The No. 8 player on our list had one of the most spectacular seasons of any high school player ever and he followed it up with one of the more spectacular college careers as well.
Leo Stasica was one of five athletic Stasica brothers, one of which, Stan, made our list at No. 28. Leo first made waves as a starting running back for the 1933 Rockford Rabs. Although Leo was lauded for big plays in every game, he clearly was third fiddle to "Fishy" Ignatchuk and Benny Behr. Stasica had four rushing touchdowns for a Rabs team that went 7-0-2 and tied Joliet for first in the Big Six.
In 1934, the Rabs moved Leo to quarterback and he had one of the most dominant seasons in conference history. It is a shame that individual rushing and passing statistics weren't kept until the 1960s because Stasica may have set records that would be standing today.
The Rabs went 5-1-2 in 1934. Rockford scored 13 total touchdowns on the season. Stasica had 10 rushing touchdowns and two TD passes. The Rabs only scored one TD in which Leo wasn't directly involved.
In the 19-12 win over Elgin in week four, Leo scored on runs of one, five and 64 yards and on defense recovered a key fumble on Rockford's own 1-yard line to preserve the win.
In week six, he essentially beat West Aurora by himself. He had touchdown runs of one, nine and 28 yards and a pass interception in a 17-0 win.
The Rabs capped off the season with a 19-12 non-conference win over Moline. His 41-yard pass to Bill Watson started the scoring and he recorded the game-winning TD on a 75-yard run.
The big season earned Stasica a scholarship to Illinois, which had had considerable success with Rockford athletes such as Robert Reitsch, Laurie Walquist, Barton Cummings and Jack Beynon. Unfortunately, Stasica never really got untracked for the Illini. He played on the freshman team in 1935. In 1936, he made the varsity and appeared in several games, but he did not earn enough time to merit a letter.
In 1937, Stasica's grades slipped and he was ineligible for the season. He spent considerable time back home, acting as an assistant coach at Rockford. In 1938, instead of heading back to Illinois, he transferred to Colorado.
The Buffaloes were looking for a replacement for Byron "Whizzer" White. The future Supreme Court justice had led Colorado to an 8-0 record in 1937 and finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting. Stasica had to sit out the 1938 season, but when he came back in 1939, he did a pretty good job filling White's shoes.
In 1939, he powered Colorado to first place in the Mountain States Conference. Exact stats and scoring are unavailable for the year, but the Rockford newspapers published his highlights. Over a five week stretch, Stasica had 102 yards rushing and a TD pass in a 13-0 win over Colorado A&M, a 40-yard TD pass in a 27-7 win over Wyoming, the game-winning TD pass in a 21-14 win over Utah, a two-yard TD run and 40-yard TD pass in a 12-6 win over BYU and two TD runs and two TD passes in a 27-17 win over Denver to finish the season.
Stasica was all-conference in 1939 and a trendy pick for All-American in 1940. He again led the Buffaloes in scoring and powered Colorado to a 5-3-1 record. He again was named all-Mountain States and was honorable mention All-American by some publications.
The NFL took notice. The Brooklyn Dodgers took Stasica in the third round - the 24th pick overall - in the 1941 draft. Unfortunately, he was blocked by Ace Parker, one of the top running-throwing backs of his day and rarely saw the field.
In 1942, Stasica entered the Navy where he helped build ships for the D-Day invasion. In 1943, he was rejected for combat by the medical doctors and signed with the Washington Redskins. Unfortunately, he was blocked again, this time by all-time NFL great Sammy Baugh.
In 1944, he moved to the Boston Yanks, a struggling NFL franchise, and finally got some playing time. He played parts of seven games, completing 21 of 47 stats for 225 yards and gaining 22 yards rushing on seven carries. He threw only one TD pass and had seven intercepted. That looks bad, but Boston was a bad team. The Yanks had only six TD passes versus 22 interceptions on the season.
That was it for pro football for Stasica. He'd met and married a Denver girl named Mary while at Colorado. He headed back to Denver for a long career in sales and distribution management for the Browne-Vitner Co.
In the 1940s and 1950s, the Rockford newspapers would occasionally update readers on Stasica's whereabouts. But by 1982, when Stasica died at the age of 1966, he'd faded so much from memory that the local newspapers didn't run even a brief about his death.
| No. 8 - Leo Stasica, Rockford | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Level | Team | Accomplishments | Points |
| 1933 | High School | Rockford | Winning Team | 1 |
| Conference Champion | 1 | |||
| 1934 | High School | Rockford | First Team All-Conference | 2 |
| Winning Team | 1 | |||
| Conference Champion | 1 | |||
| 1935 | College | Illinois | Played on Power 5 Freshman Team | 2 |
| 1936 | College | Illinois | Played on Power 5 Team | 2 |
| 1939 | College | Colorado | Letter winner in NCAA Div. 1A | 3.5 |
| Starter | 1 | |||
| First Team All-Conference | 1 | |||
| Winning Team | 1 | |||
| 1940 | College | Colorado | Letter Winner in NCAA Div. 1A | 3.5 |
| Starter | 1 | |||
| First Team All-Conference | 1 | |||
| Winning Team | 1 | |||
| Honorable Mention All-American | 1 | |||
| 1941 | NFL | Brooklyn | 3rd Round Pick | 8 |
| Played in NFL | 3 | |||
| Winning Team | 1 | |||
| 1943 | NFL | Washington | Played in NFL | 3 |
| Winning Team | 1 | |||
| 1944 | NFL | Boston | Played in NFL | 3 |
| Totals | 42.5 | |||
No comments:
Post a Comment