World War II Chronicle

World War II Chronicle: March 11, 1942

Chris Carter

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Pvt. Joe Louis, Bette Davis, and other celebrities were at New York City’s Madison Square Garden to raise money for the Navy Relief Fund (see page four)… Meanwhile on page seven, former boxing heavyweight champion Cmdr. Gene Tunney is looking for 3,000 instructors for the Navy’s physical fitness program…

Sports section begins on page 16, which mentions that “Sleepy” Jim Crowley, one of Notre Dame’s legendary “Four Horsemen” is headed to the Navy. Crowley coached Fordham University’s football team, one of the strongest programs in the nation until the war halts Fordham football after the 1942 season. Crowley will coach North Carolina Pre-Flight Cloudbusters this season before shipping out to the South Pacific.

Two interesting facts about Fordham football: senior players have a tradition of ringing the “victory bell” after wins. The bell came from the Japanese aircraft carrier Junyo which is commissioned on May 3, 1942. Nearly four years to the day after Junyo joined the fleet, all that remains of the flattop is her bell, which is rung for the first time on campus by Pres. Harry Truman. Adm. Chester Nimitz presented the bell to Fordham for its wartime sacrifices.

Famed Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi played for Fordham during the 1930s and was part of linemen corps which earned the nickname “Seven Blocks of Granite.” The lineman coach was Frank Leahy, who as a player for Knute Rockne’s Notre Dame club won two national championships. He was Boston College’s head coach in 1939 and 1940, finishing with a 20-2 record. Leahy is now coaching the Fighting Irish, who finished 8-0-1 last year.

Currently, Lombardi is an assistant football coach and Latin, chemistry, and physics teacher at St. Cecilia’s, a Catholic high school in New Jersey. When head coach Andy Palau is offered a coaching job back at Fordham, Lombardi becomes the new skipper for the 1942 season. Next year his team is considered the top high school program in the nation when St. Cecilia’s defeats Brooklyn Prep, led by future Penn State icon Joe Paterno.

Lombardi at Fordham

Lombardi spends the war years at St. Cecilia’s, and in 1947 returns to Fordham as an assistant coach. He is the third coach to do so: Palau’s predecessor was Nat Pierce (another “Seven Blocks” lineman) — all three were Fordham teammates.

After the 1948 season Lombardi moves on to a coaching job under West Point’s Earl “Red” Blaik, who at this stage of the war is just entering his second season for Army.

Here are Fordham’s Seven Blocks of Granite:

  • Vince Lombardi — before he became the greatest NFL coach of all time, he played four seasons with American Association (AA) and independent clubs
  • Leo “Twinkletoes” Paquin — Lombardi’s roommate made the dean’s list all four years, also played AA and independent ball, and serves in the Navy
  • Johnny “Tarzan” Druze — played a season with the (football) Brooklyn Dodgers, then became an assistant coach for Leahy at Boston College and Notre Dame.
  • Alex Wojciechowicz — entering his fifth season with the Detroit Lions. One of two consensus All-Americans in Fordham history.
  • Ed Franco — the second consensus All-American. Although Cleveland drafted him, Franco stayed at Fordham to coach.
  • Al Babartsky — played three seasons with the Chicago Cardinals
  • Mike Kochel — played one season with the Cardinals and joined the Army Air Force, flying 28 missions in the European Theater with the 401st Bomb Group
  • Harry Jacunski — entering his fourth season with the Green Bay Packers
  • Natty Pierce — served as Fordham’s line coach after Leahy left, then rose to lieutenant commander in the Navy
Lieut. Kochel

Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 11 March 1942. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1942-03-11/ed-1/

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