Wikipedia

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 Howie 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.

1951 Washington Huskies football
ConferencePacific Coast Conference
Record3–6–1 (1–5–1 PCC)
Head coach
CaptainTed Holzknecht
Home stadiumUniversity of Washington Stadium
Seasons
← 1950
1952 →
1951 Pacific Coast Conference football standings
Conf.Overall
TeamW L TW L T
No. 7 Stanford $6–1–09–2–0
No. 17 UCLA4–1–15–3–1
No. 12 California5–2–08–2–0
USC4–2–07–3–0
No. 18 Washington State4–3–07–3–0
Oregon State3–5–04–6–0
Washington1–5–13–6–1
Oregon1–6–02–8–0
Idaho0–3–02–7–0
  • $ – Conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

Ted Holzknecht was the team captain. The team featured fullback Hugh McElhenny, who would go on to become a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Schedule

edit
DateOpponentRankSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 22Montana*No. 8
W 58–733,000–36,987[1]
September 29at Minnesota*No. 8
W 25–2050,634[2]
October 6USCNo. 12
  • University of Washington Stadium
  • Seattle, WA
L 13–2047,000[3]
October 13at Oregon
W 63–630,414[4]
October 20No. 8 Illinois*No. 20
  • University of Washington Stadium
  • Seattle, WA
L 20–2754,000[5]
October 27No. 11 Stanford
  • University of Washington Stadium
  • Seattle, WA
L 7–1443,500[6]
November 3Oregon State
  • University of Washington Stadium
  • Seattle, WA
L 14–4033,500[7]
November 10at California
L 28–3746,000[8]
November 17at No. 18 UCLA
T 20–2031,597[9]
November 24No. 17 Washington State
  • University of Washington Stadium
  • Seattle, WA (rivalry)
L 25–2752,000[10]
  • *Non-conference game
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • Source: [11]

Game summaries

edit

USC

edit
USC at Washington
Team 1 234Total
• Trojans 7 607 20
No. 12 Huskies 7 006 13
Cover of the program for the November 3 game against Oregon State College.

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.[12]

NFL draft selections

edit

Two University of Washington Huskies were selected in the 1952 NFL draft, which lasted 30 rounds with 360 selections.[13]

= Husky Hall of Fame[14]
PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL club
Hugh McElhennyRunning back1st9San Francisco 49ers
Don HeinrichQuarterback3rd35New York Giants
Heinrich did not play in 1951 due to a shoulder injury,[15][16][17] then led the Huskies in 1952.[18]
Due to military service, his first season with the Giants was in 1954.[19]

References

edit
  1. ↑ "Washington romps over Montana 58–7". Nevada State Journal. September 23, 1951. Retrieved May 2, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ "Huskies blow 18-point lead, but edge Gophers". Omaha World-Herald. September 30, 1951. Retrieved January 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Huskies upset by Trojan sub, 13 to 20". The Montana Standard. October 7, 1951. Retrieved January 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Washington slaughters poor old Oregon 63–6!". Nevada State Journal. October 14, 1951. Retrieved January 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Soph passes leads Illinois in 27–20 win over Huskies". The Rapid City Journal. October 21, 1951. Retrieved January 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Still unbeaten Cards top Huskies". San Francisco Chronicle. October 28, 1951. Retrieved January 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "Burly Beavers put Huskies through touchdown grinder". The Sunday Olympian. November 4, 1951. Retrieved January 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Incidentally, Cal won quite a game, too". San Francisco Chronicle. November 11, 1951. Retrieved January 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Huskies tie UCLA". The Register. November 18, 1951. Retrieved January 17, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Washington bows to W.S.C.'s Cougars 27–25". Tri-City Herald. November 25, 1951. Retrieved May 2, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "1951 Washington Huskies Schedule and Results". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
  12. ↑ Eskenazi, David. "Wayback Machine: McElhenny's 100-yard return". SportpressNW. Rudman, Steve. Retrieved September 13, 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  13. ↑ "1952 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
  14. ↑ "The Husky Hall of Fame". gohuskies.com. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Don Heinrich injured". St. Petersburg Times. Florida. Associated Press. September 9, 1951. p. 54.
  16. ↑ "Huskies dump Montana 58-7". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Idaho. Associated Press. September 23, 1951. p. 8.
  17. ↑ "Huskies batter Grizzles, 58-7". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. Associated Press. September 23, 1951. p. 14.
  18. ↑ "Don Heinrich earns pass title as Huskies edge WSC 33-27". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Idaho. Associated Press. November 30, 1952. p. 10.
  19. ↑ "N.Y. grid Giants sign ex-Husky Don Heinrich". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. January 5, 1954. p. 11.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1951_Washington_Huskies_football_team&oldid=1339403539"