Glenn Woodward Davis (December 26, 1924 - March 9, 2005) was an American football halfback famous in the 1940s. A member of the Class of 1947 at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Davis initially played college football for the Cal Poly Pomona Broncos. Under coach Earl Blaik, Davis teamed with Doc Blanchard to form a devastating pair of runners. With Davis and Blanchard, Army went 27-0-1 between 1944 and 1946.
Davis, nicknamed "Mr. Outside", won the Maxwell Award in 1944 and the Heisman Trophy in 1946. He was also among the runners up in 1944 and 1945. Blanchard, his teammate, won the award in 1945. Davis also was named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year in 1946. As a collegian, Davis scored a then-record 59 touchdowns. He still holds the all-time record for most yards averaged per carry in a season, with 11.5 yards in 1945. Together with Blanchard, they set a then-record 97 career touchdowns by a pair of teammates. (The record was broken by University of Southern California backs Reggie Bush and LenDale White, who had 99 career touchdowns.) In 2007, Davis was ranked #13 on ESPN's Top 25 Players In College Football History list.
After graduation, Davis served three years in the military before joining the Los Angeles Rams. A knee injury in 1952 ended his professional career.
Davis was married three times. From 1951 to 1952 he was married to the American actress Terry Moore.
He died of prostate cancer at La Quinta, California.
Felix Anthony "Doc" Blanchard (born December 11, 1924, raised in Bishopville, South Carolina) is best known as the West Point football player who won the 1945 Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and James E. Sullivan Award. The son of a doctor who had also played football at Tulane University and Wake Forest University, Felix Blanchard was nicknamed "Little Doc" as a boy.
After completing his freshman season at the University of North Carolina in 1942, Blanchard enlisted in the United States Army, took basic training in Miami, and was assigned to an Army Air Force ground school in Clovis, New Mexico.
He received an appointment to the United States Military Academy on July 2, 1944. During his three years at West Point his team under coach Earl "Red" Blaik compiled an undefeated 27-0-1 record.
Blaik once explained what made Blanchard unique:
Imagine a big bruising fullback who runs one hundred yards in ten seconds flat, who kicks off into the end zone, who punts fifty yards, who can also sweep the flank as well as rip the middle, who catches laterals or forward passes with sure-fingered skill, and who makes his own interference. That's Mr. 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. In the first capacity, he teamed with fellow Heisman winner Glenn Davis to form one of the most lethal rushing combinations in football history, scoring 38 touchdowns and earning the nickname "Mr. Inside." |
