04/23/24
January 10, 2007
Carswell Bombers: Champs of a Forgotten Football Era: Fifty years ago, military bases and other installations had their own football teams. None was better than the Carswell Bombers, a Fort Worth-based team that won national championships in 1951 and 1952. The team was built by offering Southwest Conference college players about to graduate a chance to join the reserve and avoid the Korean War. "The general was our buddy," said one player. "He was a big sports fan."
My father was a head coach on one of those football teams. It is pretty fascinating.
posted by OneLbRibEye at 04:21 PM on January 10, 2007
Cool. Which team? I can't find a record of those national championships to see what they were called. The teams weren't entirely amateur, since the reservists had jobs on the base and some were finished with college eligibility. But calling them pro is unusual, since they played other bases and college teams.
posted by rcade at 08:21 PM on January 10, 2007
mean machine mean machine mean machine.....................
posted by luther70 at 09:33 PM on January 10, 2007
nice find, rcade. and look, luther finally shot his period load.
posted by goddam at 09:52 PM on January 10, 2007
WOW! Good find rcade! Interesting and informative. As a youngster in the USAF I had the good fortune to be stationed at Amarillo AFB and visit Carswell.....while I had the good fortune to work out on the fields at both places I had no idea of the history I was treading on. An aside to this is the football tradition continued overseas.....I was a member of the Wheelus AB, Libya DMS football team in 1966 and cheered lustily for the Bitburg AB, Germany Barons from 1982 until 1985. While it wasn't the NFL or College ball, it was, as described in the article, rough, tough, rocke'em sockem stuff. One of my fondest memories will always be the start of a Baron's game, sitting in the stands drinkin' Bitburger Pils and havin' two F-15's suddenly scream over the stadium and go vertical......AWSOME!! Hell yeah, nothin' like the smell of jet fuel and the blast of the afterburners of THE PREMIER FIGHTER JET in the inventory to rouse a crowd! Thanks for the memory rcade :-), us old guys need a jolt now and then!
posted by brbcca at 02:25 AM on January 11, 2007
Great article, rcade. I have long been a fan of Dan Jenkins, and am surprised I had never heard of this.
posted by mjkredliner at 09:35 AM on January 11, 2007
us old guys need a jolt now and then! Stop skipping the commercials during NFL telecasts. There's a world of people out there looking to give you just that.
posted by yerfatma at 12:02 PM on January 11, 2007
Great story! I loved it.