1940-44                                  HOME                   Return to Football Year-by-Year              Update 8-18-2005

 

                  There were few victories for football fans during this period. The war was calling away many teachers and coaches. Coach Hess had to leave for induction to the Army immediately after the close of the 1942 season. Fr. Burak was called away to Kansas City to fill a post and Cpl. Dolan, an assistant finished the season in 1943. Dolan may have been stationed at the V.A. hospital (we need more research). Fr. Ed Smith handled coaching duties in 1944. CCHS took the normal pounding from Seaman - but Fr. Smith thought the Council Grove players "kneed" many of our guys causing 6 players to fall out of the game that was lost 31-7. 

                  Eskridge dropped out of league play due to travel restrictions. An extra non-league game was played against Highland Park to fill the schedule. In 1943 two games are listed with THS Intramural All-Stars (also referred to as Topeka High Reserves). These games were reported in the paper with descriptions of scoring plays. I decided to count these as official games. The same squad was played in 1944 - but the paper reported no results and it was only referred to as a scrimmage. In those cases, I have not counted the scrimmage as an official game. 10-1-1940 scrimmage with Washburn Rural has a score reported - but report confirms that game was only for practice (scrimmage). 

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1940 Immaculata game in Leavenworth (1941 SHAMROCK)

Pre-game warm up. 

TDC State Champion: Topeka High (Class AA)

 

1940 Mike Dluhy 1 8 0
9/20/1940 Eskridge L 0 6 Eskridge Jayhawk
10/1/1940 Washburn Rural XXXXXX 0 Scrimmage - Not counted
10/3/1940 Silver Lake L 0 12 Highland Park
10/13/1940 Maur Hill - Atchison L 13 19 Ripley Park
10/17/1940 Alma W 13 6 Highland Park Jayhawk
10/27/1940 Immaculata-Leavenworth L 0 30 Leavenworth
10/31/1940 Wamego L 0 33 Wamego Jayhawk
11/8/1940 Seaman L 0 26 Seaman Jayhawk
11/15/1940 Osage City L 0 21 Osage City Jayhawk
11/22/1940 Highland Park L 0 12 Highland Park Jayhawk
26 165

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TDC State Champion:  Wyandotte (Class AA)

            Starters for 1941 season: CAPT. Jack Haefele, Sam Burghardt, Max Haefele, Max Lascheck, Jack Redmond, Carl Mason, Pat Beebe, W. Addington,  Obregon, J. Dore, Simpson, Artzer. These were names mentioned in the small game reports from the TDC and TSJ.  Jack Haefele was the team leader and usually provided the scoring. Oddity of the times was the newspaper's identification of certain players.  Whenever a black player was mentioned in a story "colored" was used as an adjective.  "Burghardt at full, M. Haefele at guard and Gardenhire, colored end, worked well for the Capitol." (TDC 11-7-41). Only black players were given an extra designation. Richard Gardenhire saw action near the end of the season. This team was a bit more competitive than the 1940 squad - Osage City pulled out their win with a 99 yard TD off a fake punt.

1941 Mike Dluhy 2 5 1
9/19/1941 Washburn Rural W 19 6 Highland Park
9/25/1941 Eskridge T 13 13 Seaman Jayhawk
10/12/1941 Maur Hill - Atchison W 6 0 Atchison
10/17/1941 Alma L 6 27 Alma Jayhawk
10/30/1941 Wamego L 0 12 Highland Park Jayhawk
11/6/1941 Seaman L 0 12 Seaman Jayhawk
11/14/1941 Osage City L 14 19 Ripley Field Jayhawk
11/21/1941 Highland Park L 14 34 Highland Park Jayhawk
72 123

 

1941 Statistics RTD PTD RCTD PAT PAT-K FG S TP
Jack Haefele 5 1 1 37
Burghardt 2 1 12
Pat Beebe 1 1 7
Carl Mason 1 6
TEAM/No Account 1 4 10
72

 

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TDC State Champion:  Wichita East (Class AA)

 

1942 Joe Hess 2 6 0
9/24/1942 Silver Lake L 0 19 Highland Park
10/4/1942 Maur Hill - Atchison W 13 0 Ripley Field
10/9/1942 Osage City L 7 13 Osage City Jayhawk
10/16/1942 Burlingame W 25 6 Burlingame
10/21/1942 THS - Intramural All-Stars XXXXXX Scrimmage Only
10/30/1942 Highland Park L 7 18 Highland Park
11/4/1942 Wamego L 7 12 Wamego Jayhawk
11/13/1942 Seaman L 0 59 Seaman Jayhawk
11/20/1942 Highland Park L 0 7 Highland Park Jayhawk
59 134
Eskridge had to drop out of Jayhawk League due to wartime travel restrictions
Highland Park filled the Eskridge vacancy (not counted as league game).
1942 Statistics RTD PTD RCTD PAT PAT-K FG S TP
Bob Crook 3 18
Richard Gardenhire 2 1 13
Jim O'Neil 1 2 8
Bill Cavanaugh 1 6
Zeiglar 1 6
Bob Krische 1 6
Team/No Account 2
59
10/16/1942 Zeiglar 30 YD Interception Return included in RCTD
11/4/42 Krische Blocked Punt Return included in RTD

 

 

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TDC Champion:  Wichita East (Class AA)

 

1943 Fr. George Burak 0 1 0
CPL. Ken Dolan 2 7 0
9/23/1943 Silver Lake L 6 13 Seaman
10/3/1943 Maur Hill - Atchison L 0 34 Atchison
10/8/1943 Osage City L 0 19 Highland Park Jayhawk
10/15/1943 THS - Intramural All-Stars L 0 20 Chandler Field
10/22/1943 Washburn Rural W 7 6 Washburn Rural
10/29/1943 Highland Park L 14 26 Highland Park Jayhawk
11/3/1943 Wamego L 7 12 Seaman Jayhawk
11/12/1943 Seaman   L 0 41 Seaman Jayhawk
11/18/1943 THS - Intramural All-Stars L 7 13 Ripley Field
11/25/1943 Highland Park W 21 13 Highland Park
62 197
Fr. Burak was transferred to Kansas City after 9/23/43. Dolan finished the season.

 

1943 Statistics RTD PTD RCTD PAT PAT-K FG S TP
Jim O'Neil 2 3 7 19
Earl Burton 2 12
Gene Schmidt 1 1 7
Don Farmer 1 1 6
Ed Leinacker 1 6
Al Mullin 1 6
Dale Graham 1 6
62
11-25-1943 Graham fumble recovery in end zone included in RTD

 

 

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TDC Champion:  Hutchinson  (Class AA)

   Senior players on this team were Earl Burton (Co-Captain),  Harry Down, Gerald Imming, Bob Kluge (Co-Captain), William Kennedy, Bob Lutz, John Shortall, Joe O'Donnell. Burton was named to the All-Star Jayhawk League team.  Cpl. Nate Long assisted Fr. Smith and it appears he may have been the main coach for the team - at least in practice.  Fr Smith was in charge on game day.  Junior Don Farmer was the leading scorer on a team without much offensive punch. Once again, success was limited due to lack of numbers and frequent injuries to key players. 

 

1944 Fr. Ed Smith 2 7 0
9/21/1944 Silver Lake L 0 25 Seaman
10/1/1944 Maur Hill - Atchison L 0 26 Ripley Field
10/6/1944 Osage City W 19 0 Osage City Jayhawk
10/13/1944 Burlingame L 6 12 Burlingame
10/20/1944 Council Grove L 7 31 Council Grove Jayhawk
10/27/1944 Highland Park W 6 0 Highland Park
11/2/1944 Wamego L 0 6 Wamego Jayhawk
11/10/1944 Seaman L 0 46 Seaman Jayhawk
11/16/1944 Highland Park L 6 19 Highland Park Jayhawk
44 165

Highland Park played Hayden twice per year during WW II - only 1 game counted in Jayhawk League.

 

1944 Statistics RTD PTD RCTD PAT PAT-K FG S TP
Earl Burton 1 6
Don Farmer 2 2 12
Harry Down 1 6
Bob Lutz 1 6
TEAM 1 1 2 14
44

 

 

1944 Team w Nate Long - from the 1945 Yearbook

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Players: 1940-1945

1940:  Lester Renyer  Moe Waters 

1941:  Jack Haefele  Pat Beeby  

1942:   Bob Crook  Richard Gardenhire  Bob Krische  Jim O'Neill

1943:  Jim O'Neill  Dale Graham  Gene Schmidt  Al Mullen

1944:   Earl Burton  Bob Kluge  Jerry Imming  John Shortall  Don Farmer