1945 Philadelphia Eagles season

The 1945 Philadelphia Eagles season was the Eagles' 13th in the league. The team failed to improve on its previous output of 7–1–2, losing three games.[1]

1945 Philadelphia Eagles season
Head coachGreasy Neale
Home fieldShibe Park
Local radioWCAU
Results
Record7–3
Division place2nd NFL Eastern
Playoff finishDid not qualify

As a result, the team also failed to qualify for the playoffs for the 13th consecutive season.

Offseason edit

NFL draft edit

The 1945 NFL Draft was held on April 8, 1945. It was the last draft held in Chicago; later in the year, the league moved its offices to Philadelphia. The Eagles ended up with picks in thirty of the thirty-two rounds in the draft, and picked ninth in each of those rounds. The teams with the five worst records in the 1944 season were the only teams picking in rounds two and four.

Future Hall of Famers in this draft included Charley Trippi, a halfback from Georgia who was chosen in the first round and was the number one pick of the Chicago Cardinals. Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch, a wide receiver from Michigan was chosen as fifth overall by the Cleveland Rams. Pete Pihos, a defensive end from Indiana University, Tom Fears, an end from UCLA, and Arnie Weinmeister, a defensive tackle from Washington were also part of this draft.

Player selections edit

The table shows the Eagles selections, what picks they had that were traded away, and the team that ended up with that pick. It is possible the Eagles' pick ended up with this team via another team that the Eagles made a trade with. Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.

= Pro Bowler[2] = Hall of Famer
Rd Pick Player Position School Rd Pick Player Position School
1 8 John Yonakor Defensive end Notre Dame 2 No PICK
3 25 Alvin Dark Back LSU 4 No PICK
5 41 Pete Pihos Wide receiver Indiana 6 52 Chuck Dellago Guard Minnesota
7 63 Gonzalo Morales Back St. Mary's (CA) 8 41 Sam Robinson Back Washington
9 85 Forrest Hall Back San Francisco 10 96 Joe Sadonis Tackle Fordham
11 107 Rudy Mobley Back Hardin–Simmons 12 118 Jim Newmeyer Tackle St. Vincent
13 129 Bill Chambers Tackle UCLA 14 140 John Duda Back Virginia
15 151 Bill Montgomery Back Louisiana State 16 162 Howard Werner End Syracuse
17 173 Jim Austin Back Missouri 18 184 Quentin Klenk Tackle USC
19 195 Joe Spencer Tackle Oklahoma A & M 20 206 Leo Pratt Tackle Oklahoma A & M
21 217 Phil Teschner Tackle Brown 22 2228 John Magee Guard Rice
23 239 Norm "Monk" Mosley Back Alabama 24 250 Blair Brown Guard Oklahoma A & M
25 261 Bob Hall End Stanford 26 272 Dan Talcott Tackle Nevada-Reno
27 283 Bill Thompson Tackle New Mexico 28 294 Al Fleming Center Wichita State
29 305 Leo Benjamin Center West Virginia 30 316 Jim Dougherty Back University of Miami (OH)
31 292 Ken Reese Back Alabama 32 298 Loren Braner Center Pittsburgh
Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 October 7 Chicago Cardinals W 21–6 1–0 Shibe Park 25,581
2 October 14 at Detroit Lions L 24–28 1–1 Briggs Stadium 22,580
3 October 21 at Washington Redskins L 14–24 1–2 Griffith Stadium 35,550
4 October 28 Cleveland Rams W 28–14 2–2 Shibe Park 38,149
5 November 4 at Pittsburgh Steelers W 45–3 3–2 Forbes Field 23,018
6 November 11 New York Giants W 38–17 4–2 Shibe Park 30,047
7 November 18 Pittsburgh Steelers W 30–6 5–2 Shibe Park 23,838
8 November 25 Washington Redskins W 16–0 6–2 Shibe Park 37,306
9 December 2 at New York Giants L 21–28 6–3 Polo Grounds 45,372
10 December 9 Yanks W 35–7 7–3 Shibe Park 27,905

Game recaps edit

Standings edit

NFL Eastern Division
W L T PCT DIV PF PA STK
Washington Redskins 8 2 0 .800 6–2 209 121 W2
Philadelphia Eagles 7 3 0 .700 5–2 272 133 W1
Yanks 3 6 1 .333 3–2–1 123 211 L5
New York Giants 3 6 1 .333 2–4–1 179 198 L1
Pittsburgh Steelers 2 8 0 .200 1–7 79 220 L3

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Roster edit

(All time List of Philadelphia Eagles players in franchise history)

= 1945 Pro All-Star[3]
  • + = 1st team All-Star
NO. Player AGE POS GP GS WT HT YRS College
Greasy Neale 53 Coach 1945
record

7–3–0
NFL-Eagles
Lifetime

23–25–4
5th West Virginia Wesleyan
Ben Agajanian 26 K 1 1 215 6–0 Rookie New Mexico
Bruno Banducci 25 G 9 8 216 5–11 1 Stanford
Jack Banta 28 HB 5 1 191 5–11 4 USC
Mel Bleeker 25 HB 4 4 189 5–11 1 USC
Johnny Butler 27 HB-TB 7 0 185 5–10 2 Tennessee
Larry Cabrelli 28 E-DB 10 8 194 5–11 4 Colgate
Rocco Canale 28 T-G 3 0 240 5–11 2 Boston College
Jim Castiglia 27 FB 1 1 208 5–11 4 Georgetown (DC)
Enio Conti 32 G 2 1 204 5–11 4 Arkansas, and
Bucknell
Dick Erdlitz 25 HB 7 0 181 5–10 3 Northwestern
Jack Ferrante 29 E-DE 10 8 197 6–1 4 none
Terry Fox 27 FB-LB 2 0 208 6–1 4 Miami (FL)
George Fritts 26 T 10 1 205 5–11 4 Clemson Tigers football
Charlie Gauer 24 FB-E 7 0 213 6–2 2 Colgate
Jack Hinkle 28 B 3 2 195 6–0 5 Syracuse
Dick Humbert 27 E-DE 4 2 179 6–1 4 Richmond
Abe Karnofsky 23 QB-HB-DB 8 2 175 5–10 Rookie Arizona
Bucko Kilroy 24 G-MG-T-DT 9 0 243 6–2 2 Notre Dame, and
Temple
Ben Kish 28 B 9 5 207 6–0 5 Pittsburgh
Vic Lindskog 31 C 10 6 203 6–1 1 Stanford
Mike Mandarino 24 T-C-G 5 0 240 5–11 1 La Salle
Bap Manzini 25 C 9 4 195 5–11 1 St. Vincent
Duke Maronic 24 G 8 2 209 5–9 1 none
Flip McDonald 24 E 9 2 200 6–2 1 Oklahoma
Fred Meyer 26 E-DE 8 0 190 6–2 3 Stanford
Eddie Michaels 31 G 9 8 205 5–11 9 Villanova
Red Ramsey 34 E 2 0 196 6–0 7 Texas Tech
John Rogalla 28 FB 8 4 215 6–0 Rookie Scranton
Jack Sanders 28 G 3 0 219 6–0 5 SMU
Vic Sears 27 T-DT 10 9 223 6–3 4 Oregon State
Allie Sherman 22 QB 10 1 170 5–11 2 Brooklyn
Abe Shires 28 T 7 0 220 6–2 Rookie Tennessee
John G. Smith T 1 0 200 6–2 Rookie Florida
Milt Smith 26 DB-QB 5 0 185 6–3 Rookie UCLA
Ernie Steele 28 HB-DB 7 1 187 6–0 3 Washington
Gil Steinke 26 HB 7 1 175 6–0 Rookie Texas A&M-Kingsville
Bob Suffridge 29 G 10 1 205 6–0 4 Tennessee
Tommy Thompson 29 QB 8 0 192 6–1 5 Tulsa
Steve Van Buren+ 25 HB 10 9 200 6–0 1 LSU
Buzz Warren 29 TB-HB 1 0 175 5–11 Rookie Tennessee
Al Wistert+ 25 T-G-DT 10 10 214 6–1 2 Michigan
Roy Zimmerman 27 QB-WB-K 10 8 201 6–2 5 San Jose State
41 Players
Team Average
26.3 10 201.5 6–0.1 2.5

References edit

  1. ^ 1945 Philadelphia Eagles
  2. ^ Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro-Bowl at any time in their career.
  3. ^ Players are identified as a 1945 Pro All-Star.