Army vs. Navy

• 

  Evening star, District of Columbia, December 3, 1939, page 1

  Read the text

  Navy Defeats Favored Army By 10 70 0 Two Sub FuIIbocks Do the Scoring as 101,600 Look On fa1LADELfhlA,D Lee. IA navy football team which had been in a mental fog for all season woke up today in real fog. On field 81 thickly shrouded by a murky mist that players became blurs and punts and passes were indistinct to the 101 500 spectators, Navy defeated a favored Army eleven in the 40th grid classic between the service teams, 10 to o. 1t came up real Navy weather and the Midshipmen showed they could find their way around in the gray cloud that settled over Municipal Stadium and which was so bad at the end that huge floodlights atop the concrete bowl had to be turned on to allow the customers to find the exits. While it still was comparatively clear, however, Navy took a 3-to-0 lead on field goal by Fullback Bob Leonard and, after it had become dark, clinched the game when an other fullback, Dick Shafer, lodged furtively behind freshly-rolling bank of fog and managed to lose himself among the Army secondaries long enough to run 20 yards for touchdown. Navy Line Awakens. Thus Navy team, which hadn’t won a major game all year. broke a string of six consecutive contests in which victory had lodged the Middle. After tying Dartmouth in a scoreless struggle, Navy had been beaten by Notre Dame, Glenn son, Pennsylvania, Columbia and Princeton. The story of the game today was a story of Navy line which dropped its lethargy for full so minutes and of the two substitute fullbacks, who did the scoring Leonard. a 20-year- DID, 160-pounder from Gainesville, Tex, appeared in only two plays. | The first time he came running on to the field was midway the initial period, after a 55-yard Navy march ! lldO SldllcC Oll lliC SduCIo line. Here on fourth down Leonard replaced Cliff Lenz, regular fullback from Latrobe, Pa. and with Ulmont Whitehead of Hartford, Conn, hold ing the ball on the white chalk Of | the 25-yard line, the Texan calmly booted a field goal that was marked three points as soon as it left the Leonard toe. | Shafer Dominates Game. AS Leonard trotted off the field to a tremendous ovation from the 1900 midshipmen and thousands OF Navy adherents, Shafer picked up helmet, took his place and proceeded to dominate the rest of the game with his passing and running. | Late in the game. when the crowd began to leave not because the con- | test was dull, but because it was too dark to see the action, Navy took | The ball ON Army’s AZ after punt by Cadet Ed Brown of Oakland, Calf, from behind his own goal line A forward pass, Shafer to End Dick Foster from Piedmont, Calf, gained II yards. Shafer rookie Back Phil Cutting of Shelbyville, Ind, and Whitehead pounded at the line to reach Armys 20 as the third period ended With part of the crowd inching ! toward the exits. Shafer gave them a final thrill on the first play of the / remaining quarter He took the ball, broke to his right and through a hole in the line, and raced through the West Point secondary to score with a head-frst dive. Army Makes Late Bid. For the second time during the afternoon, Leonard trotted onto the field, kicked the extra point, and ran back to the bench. In the dying moments, just before the f1oodlights were turned on, Army made its best scoring bid. Herb Frawley, Fort Myer, Va, boy with No. II on his back, faded far back and threw pass that few in the crowd near the top of the stadium were able to follow. The aerial bomb must have travelled SIS yards and somehow Harry Heffner, an Army lad from Fort Sill. Okla. caught it ! for a total gain of 35 yards. This put the ball on Navy’s 80 and in two plays Art Frontczak. vet eran back from Dowagiac, Mich, and Frawley clawed their way to the 10, marking the farthest point penetrated by the West Pointers all day. But here, when it looked as if Army might avert at least shut out, Frawley tried another pass and in the cleaning William Montgomcry, Navy end from Glendale, Calf, rushed him. snatched the al ready-palmed ball from Frawley’s hands and shot up the bleak field toward the Army goal. Further enbarrassment was saved the Cadets when an inky figure wearing gold helmet brought down Midshipman

• 

  Imperial Valley press, December 3, 1939, page 4

  Read the text

  Bowl Invitations Depend Upon Outcome Of Saturday Games; Army, Navy Clash NEW YORK, Dec. 2. CUP)-Led by Army and Navy, the nations gridiron teams today march to their last big weekend of competiton this year For color and show, the Army Navy game, to be played before more than 100000 in Philadelphia, is tops. But for games that will have a bearing on the national situation, the gridiron capitals today will be Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and New Orleans. For in those cities three unbeaten elevens risk their records again, two for the last time this year. In Pitts burgh unbeaten and united Duuuesne plays its last game against Detroit and victory will give the Dukes” an excellent chance to be invited TO a New Years Day bowl game.

• 

  The Daily Alaska empire, Alaska, December 4, 1939, page 5

  Read the text

  Sailors Win Over Soldiers Navy Takes Army for Trim ming Saturday in 40ih Contest PHILADELPHIA, Pa, Dec. A. The Navy used 13 backs in the fortieth battle with the Army last Saturday but three were enough to bring the Middies’ fifteenth vic- tory by a score of 10 to 0 and send the Municipal Stadiums goal posts tumbling down before the onrush of 2,3oo midshipmen before l04,000 spectators. Two hundred pound Cliff. Lenz drove through and around and out charged the Army line and put the sailors in a position for the first period for a field goal, then Bob Leonard kicked 8 field goal from the 25-yard line and the same Leonard booted the extra point after Dick Shafer scored last quarter touchdown.

• 

  The Tacoma times, Tacoma, Wash., December 4, 1939, page 1 (results column)

  Read the text

  Stanford Defeats 2 Underdogs Winner as Navy Scuttles Army, 10 to o NEW WORKS. Stanford came from behind today to defeat Dartmouth. ii to 8, in an intersectional football game played on soggy field at the Polo Grounds. PHILADELPHIA-An UNI derdog Navy football team, which is just another way Of saying a dangerous football team defeated Army, 10 to 0, here today before more than 100000 fans on soggy field. The Sailors rang up their first three points on a field goal. booted midway In the opening period by Fullback Leonard from the Army 25-yard stripe. The kick climaxed Navy offensive which had begun on its own 33-yard line. The two service school clubs battled sayagely then, neither team making a genuine scor- ing bid until the opening play of the fourth quarter, which saw Shafer slip through his own right tackle. duck three men and slither over for n touchdown. The run was good for a total Of % yards and virtually assured Navy victory. As Shafer hit the final stripe. he slipped and slid eight yards across the end zone turf. Leonard went in and kicked the extra point. Army tried desperately in the closing moments TO hit back through the air, but Navy intereepted one Of the Soldiers passes Just as the final gun barked. Navy 10. Army 0. Dartmouth 5, stanford u. Boston College Ia. Holy Cross o. Georgia Tech Is, Georgia o. youngstown 5. Davis Elkins 0. Albright o. Muhlenberg 5. Fordham Is. ~. Y. 4. ]. Detroit 10. Duquesne 10. George Washington Is. west Virginia o.

Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The text is the machine reading of the page, mistakes and all.

Officially, Navy leads 64–⁠55–⁠7; as played, 63–⁠55–⁠7 in the 125 games on file; the official count covers all 126 meetings, counting the 86 since this game.