1946 Washington Huskies football team

1946 Washington Huskies football
1946 Washington Huskies football
Conference	Pacific Coast Conference
Record	5–4 (5–3 PCC)
Head coach	Ralph Welch (5th season);
Assistant coach	Art McLarney
Captain	John Zeger
Home stadium	University of Washington Stadium
	Seasons ← 1945 1947 →

1946 Pacific Coast Conference football standings
v t e	Conf.					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 4 UCLA $	7	–	0	–	0	10	–	1	–	0
Oregon State	6	–	1	–	1	7	–	1	–	1
USC	5	–	2	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
Washington	5	–	3	–	0	5	–	4	–	0
Stanford	3	–	3	–	1	6	–	3	–	1
Oregon	3	–	4	–	1	4	–	4	–	1
Montana	1	–	3	–	0	4	–	4	–	0
Washington State	1	–	5	–	1	1	–	6	–	1
California	1	–	6	–	0	2	–	7	–	0
Idaho	0	–	5	–	0	1	–	8	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1946 Washington Huskies football team was an American football team that represented the University of Washington in the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) during the 1946 college football season. In its fifth season under head coach Ralph "Pest" Welch, the team compiled a 5–4 record (5–3 against PCC opponents), finished in fourth place in the PCC, and outscored its opponents by a total of 144 to 140.^[1]

Guard "Pappy" John Zeger was elected as the honorary team captain. Halfback Freddy Provo, who suffered severe shrapnel wounds in World War II, won the award as the team's most inspirational player.^[2] Two Washington players received first-team honors from the Associated Press (AP) or United Press (UP) on the 1946 All-Pacific Coast football team: Zegar at guard and Dick Hagen at end.^[3]^[4]

Washington was ranked at No. 70 in the final Litkenhous Difference by Score System rankings for 1946.^[5]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 28	Saint Mary's (CA)*	University of Washington Stadium Seattle, WA	L 20–24	43,000	^[6]
October 5	UCLA	University of Washington Stadium Seattle, WA	L 13–39	43,000	^[7]
October 12	at Washington State	Rogers Field Pullman, WA (rivalry)	W 21–7	26,000	^[8]
October 19	at USC	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	L 0–28	42,500	^[9]
October 26	California	University of Washington Stadium Seattle, WA	W 20–6	35,000	^[10]
November 9	at Stanford	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA	W 21–15	25,000	^[11]
November 16	Oregon	University of Washington Stadium Seattle, WA (rivalry)	W 16–0	34,000	^[12]
November 23	Montana	University of Washington Stadium Seattle, WA	W 21–0	7,000	^[13]
November 30	vs. Oregon State	Multnomah Stadium Portland, OR	L 12–21	26,808	^[14]
*Non-conference game

Personnel

Players

Hjalmer Anderson, end
Gerry Austin, quarterback
George Bayer, tackle
Gordon Berlin, center
Gail Bruce, end
Wes Carlson, guard
Chuck Coatney, tackle
Marshall Dallas, fullback
Carl Fennema, center
Pete Foster, tackle
Dick Hagen, end
Herb Harlow, halfback
Alf Hemstad, quarterback
Gordon Hungar, halfback
Bruce Jaton, center
Whitey King, halfback
Bob Levenhagen, guard
Bill McGovern, center
Hank Melusky, end
George Meyers, guard
Bob Mikalson, fullback
Bob Nelson, end
Fred Osterhout, guard
Dick Ottele, quarterback
Fred Provo, halfback
Harry Rice, tackle
Sam Robinson, halfback
Ernie Stein, end
Dmitri Tadich, tackle
Jim Thompson, quarterback
Jack Tracy, end
Dick Watson, guard
Arnie Weinmeister, fullback
John Zeger, guard

Coaching staff

Head coach: Ralph "Pest" Welch
Assistant coaches: Roy Sandberg (assistant coach), Red Badgro (end coach), Art McLarney (assistant coach), Johnny Cherberg (backfield coach), Bill Haroldson (line coach)

Professional football draft selections

Four University of Washington Huskies were selected in the 1947 NFL draft, which lasted 32 rounds with 300 selections.^[15] One of those Huskies was also selected in the 1947 AAFC Draft, which lasted 25 rounds with 186 selections.^[16]

= Husky Hall of Fame^[17]

League	Player	Position	Round	Pick	Club
NFL	Bill McGovern	Center	8	8	Los Angeles Rams
NFL	Larry Hatch	Back	11	10	Chicago Bears
NFL	Dick Hagen	End	14	1	Detroit Lions
NFL	Gordon Berlin	Center	24	10	Chicago Bears
AAFC	Dick Hagen	End	19	3	Brooklyn Dodgers