Colorado State University Athletics
This Week in CSU Football History -- Looking Back on the 70th Anniversary of the 1948 Cinderella Rams
9/19/2018 1:12:00 PM | Football
The 1948 football team made the first bowl appearance in program history
by John Hirn
CSU Athletics Historian
Frank Faucett sat in his seat at Canvas Stadium as the 2018 season kicked off against Hawaii on August 25th. At 90 years old, Faucett and his wife of 67 years, Barb, have had season tickets to CSU football for over half a century at the last three stadiums the Rams have called home. He was also a sophomore on the 1948 Colorado A&M Football team playing in the school's first bowl game on January 1, 1949. It has been 70 years this week since one of the most celebrated CSU football teams ever assembled took the field for a very memorable season.
The 1948 season opener took place at Colorado Field on September 18, 1948 with a brand-new set of lights as the Aggies played the first night game at their storied gridiron against the Colorado College Tigers. Kickoff was at 8 p.m. and the A&M fans packed the stadium on College Avenue excited to see what kind of team coach Bob Davis presented for the season.
The Rams took the field that night with such legendary names as Bob Hainlen, Dale Dodrill, Eddie Hanna, Lee Walters, Jack Christiansen, Oliver Woods, Tuffy Mullison, the immortal Fum McGraw and of course halfback, Frank Faucett. The Aggies allowed an early six points in the first half and seemed to struggle until Pat Green scored the Rams' first touchdown to tie the game 6-6 in the third. Eddie Hanna put the Aggies ahead with a 44-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter and Pat Green scored another TD in the fourth quarter with Carl Cox scoring another TD late in the game.
The season opener against the Tigers ended in a 25-6 route and paved the way for a season that has become legendary to Rams football. The next week at Colorado Field they pounded New Mexico State 41-6 and then went on the road for a grudge match against Utah State that ended in a 9-7 victory for the Aggies thanks to the leg of Bob Hainlen and the running of Eddie Hanna.
In the fourth week, A&M traveled to Denver to take on a tough Pioneers team at DU Stadium that saw 24,000 fans packed into every corner of the old stadium. Eddie "Twinkletoes" Hanna helped save the game late in the third quarter with an 83-yard run that tied the game and gave momentum for a 14-10 victory over their long-time conference foe.
Then came what could be considered the true birth of the Border War in a game played at Corbett Field in Laramie, Wyoming. The Aggies and Cowboys were both undefeated and looking for the conference championship title. With light snow fluttering down and a packed house of both Rams fans and Cowpokes, the game was one that would go down in history as one of the greatest in the long and storied rivalry. With Wyoming up 14-0, quarterback Bob Hainlen guided his team down the frozen Laramie turf for two touchdowns scored by Keith Thompson and Jim Abshire.
Late in the fourth quarter with the score tied at 14, Joe Folsom returned a Wyoming punt to the Cowboy 16 yard-line where after a series of plays Keith Thompson ended up in the end zone to put the Aggies ahead 21-14. Cowboy all-star halfback Eddie Talboon was not done yet and drove Wyoming to pay dirt with 30 seconds left in the game to seemingly lock the score at the end of the day. However, Aggie lineman Dale Dodrill became the greatest hero in green and gold when he blocked the extra point and ended the game 21-20 in favor of Colorado A&M.
It was at that moment when Aggie fans stormed the field and tore down the Wyoming goal posts. Former Colorado Governor Roy Romer, then a student at A&M, wrote in the Collegian, "Aggie Fans soared down from windy perches with jubilant cheers. For with a heave, and a ho, the mighty muscular manhood from Colorado toppled this system of elevated plumbing to earth."
The Rams would have their first loss against Drake on Homecoming day the next week, bounce back with a shutout over Mines the next week and then a loss to Utah for their only conference defeat of the year finishing second in the Skyline Conference. They would end their season with another exciting rivalry against Colorado in Boulder where the Aggies beat the Buffs in an exciting 29-25 victory that propelled them to national attention.
On Monday November 22, 1948, two days after beating CU in Boulder, the Colorado A&M Aggies were invited to the 1949 Raisin Bowl to play against undefeated Occidental College. It was the first time in school history a team had been invited to a bowl game and after Skyline Conference Coach of the Year Bob Davis asked his players if they wanted to play in a New Year's Day Bowl Game, (Nearly half the team were WWII veterans and married with families) they all agreed to accept the invitation.
After a harrowing airplane ride to Fresno, California, the Rams were treated like stars when they arrived in the raisin growing capitol of California. In a way they were movie stars because Universal Pictures filmed parts of the Raisin Bowl action for an upcoming movie called "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" starring Donald O'Connor.
Although the Jan. 1, 1949 Raisin Bowl was a very close 21-20 loss for the Rams, Eddie Hanna stunned the crowd with two 70-plus yard touchdown runs. Today, 70 years later we can still be proud of these Aggies and their accomplishments on the field in 1948. Looking up at the façade at Canvas Stadium we still see the names of #21 Eddie Hanna and #48 Fum McGraw, the only retired numbers for CSU football.
Frank Faucett is not the only member of the 1948 team still cheering CSU to victory each week, but he is the only Raisin Bowl alum who has done it at Colorado Field, Hughes Stadium and Canvas Stadium as a season ticket holder for well over 50 years.
CSU Athletics Historian
Frank Faucett sat in his seat at Canvas Stadium as the 2018 season kicked off against Hawaii on August 25th. At 90 years old, Faucett and his wife of 67 years, Barb, have had season tickets to CSU football for over half a century at the last three stadiums the Rams have called home. He was also a sophomore on the 1948 Colorado A&M Football team playing in the school's first bowl game on January 1, 1949. It has been 70 years this week since one of the most celebrated CSU football teams ever assembled took the field for a very memorable season.
The 1948 season opener took place at Colorado Field on September 18, 1948 with a brand-new set of lights as the Aggies played the first night game at their storied gridiron against the Colorado College Tigers. Kickoff was at 8 p.m. and the A&M fans packed the stadium on College Avenue excited to see what kind of team coach Bob Davis presented for the season.
The Rams took the field that night with such legendary names as Bob Hainlen, Dale Dodrill, Eddie Hanna, Lee Walters, Jack Christiansen, Oliver Woods, Tuffy Mullison, the immortal Fum McGraw and of course halfback, Frank Faucett. The Aggies allowed an early six points in the first half and seemed to struggle until Pat Green scored the Rams' first touchdown to tie the game 6-6 in the third. Eddie Hanna put the Aggies ahead with a 44-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter and Pat Green scored another TD in the fourth quarter with Carl Cox scoring another TD late in the game.
The season opener against the Tigers ended in a 25-6 route and paved the way for a season that has become legendary to Rams football. The next week at Colorado Field they pounded New Mexico State 41-6 and then went on the road for a grudge match against Utah State that ended in a 9-7 victory for the Aggies thanks to the leg of Bob Hainlen and the running of Eddie Hanna.
In the fourth week, A&M traveled to Denver to take on a tough Pioneers team at DU Stadium that saw 24,000 fans packed into every corner of the old stadium. Eddie "Twinkletoes" Hanna helped save the game late in the third quarter with an 83-yard run that tied the game and gave momentum for a 14-10 victory over their long-time conference foe.
Then came what could be considered the true birth of the Border War in a game played at Corbett Field in Laramie, Wyoming. The Aggies and Cowboys were both undefeated and looking for the conference championship title. With light snow fluttering down and a packed house of both Rams fans and Cowpokes, the game was one that would go down in history as one of the greatest in the long and storied rivalry. With Wyoming up 14-0, quarterback Bob Hainlen guided his team down the frozen Laramie turf for two touchdowns scored by Keith Thompson and Jim Abshire.
Late in the fourth quarter with the score tied at 14, Joe Folsom returned a Wyoming punt to the Cowboy 16 yard-line where after a series of plays Keith Thompson ended up in the end zone to put the Aggies ahead 21-14. Cowboy all-star halfback Eddie Talboon was not done yet and drove Wyoming to pay dirt with 30 seconds left in the game to seemingly lock the score at the end of the day. However, Aggie lineman Dale Dodrill became the greatest hero in green and gold when he blocked the extra point and ended the game 21-20 in favor of Colorado A&M.
It was at that moment when Aggie fans stormed the field and tore down the Wyoming goal posts. Former Colorado Governor Roy Romer, then a student at A&M, wrote in the Collegian, "Aggie Fans soared down from windy perches with jubilant cheers. For with a heave, and a ho, the mighty muscular manhood from Colorado toppled this system of elevated plumbing to earth."
The Rams would have their first loss against Drake on Homecoming day the next week, bounce back with a shutout over Mines the next week and then a loss to Utah for their only conference defeat of the year finishing second in the Skyline Conference. They would end their season with another exciting rivalry against Colorado in Boulder where the Aggies beat the Buffs in an exciting 29-25 victory that propelled them to national attention.
On Monday November 22, 1948, two days after beating CU in Boulder, the Colorado A&M Aggies were invited to the 1949 Raisin Bowl to play against undefeated Occidental College. It was the first time in school history a team had been invited to a bowl game and after Skyline Conference Coach of the Year Bob Davis asked his players if they wanted to play in a New Year's Day Bowl Game, (Nearly half the team were WWII veterans and married with families) they all agreed to accept the invitation.
After a harrowing airplane ride to Fresno, California, the Rams were treated like stars when they arrived in the raisin growing capitol of California. In a way they were movie stars because Universal Pictures filmed parts of the Raisin Bowl action for an upcoming movie called "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" starring Donald O'Connor.
Although the Jan. 1, 1949 Raisin Bowl was a very close 21-20 loss for the Rams, Eddie Hanna stunned the crowd with two 70-plus yard touchdown runs. Today, 70 years later we can still be proud of these Aggies and their accomplishments on the field in 1948. Looking up at the façade at Canvas Stadium we still see the names of #21 Eddie Hanna and #48 Fum McGraw, the only retired numbers for CSU football.
Frank Faucett is not the only member of the 1948 team still cheering CSU to victory each week, but he is the only Raisin Bowl alum who has done it at Colorado Field, Hughes Stadium and Canvas Stadium as a season ticket holder for well over 50 years.
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