The 1944 Cotton Bowl Classic was a postseason

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

between the fourteenth ranked

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and ...

and the

Randolph Field Randolph Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Bexar County, Texas, ( east-northeast of Downtown San Antonio). Opened in 1931, Randolph has been a flying training facility for the United States Army Air Corps, the United ...

Ramblers, a military institution squad from

San Antonio, TX San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the U ...

Background

Randolph boasted many former college football stars, most notably Tulsa's

Glenn Dobbs Glenn Dobbs Jr. (July 12, 1920 – November 12, 2002) was an American professional football player in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC). A skilled tailback, quarterback, punter and return specialist, Dobbs was named the AAFC's MVP in ...

, who had 1,867 all purpose yards for the year with 1,431 passing and 421 yards rushing. He was also their punter, with a 40.2 average per kick.

Martin Ruby Martin Owen Ruby (June 9, 1922 – January 3, 2002) was an offensive tackle and defensive tackle for the New York Yankees (AAFC), New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers (AAFC), Brooklyn Dodgers in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), N ...

became the first and only player to play on two different Cotton Bowl teams, having played in the

1942 Cotton Bowl Classic The 1942 Cotton Bowl Classic, part of the 1941 bowl game season, took place on January 1, 1942, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. The competing teams were the Alabama Crimson Tide, representing the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and the Texa ...

. He was named outstanding player in both games.

Game summary

The game was played in a cold, steady rain described by Bible as the worst he had ever seen. Tex Aulds scored for Randolph on a touchdown catch from

. But Texas rallied back with a

George McCall George Archibald McCall (March 16, 1802 – February 25, 1868) was a United States Army officer who became a brigadier general and prisoner of war during the American Civil War. He was also a naturalist. Biography McCall was born in Philadelph ...

touchdown catch from Ralph Ellsworth to tie the game. The game stayed that way due to defense that allowed 260 yards combined from both teams.

Statistics

Attendance

32,000 tickets were sold for the game but only 15,000 spectators came to the game because of the weather.

References

{{World War II service football teams navbox Cotton Bowl Cotton Bowl Classic Randolph Field Ramblers football Texas Longhorns football bowl games Cotton Bowl Cotton Bowl