The "Cinderella Rams"- 60th Anniversary
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Colorado Aggies.Com
Preserving the History of Football at Colorado State University from 1893 to 1955
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Ram Punch - Collegian -
A series of comics appeared
in the Collegian each week
depicting the Rams beating
up teams in the conference.
This comic is from the
October 15, 1948 Collegian
and shows Wyoming trying
to rope the conference
championship before the
Aggie-Rams traveled to
Laramie. DU is in the bottom
right, New Mexico State
sleeping on the bottom, Utah
State against the barrel and
the Colorado College Tigers
on top of the barrel. All
drunk on "Ram Punch".
Colorado Aggies.Com
RAM Pride begins with AGGIE History
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They are possibly the most legendary football team of the Aggie Era and known by nearly all Ram fans as the "Raisin
Bowl Team." Their march to the Raisin Bowl is nothing short of amazing but few die-hard football fans of Colorado
State University know how and why they got there. The 2008 season marks 60 years since a team filled with World
War Two veterans stunned the nation under their second year head coach Bob Davis. We pulled out the stops for the
anniversary and interviewed two former players from this team (Frank Faucett & Don "Tuffy" Mullison) along with the
ball boy from the Raisin Bowl. (Ted Davis, son of coach Bob Davis) Although officially they were the Aggies, the new
movement in 1946 for the Ram mascot had many newspapers of the day calling the football team both Aggies and
Rams. Because of this tussle for a nickname, the football team will be "Aggie-Rams" for this special feature on the
"Cinderella Rams" of 1948.
Right - Jack Christiansen #19
and Thurman "Fum" McGraw
pose with assistant coach Mark
Duncan simply because of their
uniform numbers. Christiansen
was a sophomore who later in
the season began returning
punts while McGraw was a
junior tackle who after the
season was named to the
International News 1st Team
All-America. Duncan coached
the line, both offense and
defense. Duncan was an
outstanding player from Denver
University who later became
legendary with referees in the
NFL. (1949 Silver Spruce)
Left - Cover of the 1948
Colorado A & M Media Guide.
(Private Collection)
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Bob Davis and the 1948 Colorado A & M College Aggie-Rams
Football in the post-war era was an entirely different sport than it had been prior to 1941. During the war there was a
blending of collegiate aged men from all around the nation who played the game from bases in the States to gravel
fields on Guadalcanal. When the GI Bill of Rights allowed more returning veterans to attend college, a need for higher
quality football arose at all schools; not just Colorado A & M. This pressure became too much for Aggie head coach
Julius "Hans" Wagner midway through the 1946 season and he was forced to resign his position.
In 1947, a 39 year old Utah native named Robert L. (Bob) Davis took over Aggie football and in one season he cracked
the whip and drilled these men as if they were still in the military. He emphasized fundamentals, classroom time
watching game films and two new elements on the field in the "two-platoon" system and the "T" Formation. In their
first season, Bob Davis and his assistant coaches Mark Duncan (Line Coach) and Bob Sneddon (Backfield Coach)
turned a 2-7 team in 1946 to a 5-4-1 team in 1947.
Davis utilized the returning veterans (36 out of 72 men listed in the Spring 1948 Colorado A & M Media Guide were
former military men.) and Junior College transfer students to build his team around this new system. Practicing his
men with relentless drill, Davis earned the nickname "The Whip" according to his son Ted who said, "nobody called
him that to his face." Frank Faucett, a sophomore on the team in 1948 stated that Davis "had his act together, nobody
stood around during practice and if you lost on Saturday you were back on the field practicing on Sunday."
The names of men from the 1948 Aggie-Rams are almost a who's-who of all-time great players from the Aggie eara of
CSU football. Men like Bob Hainlen at quarterback, George Jones at end, Don "Tuffy" Mullison at guard, Dale Dodrill
and Thurman "Fum" McGraw at tackle, Jack Christiansen returning punts/kicks, Frank Faucett at halfback and kicking
extra points and the great Eddie "Twinkletoes" Hanna at halfback played for this amazing team. Other names that were
equally good but not as well-know were Keith Thompson, Joe Folsom, Oliver Woods, Carl Cox and Pat Green all
halfbacks. Lyle Yarrington and Cliff Hoelzer the other tackles with Jim Abshire, Don Hoch, and Al Riegel at end.
Bob Davis - A star for the
University of Utah in the late 1920's,
Bob Davis came to Colorado A & M
in 1947 to change football and bring
back winning teams for the first
time in nearly 15 seasons. His .618
winning percentage over nine
seasons makes him the best coach in
CSU history for winning percentage
with more than five years coached.
(Courtesy of CSU Archives)
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The "Cinderella Season"
The Aggie-Rams opened the 1948 season at refurbished Colorado Field on September 17 for the first ever night game
in school history against Colorado College. The new lights and additional seats welcomed the team as they rolled over
the Tigers 25-6 highlighted by a 44 yard run by Eddie Hanna. After blasting New Mexico State in the second night
game at Colorado Field, the Aggie-Rams traveled to Logan, Utah to narrowly escape the "Utags" 9-7 in a game that
was won on the running of Hanna and excellent kicking of quarterback/kicker Bob Hainlen.
A three game winning streak took the Aggie-Rams to Denver to play the Pioneers before 24,000 fans at Hilltop
Stadium. The team had a "do-or-die spirt" in them as the Aggie-Rams played a close game against their DU rivals.
With the Pioneers leading 7-0 at the end of the third quarter, Eddie "Twinkletoes" Hanna utilized an excellent block
from Fum McGraw to run 83 yards down the field for a touchdown. More brilliant running by Hanna took the
Aggie-Rams down the field for Keith Thompson to receive a perfect pass to win the game 14-10.
The team was riding high after four consecutive wins and their opponents drunk on "Ram Punch" (A mythical term
used in Collegian comics for conference teams losing to the Aggie-Rams). The Aggie-Rams traveled to Laramie,
Wyoming to take on the also undefeated Cowboys on October 16 for one of the greatest battles of the season.
Previously the Cowboys had been the laughing stock of the conference dating back to their inception of football 50
years prior to 1948, but also utilizing returning veterans the Cowboys were themselves a dominant force in the
Skyline Conference.
Before 7,600 homecoming fans, Bob Hainlen passed his way up and down the field to score 21 points for the
Aggie-Rams but Wyoming's Eddie Talboon kept pace with their A & M foes all day. With only a few minutes
remaining on the clock and Colorado A & M leading 21-14, Talboon scored a touchdown to close the gap to 21-20.
As Talboon went to kick the extra point to end the game in a tie score, Dale Dodrill broke through the Cowboy line to
block the kick and preserve the fifth win in a row for the "Cinderella Rams." With about 1,000 fans from Fort Collins
on hand, the celebration poured onto the Wyoming field and the Border War began.
Future Colorado Governor Roy Romer described the post-game action in the Collegian: "Aggie fans soared down
from windy perches with jubliant cheers... Those valiant fans who had enough stamina to stumble over the fence
began to swarm around the goal posts...with a heave, and a ho, the mighty muscular manhood from Colorado
toppled this system of elevated plumbing to the earth." Wyoming was knocked out of the race and the A & M fans
tearing down their own goal posts only set the stage for the infamous "tear gas game" in 1949.
In the first five games of the 1948 season, the Aggie-Rams had won more than they had since 1934, with the
exception of the previous year. They were making national headlines as one of the greatest improved teams in college
football and were ranked second behind the University of California for undefeated teams nationally.
Fum McGraw - Unquestionably the
best-known Aggie in school history,
McGraw was an outstanding
All-American tackle for the 1948 team.
(1950 Silver Spruce)
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Dale Dodrill - Playing opposite
McGraw at tackle, Dodrill saved the
day against Wyoming in 1949 and later
went on to have an outstanding career
with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
(1950 Silver Spruce)
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Eddie "Twinkletoes" Hanna - The
1948 season was his best and he gained
respect and admiration of
Colorado A & M fans everywhere.
(1948 Silver Spruce)
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Tearing Down the Posts -
After the amazing win in
Laramie, Aggie-Ram fans
poured out of the stands to
tear down the home team's
goal posts on their
homecoming day celebration.
The Colorado A & M football
team had won their fifth
consecutive game of the
season to remain undefeated
and knocked off the
previously undefeated
Cowboys with a last second
blocked extra point kick. This
would not be the only time
the Aggie-Ram fans would
tear down an opponent's goal
posts in 1948 and it may be
the first real shot in the
Border War that exists today.
(1949 Silver Spruce)
Raisin Bowl Bound
After starting the season 5-0 the Aggie-Rams came down to reality losing to Drake University by only two points. A
win against Colorado Mines and a heartbreaking loss to Utah University handed the Utes the championshipo and
sealed the Aggie-Rams into second place in the Skyline Conference. The final game of the 1948 season was played
on November 20 against their former conference rivals, the University of Colorado. After the 1947 season, the Buffs
felt they were too big of a school to play in the seemingly small Mountain States Conference (Commonly known as
the Skyline Conference) so they moved to the "Big 7" Conference. The small A & M team traveled to Boulder to take
on the mighty "Golden Buffaloes" in a game that was for pride only, since it had no meaning in conference play.
No matter if it was a conference game or not, the most hated rival of the Aggie-Rams was the Buffaloes and this
tough group of men were not about to let "Big Time Charlie" overcome them. A snow covered field in Boulder and
18,000 cold fans greeted the two ancient rivals for the first time playing against one another in different conferences.
The Aggie-Rams struck first with a lateral to Eddie Hanna for a touchdown in the first 4:15 of the game. A Hanna
fumble allowd CU to score their first touchdown of the game, missing the extra point.
Then, a sophomore from Canon City, Colorado named Jack Christiansen on the second play of the second quarter
ran a punt 89 yards for a touchdown; his first of the season giving the Aggie-Rams a 14-6 advantage. Thanks to a
Fum McGraw fumble recovery and another lateral to Hanna the Aggie-Rams took a 23-6 halftime lead after Hainlen
kicked a field goal to end the half. CU came roaring back in the second with the dazzling play of Narcisian but two
more Bob Hainlen field goals were too much for the "Thundering Herd" and the Aggie-Rams beat CU for the first
time since 1933.
Aggie-Ram fans once again took to their opponent's home field and tore down the Buff's goal posts to celebrate their
8-2 record; the most wins in a season since 1925. The Denver Post stated, "As soon as the final gun barked,
swarms of jubilant Aggie students rushed the goal posts, tearing them down to cart home in their hour of triumph. A
near riot continued among CU "defenders" and their tormentors after darkness set in but it subsided without the aid
of police interference."
Immediately following the game, Coach Bob Davis and Colorado A & M were invited for the first time in school
history to attend a bowl game. Representatives from the Raisin Bowl in Fresno, California were on hand to present
the invitation and on November 22, the team voted to attend with the Aggie-Ram athletic council approving the
game. Bob Davis, in his second year at Colorado A & M not only took his team to a New Year's Day Bowl but was
also awarded the Mountain States Conference "Coach of the Year" award following the CU win. Junior tackle
Thurman "Fum" McGraw was named to the International News All-American team; the first time in school history a
player had been named to the first team All-America.
Jack Christiansen - Although he did
not play much in 1948, Christiansen
made a spectacular punt return for a
touchdown against CU for 89 yards.
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Don "Tuffy" Mullison - One of the
few seniors on the '48 team, Mullison
was also one of the nation's best
wrestlers for coach Hans Wagner.
Mullison first played for the Aggies in
1942 and joined the Army during the
war. He returned to A & M in 1946
being an integral part of the team. He
came back as assistant coach in 1952
and was the head football coach from
1956-1961. (1949 Silver Spruce)
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Bob Hainlen - A senior who lettered
for the Aggie-Rams in '45, '46 and '47,
Hainlen had an excellent arm and
powerful leg to score many of the
points for the Aggie-Rams in 1948.
(1949 Silver Spruce)
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