D-Day was 80 years ago. Tennessee football stopped for a war. Four players never returned.

Today in college athletics, coaches and fans worry that their school’s roster could be decimated by the transfer portal.

Once upon a time, a world war cleared out locker rooms.

This week is the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France in 1944. The massive assault on the Normandy beaches was a turning point in World War II.

The United States had entered the fight after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. The war ended in August 1945.

Among the hundreds of thousands of Americans who served were fellows who would otherwise have been playing college sports.

Bill Nowling, one of four University of Tennessee football players killed in World War II.

Tennessee felt the bite early. Coach Robert Neyland, a graduate of West Point, had already been called to active service in 1941, before Pearl Harbor. Assistant John Barnhill assumed head-coaching duties 1941-45.

The 1942 season was played as usual – other than the Rose Bowl moving to Durham, North Carolina, for fear of a Japanese attack on the West Coast. Barnhill’s Vols went 9-1-1.

Neyland would eventually serve in the Asian theater. But in ’42, he was coaching football for the Army. His Eastern All-Stars – comprising active-duty athletes – played NFL teams in a fundraising campaign.

The ’42 Vols concluded their season in the Sugar Bowl, beating Tulsa 14-7.

It would be the last Tennessee football game for a while – for three Vols, the last ever.

In that Sugar Bowl, Bill Gold scored the first UT touchdown. Denver Crawford blocked a Tulsa punt for a safety. The final touchdown was scored by Clyde “Ig” Fuson.

Gold and Crawford were among a dozen or so lettermen on the ’42 team who served in and survived the war then returned to play again in 1946.

Clyde “Ig” Fuson was killed in Germany in 1944 while serving with the 84th…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/d-day-80-years-ago-090552078.html

Author : Knox News | The Knoxville News-Sentinel

Publish date : 2024-06-05 09:05:52

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