The 1944 New Hampshire Wildcats football team represented the University of New Hampshire in the 1944 college football season. The Wildcats were led by first-year head coach Herbert Snow and completed the season with a record of 1–3. The team played its home games at Lewis Field (also known as Lewis Stadium) in Durham, New Hampshire.
Background New Hampshire had not fielded a team in 1943, due to World War II. In mid-September 1944, university administrators approved an "informal" team, limited to four games, with a roster consisting of 17-year-olds and returning veterans. The program's most recent head coach, Charles M. Justice, had entered the Navy in April 1944. Selected as his successor was Herbert Snow, a Springfield College graduate who had been the head coach at Wellesley High School in Massachusetts. The team began practices in early October, with only one player from their 1942 squad—Claude Henry, a reserve back who had returned to the university after serving in the Marine Corps.
Schedule
The 1944 games remain the last time that the Middlebury and New Hampshire football programs have met.
Roster Centers Everett Abbott Steven Morang (Portsmouth, NH) Richard Ravgiala (Methuen, MA) Roger Tyler (Durham, NH)
Guards Morton Baum (Lynn, MA) Van Evangelou (Newport, NH) George Haselton Alfred Miles (Winthrop, MA) Leon Stevens (Farmington, NH)
Tackles Robert Beauregard (Marlborough, NH) David Brown (Epsom, NH) Edward Gulubicky (Haverhill, MA) William Holleman (Springfield, NH) Calvin Jones Eugene Morrison Jack Richardson Daniel Rogers Ends Howard Chandler Elliot Easterbrook Charles Kearney (Auburndale, MA) Leo Lajoie Edward Noyes (Manchester, NH) Edward "Red" Ryder (Durham, NH) Jack Stuart (Belmont, MA) Fred White (Wolfeboro, NH)
Backs Steve Aliapoulios (Manchester, NH) Bill Black (Nashua, NH) Oliver Fifield Kenneth Friborg (Manchester, NH) John Hawke Claude Henry (Cambridge, MA) William Pizzano (Revere, MA) David Randall Henry Spear Joseph Swekla (Nashua, NH) Victor Szalucka (Claremont, NH) Charles Thayer (Epping, NH) Source:
Game summaries October 21: at Maine
October 28: vs. Middlebury
November 4: at Middlebury
November 11: vs. Maine
Statistics Scores by quarter
New Hampshire scoring {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" ! Player !! Touchdowns !! Conversions !! Points |- | Bill Black || 3 || 3 || 21 |- | Joe Swekla || 2 || – || 12 |- | Bill Pizzano || 1 || – || 6 |- ! Total || 6 || 3 || 39
Honors Quarterback Bill Pizzano was named to the All-New England Small College Team; he was later inducted to the university's athletic hall of fame, in 2004.
References
Further reading