America in WWII - (Page 55) WAR Pearl Harbor’s bombs nearly sank American football as draft-exempt men tried to fill the cleats of MVPs who went off to war. by Eric Ethier gridiron C UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL COACH Lou Little knew a rough season was ahead when he unpacked his cleats in the fall of 1942. War was on. His stars of the previous season had deserted the gridiron in droves for the armed forces, trading their colorful, numbered jerseys for the drab and anonymous outfits of the army, navy, and marines. Some colleges were barely able to field a competitive team, and when they did, depleted student bodies left stadium seats empty. “But these things don’t matter,” Little wrote with admirable pluck. “The game is being played and played harder, faster, perhaps even more fiercely than it has been played before. We have become an offensively minded nation. Defense bonds have become war bonds. The bombers and the ships they buy are weapons of attack, not defense. We’ve got to strike, not parry.” Little’s outlook reflected the mood of a ticked-off nation. Across the home front, reminders of the Second World War were everywhere—in newspapers and movie theater newsreels, in booming factories, and in the empty beds of brothers, fathers, and sons. Anxiety knotted stomachs. But the war-driven economy also put money in the pockets of Americans, who were eager to lose themselves in their favorite sports like never before. Baseball remained America’s game, soothing millions in sunsplashed ballparks with its blend of beauty and anticipation. But OLUMBIA ABOVE: COURTESY OF COREY LEIBY,WWW.SPORTSMEMORABILIAMUSEUM.COM. OPPOSITE: NATIONAL ARCHIVES Left: A West Virginia University guard takes down Fordham University’s ball-carrier in an October 22, 1942, game at New York City’s Polo Grounds. College and pro football went on during the war even as enlistments and the draft depleted the number of players available. Top: A 1930s Reach football. OCTOBER 2007 AMERICA IN WWII 55
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