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| This is the team photo for the 1948 national champion Michigan Wolverines football team. Freeport native Donn Hershberger is No. 85 on the far right of the second row. |
The No. 31 player on our list remains kind of a mystery.
There isn't much in the Rockford Register Star archives about Donn Hershberger of Freeport, but, according to our system, he was one of the most accomplished players in Big Eight/NIC-10 history.
He was an offensive and defensive end for the 1943 and 1944 Pretzels. The 1943 Pretzels went 4-2-1 to finish second in the Big Eight Conference to Rockford West. In 1944, Freeport fell to 4-5, but Hershberger impressed enough to be named to the Champaign News Gazette All-State team. An all-around athlete, Hershberger also led Freeport in scoring in basketball.
That earned him a scholarship to the University of Michigan, which was a huge deal in the 1940s. Under coach Fritz Crisler, the Wolverines had finished third in the AP Poll in 1940, fifth in 1941, ninth in 1942, third again 1943 and eighth in 1944.
Hershberger made an impact immediately, most likely because so many college athletes were fighting overseas in World War II. Players in NCAA Division 1 football in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, typically played in freshmen teams. But in 1945, Hershberger stepped in right away as a true freshman as a starting end for a Michigan team that went 7-3 and finished sixth in the final AP Poll.
You can see Hershberger in this video around the 7:30 mark catching a 29-yard touchdown pass - https://bentley.mivideo.it.umich.edu/media/t/1_5utbp0tl. Hershberger also continued to keep busy. Another clip mentioned that he also was competing on the Michigan baseball and track teams.
In 1946 and 1947, Hershberger lettered but it doesn't appear that he started any games for Michigan. The 1946 team went 6-2-1 and the 1947 team went 10-0 in Crisler's last year, crushing USC 49-0 in the 1948 Rose Bowl to win the national championship.
In 1948, Hershberger started at least three games, according to newspaper clippings, as Michigan went 9-0 under new coach Bennie Oosterbaan. Michigan was unable to repeat in the Rose Bowl because the Western Conference rule at the time prohibited teams from playing more than once every three years. Still, Michigan was again voted national champions.
There are no stats on Hershberger and his name only appears in Register Star archives twice after 1948 - when he was in a wedding and when a brother died in 2001. It appears he settled in Cincinnati. Still, based on this system which awards points for being named all-state, lettering, starting and more for being in winning programs, Hershberger's all-state high school career and four years playing at perhaps the top program in the nation was enough to push him far up the list of greatest football players.
| No. 31 - Donn Hershberger, Freeport | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Level | School | Accomplishments | Points |
| 1943 | High School | Freeport | Winning Team | 1 |
| 1944 | High School | Freeport | First Team All-Conference | 2 |
| All-State Selection | 1 | |||
| 1945 | College | Michigan | Letter Winner on Power 5 Team | 4 |
| Starter | 1 | |||
| Winning Record | 1 | |||
| 1946 | College | Michigan | Letter Winner on Power 5 Team | 4 |
| Winning Record | 1 | |||
| 1947 | College | Michigan | Letter Winner on Power 5 Team | 4 |
| Winning Record | 1 | |||
| Bowl Game | 1 | |||
| National Champion | 1 | |||
| 1948 | College | Michigan | Letter Winner on Power 5 Team | 4 |
| Starter | 1 | |||
| Winning Team | 1 | |||
| National Champion | 1 | |||
| Total | 29 | |||
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