1956 Sacramento State Hornets football | |
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Conference | Far Western Conference |
Record | 3–5–1 (1–4 FWC) |
Head coach |
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Home stadium | Grant Stadium |
Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Humboldt State + | 4 | – | 1 | – | 0 | 9 | – | 2 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cal Aggies + | 4 | – | 1 | – | 0 | 7 | – | 2 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
San Francisco State + | 4 | – | 1 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 5 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chico State | 1 | – | 3 | – | 1 | 2 | – | 6 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sacramento State | 1 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 3 | – | 5 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nevada | 0 | – | 4 | – | 1 | 0 | – | 7 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1956 Sacramento State Hornets football team represented Sacramento State College—now known as California State University, Sacramento—as a member of the Far Western Conference (FWC) during the 1956 college football season. Led by Dave Strong in his third and final season as head coach, Sacramento State compiled an overall record of 3–5–1 with a mark of 1–4 in conference play, placing fifth in the FWC. For the season the team was outscored by its opponents 178 to 128. The Hornets played home games at Grant Stadium in Sacramento, California.
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First African American to play in the Cotton Bowl
Transcription
For In Motion, I'm Curt Parker. While the 2005 Nittany Lions may have been 2 seconds from perfection, they are part of a long list of Penn State football teams that have been noteworthy. One such group was the 1947 team, both for their accomplishment on and off the gridiron. Now this was one of the great teams in Penn State's history, they set records back then that still haven't been broken, defensive records. And the problem is, that a lot of great, the problem why Penn State's '47 team doesn't get more national recognition is because Notre Dame had a great team, Michigan had a great team, they were all loaded with, these weren't kids, these were 25, 26 year old men, they'd been through the ropes. The team went unbeaten. They set defensive records that still haven't been broken. They're the number four team in the country. They can't go to the Rose Bowl, which wasn't segregated, they can't go to the Sugar Bowl, they can't go to Miami, they're still basically segregated. Ordinance there that they couldn't play, black players could not play with white players. There was a hitch to that, that if the other team agreed to play, that you could bring the black players to play. The school let it out early that our, we're on record, as we all go, or none. And so that's what we put out. And it was up to the southwestern conference to, among themselves, determine what they're gonna do. And what happened was Matty Bell, the coach of the SMU team, agreed to play Penn State, and play against the black players. But that didn't end there. Dallas was still a segregated city. And as a segregated city, white players and black players could not eat or room together. Officials from SMU came up with a rather unique solution for the time. So there was an airbase nearby. And so, the school arranged with the government that we would stay at the airbase. And we had practice facilities and rooming facilities. With all the surrounding issues put at bay, the focus now turned toward the game: The Cotton Bowl. Higgins really wanted to win this game, and he probably over trained the kids, and they went down there and he really worked them hard, and they got really ticked off. And there are a lot of stories about what happened down there, but they did some things that, they jumped fence, let's call it, and took off, and went into town, and they partied a little bit, 'cause they were just being, they were living under a military barracks, and some of these guys had been in the military, thought they gave it up a few years ago, so they got irritated. Some say that it was the discriminatory element, and/or the heightened level of practice exerted by coach Higgins, that lead to a lackluster performance given by the Nittany Lions that resulted in a 13-13 tie. But it was obvious that something greater happened. Nobody really congratulates, says you know, it wasn't us that broke the color line in the Cotton Bowl, it was SMU, that's really the truth when you look down to it. As for Wally, he graduated, got married, and went on the the NFL, where he played several seasons for the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Cardinals. In fact, he was a record holder for most kick returns yards, and highest average per return in a game. But after all the triumphs of his life, he still remembers what it means to be Penn State. You always feel as being a part of them, being connected with them, because you went through Penn State. I'm very proud to say I'm a Penn Stater. And it gets people's attention. For In Motion, I'm Curt Parker.
Schedule
Date | Time | Opponent | Site | Result | Attendance | Source |
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September 21 | at Los Angeles State* |
| T 13–13 | |||
September 29 | 8:00 p.m. | Southern Oregon* |
| W 27–12 | [1][2] | |
October 6 | Humboldt State |
| L 19–20 | [3] | ||
October 13 | 8:00 p.m. | Cal Aggies |
| L 26–33 | 4,000 | [4][5] |
October 20 | Alameda NAS (CA)[note 1]* | Alameda, CA | W 15–0 | |||
October 27 | 8:00 p.m. | Chico State |
| L 7–21 | 2,500 | [6][7] |
November 3 | at Nevada | W 21–20 | ||||
November 10 | at San Francisco State | L 0–26 | ||||
November 16 | at Santa Barbara* |
| L 0–33 | |||
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Notes
- ^ Naval Air Station Alameda was a Naval Air Station from 1940 to 1997. For many years they fielded a team that played against colleges and other military teams.
- ^ This stadium is the predecessor to the current Mackay Stadium, which was opened for the 1966 season.[8]
References
- ^ Smolich, Marco (September 29, 1956). "Hornets -- Bigger, Deeper -- Will Host Southern Oregon Tonight". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. p. D2. Retrieved May 8, 2022 – via Newspapers.com .
- ^ Smolich, Marco (October 1, 1956). "Hornets Trample Southern Oregon, 27-12, Build Stock For Coming Lumberbacks". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. p. C2. Retrieved May 8, 2022 – via Newspapers.com .
- ^ "Lumberjacks Eke Out 20-19 Victory Over Hornets". Humboldt Standard. Eureka, California. October 8, 1956. p. 22. Retrieved May 8, 2022 – via Newspapers.com .
- ^ Smolich, Marco (October 13, 1956). "Hustling Hornets Are Expected To Use Air Arm Against Aggies". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. p. D2. Retrieved May 8, 2022 – via Newspapers.com .
- ^ Smolich, Marco (October 15, 1956). "Hornets Coach Voices Optimism After Losing 33-26 Thriller To Cal Aggies". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. p. C2. Retrieved May 8, 2022 – via Newspapers.com .
- ^ Smolich, Marco (October 27, 1956). "Hornets Will Seek First FWC Win Against Chicago Wildcats Tonight". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. p. C2. Retrieved May 8, 2022 – via Newspapers.com .
- ^ Smolich, Marco (October 29, 1956). "Coach Says Hornets Were Outfought, Outcharged In 21-7 Loss To Chico State". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. p. D1. Retrieved May 8, 2022 – via Newspapers.com .
- ^ "Mackay Stadium". University of Nevada, Reno. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
- ^ "Cal St.-Sacramento Yearly Results". Retrieved March 5, 2017.[permanent dead link]