POINT OF FACT
? When were the first All-America selections made and by whom?
•Casper Whitney selected the first All-America team in 1889. In 1898 Walter Camp picked the All-America squad, and it was he who was recognized as the authority until he died in 1925.
? Football's most famous backfield was the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame. Who were the members of this backfield, and how did it get its name?
•The Notre Dame Four Horsemen were Harry Stuhldreher at quarterback, Elmer Layden at fullback and Don Miller and Jim Crowley at the halfbacks. Sportswriter Grantland Rice immortalized the Notre Dame backfield in his report of the first Army-Notre Dame game in the Polo Grounds, October 18, 1924, when he wrote: "Outlined against the blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they were known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden."
? What team holds the record for the most consecutive victories?
•The University of Oklahoma won 47 straight games (1953-1957). Notre Dame stopped the Sooners 7-0. The Irish were also the last team to beat Oklahoma before the streak began, defeating Bud Wilkinson's team 28-21 in the first game of the 1953 season.
? What game became known as the Fifth Down game?
•Cornell scored the winning touchdown on an illegal fifth down against Dartmouth on the last play of the game in 1940. When films of the game were shown, the fifth down was revealed. Cornell gave the victory to Dartmouth and ended its three-year-victory skein.
? What team was called the Team of Destiny?
•Many teams inherited the nickname, but it was first used to describe the 1922 Princeton team. Under Bill Roper, the Tigers went through a tough schedule without a loss despite a supposedly inferior squad.
? Who is the first coach to have used the two-platoon system?
•Michigan's Fritz Crisler began the platoon system in 1945 by substituting complete lines while leaving the backfield in the game. Two years later Crisler's squad depth had improved to such a point he was able to substitute full units for offense and defense.
? What are the names and schools of the following players: Little Boy Blue, Galloping Ghost, Whizzer, the Horse, Mr. Inside and Slinging Sam?
•Albie Booth of Yale, Red Grange of Illinois, Byron White of Colorado, Alan Ameche of Wisconsin, Doc Blanchard of Army and Sammy Baugh of Texas Christian University.
? Name the school and the other half of these passing combinations: Charlie Conerly to 1); Dixie Howell to 2); Gene Rossides to 3); Ralph Guglielmi to 4); and Tommy Harmon to 5).
•1) Conerly to Barney Poole of Mississippi. 2) Howell to Don Hutson of Alabama. 3) Rossides to Bill Swiacki of Columbia. 4) Guglielmi to Dan Shannon of Notre Dame. 5) Harmon to Forest Evashevski of Michigan.
? What team gained the most surprising victory in the history of the Rose Bowl?
•Columbia University, outweighed and supposedly outclassed, defeated powerful Stanford in a stirring 7-0 victory in the Rose Bowl game of 1934. Columbia scored the game's only touchdown on Coach Lou Little's tricky KF-79 spinner play.
ILLUSTRATION