With only 35 days left until college football returns, let’s remember Felix Blanchard from Army who wore #35.

United States Military Academy from 1944-1946

  • College Football Hall of Fame
  • National Champion in 1944, 1945, 1946
  • 1945 Heisman Trophy
  • Three time All-American
  • 1945 Maxwell Award
  • 1945 Sullivan Award
  • ManibusanOPMEnglish
    1•1 year ago

    During his three years of playing football at West Point, his team under coach Earl “Red” Blaik compiled an undefeated 27–0–1 record – the tie being a famous 0–0 game against Notre Dame.

    Notre Dame coach Edward McKeever was amazed by Blanchard. After his 1944 team lost to Army by a score of 59–0, McKeever said, “I’ve just seen Superman in the flesh. He wears number 35 and goes by the name of Blanchard.”

    An all-around athlete, Blanchard served as the placekicker and punter in addition to his primary roles as an offensive fullback and a linebacker on defense. He soon teamed with Glenn Davis on the 1944–45–46 teams (Davis won the Heisman in 1946, the year after Blanchard won it). They formed one of the most lethal rushing combinations in football history. In his three seasons at West Point Blanchard scored 38 touchdowns, gained 1,908 yards and earned the nickname “Mr. Inside.” Teammate Davis earned the nickname “Mr. Outside” and in November 1945, they both shared the cover of Time magazine.

    Blanchard had the opportunity to play professional football after being selected third overall in the 1946 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. After he was turned down in 1947 for a furlough to play in the NFL, Blanchard then chose to embark upon a career in the U.S. Air Force, earned his pilot wings in autumn 1948, became a fighter pilot, and flew the F-80 Shooting Star.

    In 1959, while with the 77th Tactical Fighter Squadron and flying back to his base at RAF Wethersfield near London, England, a fuel leak in Major Blanchard’s F-100 Super Sabre broke and caught his plane on fire. Rather than escaping and parachuting out safely, he decided to stay with the plane and land it safely, because of a village on the ground that would have been damaged. This garnered him an Air Force commendation for bravery.

    In the Vietnam War, Blanchard flew 113 missions from Thailand, 84 of them over North Vietnam, in the F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bomber during a one-year tour of duty that ended in January 1969. He retired from the Air Force in 1971 as a colonel.