1/
