The 1948 College All-Star Game
By
1948 the Chicago Charities classic football contest had become known as
the “dream game” according to the New York Times. The game played August
22 before a crowd of 101,220 was a match-up between the All-Stars of
college football and the champions of the National Football League, the
Chicago Cardinals. Jimmy Conzelman, coach of the Cardinals, had the team
prepared to avenge the losses of the last two years suffered by the
professional players. Frank Leahy of Notre Dame coached his second
All-Star team in 1948 having engineered the previous year’s victory over
the Chicago Bears. Coming into the game for Notre Dame was quarterback
Johnny Lujack, the winner of the 1947 Heisman Trophy Award and Jay
Rhodemeyer of Kentucky who was voted the MVP for the All-Stars in 1948.
About ten minutes into the opening period the Cardinals scored after an
80-yard drive with Elmer Angsman plunging into the endzone from the
2-yard line. Vince Schwall scored again for the
Cardinals
in the second quarter after an 89-yard drive. The only high point for
the All-stars came in the third period as they fought back valiantly and
nearly scored but were stopped cold on the one-yard line. In the fourth
quarter All-Star Perry Moss of Illinois threw an interception allowing
Vince Banonis to score on a 31-yard return. The final TD for the
professionals came after an All-Star fumble on the collegians’ 11-yard
line. With that turnover Charlie Trippi scored in the closing seconds of
the game on a 10-yard run and was the game’s leading ground-gainer with
79 yards. Pat Harder kicked all of the extra points leaving the score at
28-0 in favor of the Chicago Cardinals. The New York Times summarized
the evening’s performance by stating, “the pros virtually toyed with the
opposition…”