Coach Lefty James’ second Cornell team lost only to power-packed Army in 1948. That Big Red mixture of war-tempered veterans and a ton of teenage talent dominated the Ivy League, including another national giant – Penn, Chuck Bednarik and all. Only QB-fullback-kicker Bob Dean, Capt. Joe Quinn (guard) and end Jack Rogers were lost from that team. The ’49 team would welcome promising reinforcements from the undefeated ’48 freshmen of Coach Pat Filley, former Notre Dame captain and All-American.
The James Gang of 1949 weren’t quite up to midseason form when they took on Niagara – not one of the wonders of the football world – on opening day, Sept. 24. But the season was just 11 minutes old when "Louisiana Lightning" struck as multi-gifted halfback Hillary Chollet, of New Orleans, ran a punt back 70 yards for the first touchdown of the year. Not long after, sophomore fullback Hal Seidenberg, of Brooklyn, gathered up a fumble on the 30 and hustled it into the end zone. It was 13-0 after the first quarter.
In the second half, 5-foot-8, 155-pound quarterback Pete Dorset, a wartime flier and prisoner of war in Germany, tossed a flat pass to Chollet for six more. Finally, Bernie Babula, one of the team’s elders at 25, back home from tough combat in the Pacific with the Navy, topped off a 93-yard drive with a 15-yard burst.
The Eagles’ quarterback John Theobald kept the Red defense on its toes, but end Vic Pujo, guard Vinnie DiGrande, 5-foot-9 linebacker Bobby Gaige and company held firm. Four goal-line stands contributed to the 27-0 fall of Niagara.
Chollet, Frank (Moose) Miller, and fullback "Jarrin’" Jeff Fleischmann led the leg men as Cornell ran for 359 yards in a 39-27 conquest of Colgate before 20,000 at the Crescent on Oct. 1. Miller dashed for the first and last touchdowns of the day. Dorset hit end Walt Bruska, a B-29 bomber crew member on Tinian, for a 16-yard score. Fleischmann powered in from close up. Babula lateraled to Chollet for a 28-yard touchdown. Seidenberg bucked 61 yards for another.
Cornell was considered two touchdowns superior to Harvard at Cambridge on Oct. 8 despite the absence of injured key players. Harvard passed the last white line first, but nevermore that day. First to respond was 5-foot-9 halfback Lindy Hull on a 10-yard TD trip over tackle. The Red shook Moose loose on what began as an end run but became a 45-second, 37-yard adventure trip in which he cut back across the field three times and shed 15 tackles. That set up a short Dorset-to-Chollet touchdown pass. In the second half, defensive back Rip Haley filched a Harvard pass deep in its terrain and lugged it for six more. A Dorset-to-Bruska pass raised the final to 33-7. Cornell outrushed Harvard 235 yards to 91. Four interceptions helped crush the Crimson, 33-14.
Chollet averaged five yards on his 11 carries, caught two Yale passes leading to touchdowns, and received three from Dorset for 44 yards as Cornell curbed the Bulldogs in the Bowl, 48-14 on Oct. 15. The spectacular running of Miller and Babula highlighted a varied Red attack which produced seven scores: (1) A Dorset-to-Bruska pass. (2) Fleischmann from the 1-yard line to cap a 92-yard drive. (3) Chollet over left tackle for six yards three plays after misappropriating an Eli aerial. (4) Babula on a 27-yard pass from Dorset. (5) Flesichmann on a second smash from up close. (6) Seidenberg up the middle after Pujo blocked a Yale punt on the 12. (7) Sampson on a pass from punter/quarterback Tom Gargan with six seconds left. Bruska, Pujo, Sampson and guard Frank Vitale made big plays up front.
Favored again by two scores, Cornell just managed to hold that Princeton Tiger single wing before a capacity homecoming crowd on Oct. 22.
On the first play of the second quarter, Babula slipped between right guard and tackle, found himself alone in the secondary and dashed 76 yards unmolested for the first score of the day. Dorset wrapped up a 60-yard, 12-play drive with a six-yard pass to Miller. Princeton retaliated but the PAT effort failed. Before long, it was third and goal on the one-foot line. The clock ran out with the halftime score 14-6.
Cornell made seven first downs but no points in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Princeton’s Dick Kazmaier punted over the waiting return man’s head for 65 yards. Old Nassau then drove 47 yards to send Capt. George Sella crashing across the goal. With fourth-and-1 at the Red 36, Sella got one more chance. It failed, short, according to the chains, and a mighty roar rose from the Crescent, but not from any Tigers. The Big Redders hung on to the end. For the first time ever, it had whupped Harvard, Yale and Princeton in the same year.
Fleischmann groundpounded out three touchdowns, Babula averaged 11 yards per carry and halfback Bill Kirk swept 84 yards for one of Cornell’s longest touchdown runs ever, as the Columbia Lions were tamed, 54-0, on Oct. 29 at Ithaca. Haley and Sampson also scored. Cornell outgained the visitors afoot, 362-135, and injured the Lions’ pride with six interceptions. Each team made 16 first downs.
Snow fell on Schoellkopf and Cornell dumped 33 points on Syracuse for a Fall Weekend gathering of 33,000 on Nov. 5. It gave the Red upstate Big Three honors. Fleischmann and Chollet each scored twice. Tackle Dick Loynd and guard Strati Chipouras set up touchdowns with fumble recoveries. The defense and perhaps the snow allowed the Orange one score – a 63-yard pass connection, Orange quarterback Bernie Custis to George Davis. Lefty’s third and fourth stringers played the fourth quarter. Final: 33-7.
The Redmen scored the first time they had the ball at Dartmouth the next week as Dorset directed a 72-yard drive to a Dorset-to Chollet-to-Bruska touchdown. But that was it for the day. Cornell made 14 first downs to the Dartmouth eight, 143 yards rushing to the Big Green’s 96 and 139 yards to 80 passing. But the Dartmouth defense frustrated the favorites deep in Green land four times. Two John Clayton to end Tom Rowe scoring passes and a safety (Chollet caught in the end zone) added up to a 16-7 final – Cornell’s only loss of the year. It evened the all-time series at 16 wins each and a tie.
Penn was mightier than most people, even though it had lost to Pitt (22-21), Virginia and fourth-ranked Army (14-13) on the three Saturdays preceding Thanksgiving ’49, when 75,000 filled Franklin Field for the game of the day.
Cornell put seven on the board in the first quarter on a play James said later had been rehearsed all season. Dorset pitched out to Babula circling end. Bernie dropped the ball but never broke stride as he picked up the bounce and kept going – full speed ahead – 86 yards for Cornell’s third-longest touchdown run ever. Otherwise the team looked undistinguished and inclined to fumble in the first half. Penn’s formidable linebacker/center Bednarik and colleagues ran a single wing attack and a dominating defense that seemed likely to squash the Redmen. Just before halftime, Ray Dooney passed out of punt formation to Alan Corbo for the touchdown that made it a possibly insurmountable 21-7 Quakers.
A new game began with the second half when Loynd blocked a Dooney punt and Sampson fell on the ball at the 8. Chollet carried to the 4 and Fleischmann took it the rest of the way. 21-13.
In the fourth quarter, Haley recovered a Penn fumble at midfield. Dorset completed two passes to Bruska before Fleischmann headed for a hole in the line, veered to the outside and charged the last 16 yards. It was 21-19 with 11 minutes left. On the next series, backer Chuck Taylor picked off a Red’s Bagnell pass and legged it 32 yards to the 30. On fourth down, Dorset found Bruska again, 25 yards downfield. Walt caught the ball and stepped over the line. This time, Kirk’s PAT kick was good; 26-21, Cornell, with seven minutes to go.
With only a few ticks remaining, Sampson caught a Bagnell pass at the Penn 26. Fleischmann and Chollet moved the ball along and Hull made it to the 1. Kirk’s field goal from the 10 made it 29-21 with 55 seconds left. Cornell had the ball at the Penn 30 when the gun sounded. Penn had not scored in the second half. Cornell was 8-1 on the year, Ivy champion for the second year in a row, and ranked 20th in the land by the Associated Press.
Dorset completed 55 of 111 passes for 845 yards, five interceptions and seven touchdowns. His favorite receiver, Bruska, caught 14 for 289 yards, an average of 20.6 apiece and five scores. Fleischmann carried 106 times for 538 yards, a 5.5-yard average and a team-leading 10 touchdowns. Babula averaged 9.4 yards on 52 rushes, followed by Chollet (4.4 for 88), Miller (3.7 for 78), Seidenberg (7.4 for 34) and Hull (5.6 for 33).
Sixty years later, Chollet owns Cornell records with 15 career interceptions and 218 punt return yards. His 113 yards vs. Niagara is a third alltime mark. Haley shares the career record for most touchdowns on interceptions (two). Kirk shares the career PAT record – 71. The ’49 team holds three records: most points scored (since 1937) – 284. Most touchdowns: 42. Most yards per carry: 5.14.
Grantland Rice, who gave Notre Dame’s Four Horsemen their name a quarter century earlier, picked Chollet as second-team All-America. Various selectors gave honorable mention All-America to Dorset, Fleischmann, Loynd, offensive tackle Dick Clark and offensive guard Johnny Jaso. Chollet, Clark, Fleischmann and center John Pierik were first-team All-Ivy. Dorset and Bruska were second team.
Tackle Dick Ramin, guard Bucky Ellis and end Harry Cassel, plus Jaso, Clark and Bruska helped Cornell score 284 points that year, the most since 1923. Nobody has matched it since. The 2005 Red came closest with 278.
Three main men from the 1939 national champs: tailback Hal McCullough, end Al Kelley and guard Lou Conti, helped James fine-tune that offense. Their coaching colleagues, old Notre Dame All-America Bud Boeringer (line) and Bob Cullen (defensive backs), built a better defense around Pujo, Sampson, Loynd, Taylor, Gaige, Haley, Chollet, end Russ Schuh, tackle Hank Drost, linebacker Bill Kostes, defensive backs Kirk, Jack Dorrance and Reggie Marchant and guards Vitale, DiGrande, Chipouras and Dick Hagenauer and many others.
Fifteen of that magnificent team are in the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame.
