Back on Jan. 1 1960 I went to the Sugar Bowl in Tulane stadium between LSU & Ole Miss. I just found the program I'd gotten that day and I think there are some things you guys will enjoy. LSU had played them earlier that season and won 7-3 on Billy Cannon's Haloween punt return. Unfortunately we didn't do so well in the rematch. What was funny was the size of the players compared to today like LSU Blly Cannon 6-1 208(actually not bad) Johnny Robinson starting HB & Safety 6-1 190 Warren Rabb starting QB 601 195 Lynn LeBlanc starting tackle 6-2 205 Bo Strange tackle 6-1 208 Earl Gros(remember him with the Saints?) 6-2 215 FB & linebacker Mel Branch 6-1 210 DE & OT Roy Winston 6-0 199 left guard Ole Miss(they were considered pretty large for a college team) Charlie Flowers 6-1 204 1st team All American fullback Hoss Anderson 6-0 198 2nd string fullback was 1st team All SEC the next year. Marvin Terrell 6-1 220 All American guard Bob Khayat 6-2 220 All SEC guard Cowboy Woodruff 5-10 181 starting halfback Jake Gibbs 5-11 180 2nd string QB became and All American the next year and went pro baseball and was starting catcher for the New York Yankees for years These guys aren't big enough to play high school ball today. Amazing!
I was thinking the same thing this week going through some of Dad's old photos. My Dad and Uncle both played for Tulane in the Forties (yeah I know Tulane:rolleye33. Both were all-state guys and good players but man that was a totally different game then! In some pics of them playing Notre Dame you'd swear by the size of them these guys were middle schoolers! Dad use to tell of having to take his helmet off and sometimes cleats when he came off the field so next player could wear them! Go easy first post! I've been lurking for years enjoying the talk!:thumb:
yeah, it was a game a guy my size could play. :lol: in the 1940s a 5'9" 150 pounder who ran a 5.0 would be a pretty good safety.
and in the snow. jump right in and join the fray. we dont bite. well, at least not most of us! :grin:
I'm still amazed by the size difference then and now. One of my bama friends sent me an e-mail comparing the size of Bama's starting lines (offense and defense) with the size of the comparable positions of the super bowl champion steelers. I posted that comparison as a thread in the college football forum a while back. Of course the Gumps aren't as good as the steelers, but they were the same size. What started all the discussion was the observation that players on both of our high school teams were so incredibly small (in the early 1970's). Our guards were around 165 to 175 lbs. Unreal !!
What got me to thinking about this was reading an interview with Alem and his stating that people didn't think he could defend the run because he was only 6-4 and 264 lbs. Only! On this LSU tean the only ones who played both ways was the White Team with Cannon, Rabb, Robinson, etc. The Go team was just offense & the Chinese Bandits just defense. I think most played special teams. What a lot of people don't remember about the regular season 7-3 game is Ole Miss drove right down the field on the kickoff after Cannon's run and were stopped on about the 2 yard line on a hit by Cannon & I think Robinson. I think it was in the snow going uphill as well which adds to the degree of difficulty. LOL
