1951 Washington Huskies football team

The 1951 Washington Huskies football team was an American football team that represented the University of Washington during the 1951 college football season. In its fourth season under head coach Howard Odell, the team compiled a 3–6–1 record, finished in seventh place in the Pacific Coast Conference, and outscored its opponents by a combined total of 273 to 218.[1] Ted Holzknecht was the team captain.

1951 Washington Huskies football
Conference	Pacific Coast Conference
1951 record	3–6–1 (1–5–1 PCC)
Head coach	Howard Odell (4th season)
Captain	Ted Holzknecht
Home stadium	Husky Stadium

1951 Pacific Coast Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 7 Stanford $	6	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
No. 17 UCLA	4	–	1	–	1			5	–	3	–	1
No. 12 California	5	–	2	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
USC	4	–	2	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
No. 18 Washington State	4	–	3	–	0			7	–	3	–	0
Oregon State	3	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Washington	1	–	5	–	1			3	–	6	–	1
Oregon	1	–	6	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
Idaho	0	–	3	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance
September 22	Montana*	No. 8	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	W 58–7	36,987
September 29	at Minnesota*	No. 8	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN	W 25–20	50,634
October 6	USC	No. 12	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	L 13–20	43,747
October 13	vs. Oregon		Multnomah Stadium Portland, OR (rivalry)	W 63–6	30,414
October 20	No. 8 Illinois*	No. 20	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	L 20–27	53,760
October 27	No. 11 Stanford		Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	L 7–14	48,343
November 3	Oregon State		Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	L 14–40	33,327
November 10	at California		California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	L 28–37	46,000
November 17	at No. 18 UCLA		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	T 20–20	31,597
November 24	Washington State		Husky Stadium Seattle, WA (rivalry)	L 25–27	51,221
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Game summaries

USC

USC at Washington

1 2 3 4 Total • Trojans 7 6 0 7 20 No. 12 Huskies 7 0 0 6 13 Date: October 6 Location: Husky Stadium, Seattle Game attendance: 43,747

The highlight of the 1951 contest came in the fourth quarter when Hugh McElhenny returned a punt from Des Koch for 100 yards, running past Frank Gifford on his way to the end zone.[2]

NFL Draft selections

Two University of Washington Huskies were selected in the 1952 NFL Draft, which lasted thirty rounds with 360 selections.[3]

= Husky Hall of Fame[4]

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL Club
Hugh McElhenny	Running back	1st	9	San Francisco 49ers
Don Heinrich	Quarterback	3rd	35	New York Giants

Heinrich did not play in 1951 due to a shoulder injury,[5][6][7] then led the Huskies in 1952.[8]
Due to military service, his first season with the Giants was in 1954.[9]

References

1. "Washington Yearly Results (1950-1954)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
2. Eskenazi, David. "Wayback Machine: McElhenny's 100-yard return". SportpressNW. Rudman, Steve. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
3. "1952 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
4. "The Husky Hall of Fame". gohuskies.com. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
5. "Don Heinrich injured". St. Petersburg Times. (Florida). Associated Press. September 9, 1951. p. 54.
6. "Huskies dump Montana 58-7". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. September 23, 1951. p. 8.
7. "Huskies batter Grizzles, 58-7". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. September 23, 1951. p. 14.
8. "Don Heinrich earns pass title as Huskies edge WSC 33-27". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. November 30, 1952. p. 10.
9. "N.Y. grid Giants sign ex-Husky Don Heinrich". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. January 5, 1954. p. 11.