- 6 days ago
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The season ending highlight was the story on the A.P. All-State team which was released on November 29. Not much in the way of individual statistics except ages, height and weights and a few bits about notable players performance…” Great tackler, fast runner etc.” Few statistics other than scoring totals were often kept at this time. As colleges began, in the 1920’s and 30’s it took a while for high schools in Wisconsin to start tracking individual player rushing, passing and receiving game and season stats. Sometimes the stats that were reported were estimates.
The1946 A.P. All-State Team and some Player Information


From the Wisconsin State Journal, November 29, 1946
About several of the players on the squad:
Tom McCormick of Madison Edgewood was All-State in 1945 as a junior and repeated in 1946, the first player to do so. On the 1945 team there were two others that were ex-servicemen who were juniors as they returned to school. But, because of their age, 20-years old, they were ineligible to play in 1946. Milwaukee Washington, coached by Lisle Blackbourn, had three players on the team and five schools had two members. A team with two players was South Milwaukee. End Gene Clark and back Harry Hugasian were two of the three juniors on the 1946 squad.
There were a series of three weekly ballots submitted to the A.P. by coaches and sportswriters stating in week seven, dwindling the list down to 38 players.
As mentioned in my blog about Boscobel, running back Jerry Schafer led the state in scoring. Jerry scored 162 points on 25 touchdowns and 12 extra points. He scored a SWL Conference record 143 points in seven league games.
I also mentioned in a Clintonville story that Gladwin “Bobby” Born scored 11 touchdowns in 1947. I found, thanks to A.P. stories and then research in the Appleton Post-Crescent that as a junior in 1946 he scored 17 touchdowns for a total of 102 points. Here are some from a team that collected stats: In the New London game, he carried 19 times for 209 yards and two long scores. Against Wabeno he scored twice and gained 219 of the teams 239 yards and followed up with six scores in a 60-0 win over Marion. He made the final list but was not named to the 1946 All-State team, but the pollsters made up for it by naming him to the 1947 squad.
For several seasons Bob Petruska of Lake Mills was considered one of the top players in the state. In 1946 he led the state in rushing with 1,461 yards on only 94 carries for a 14.3 average. He scored 15 times during the season, had a four-conference game punting average for a 52.0 per kick and six touchdown passes. He was playing in ’46 with an injured right hand and completed 6-6 for 112-yards and twoscores. In 1945 he tossed 14 touchdowns and ran for 12.
Then there’s Tom Curry of Tomah
One of the great stories of 1946 was about the Tomah Indians and their “little” left halfback, Tom Curry. He was the “talk” of the state in 1946. The team started a 33-game unbeaten streak in 1942 and in 1946 they went 8-0-0. As a junior in 1945, Curry played quarterback scoring seven touchdowns and 12 extra-point kicks as well as passing eight touchdowns. Against La Crosse Aquinas he had a 58-yard punt and against Westby Curry threw three touchdowns. In basketball he scored 283 points. In baseball he played shortstop and hit .414. In track he broad jumped 19 ft., 6-inches. In boxing he won three bouts.
Curry was now 16-years old in 1946, and he moved to the left halfback position. The 5’4, 120-pound back was explosive. Scoring 17 touchdowns and kicked 18 extra-points for a total of 120 points Tom had long touchdown runs of 72, 70, 66, 44, 41, 30, 29, 26, 24 and 20. He threw three option scores. Curry had scoring games of 22, 21, 20, 20, 18 and 14. Curry was listed in various papers as weighing 119, 120, 121, 138 or, in the case of the A.P. All-State Prep squad listed as weighing 128-pounds. He is the smallest player ever to make first team All-State and he aslo, as previously mentioned, stared in other sports. Besides being the class president Curry earned four letters in football and basketball, three in baseball and boxing and two in track. That’s 16 varsity letters. In basketball he played both guard and forward (At 5’4)!!

November 29, 1946, Wisconsin State Journal
Other Prep Notes on the Season:
Besides the A.P. stories, The Wisconsin State Journal reporter Joe Dommershauen was given a byline entitled “Prep Notes”. Besides covering various Friday and Saturday games, Joe took information from many state-wide news reports.
He reported that John Lilly of Muscoda and Bud Carrington of Merrill both were credited with 100-yard touchdown runs. With the ball on the 1-inch line, Lilly ran a fake punt play to score. Carrington went from the opponent's goal line to his end zone with an interception. I may have to update the record book with these two efforts.
Getting back to Boscobel’s Jerry Schaefer. When he reported for fall practice the school only had 26 players showed up and 12 were freshmen. Eight of the 26 weighed 120-pouns or less. Boscobel finished in third place in the SWAL and a 6-2 record.
Fullback Warren Lay of Jefferson averaged 10.5 yards per carry. His top game was against Delafield St. John’s Military Academy when he carried the ball 17 times for a 11.1 average. He also didn't make the final cut for the All-State team.
Ashland not only ended Wausau’s 46-game win streak, and they only lost one game, a 7-6 defeat to Superior Central. The Oredockers won the Wisconsin-Michigan Conference title, and they scored their first win over Ironwood in 25-years.
St. Patrick's High School in Eau Claire (Now known as Regis) had to cancel two games due to outbreaks of polio. As recounted in my book, this disease was the scurge of the nation that hit a high point in the early 1950’s before a cure was available. St. Patrick's lost out on playing “bookend” games, the first was to be the season opener against Rochester (MN) Lourdes and their next to final game against Medford. Shawano also had to halt play for 10-days in early October as two players contracted polio.
On October 26 Dick Hartman of Milwaukee Washington kicked a, then, state record 60-yard field goal. That same day, Dick Tracy of Milwaukee Boy’s Tech duplicated the feat but becaues there were 12 Tech players on the field it was nullified.
Despite earning weekly A.P. notice six times during the season, Allen Bostad of Stevens Point failed to make the A. P. All-State team.
Algoma quarterback, Bob Zastrow, in a 38-6 win over Sturgeon Bay on November 2 threw four touchdowns, ran six-yards for a touchdown, ran 80-yards for a score of an interception.
In early November the WIAA voted to modify the 19-year-old age for participation in sports. The current rule was amended so that if a player in a current sport turned 19, he could continue to play in that sport but not any later sports. As an example, if at the start of the fall season a 19-year-old would not be eligible but if he turned 19 during that season, he could continue playing that sport.
Finally, Manitowoc ran into defeats on two sucessive weekends. Leading 6-0 against Green Bay East, fullback Eddie Wagner dropped back to punt, but center Bill McElliott snapped the ball over Wagners head. East recovered and two plays later they scored, kicked the extra point and won. The next week tied 7-7 against Sheboygan Central, Wagner again dropped back to punt. McElliott again snapped the ball over Wagners head. Wagner picked the ball up and attempted torun with the ball and was buried by Sheboygan’s defenders. Central scored the deciding score and won 14-7.
1946 was a very good year for the press to communicate better prep information.