Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks - Best College Team You Never Heard Of.

[MelroseHawkins]

Interesting. A team of Navy Cadets preparing for flight prior to deployment to the Pacific Fleet. This team was separate than the Iowa Hawkeyes and played independently with great success. What an interesting time. The team was short-lived only playing in 1942, 1943 and 1944. The 1943 team finished #2 in the AP. The 1944 team finished #6.

https://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/iowa-pre-flight-was-a-football-dynamo-20160803
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_Pre-Flight_Seahawks_football

 

[Ree4]

Definitely already heard of them, where have you been?

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Definitely already heard of them, where have you been?

Many have not or may have forgot about them and the situation in the early '40's.

 

[Ree4]

Many have not or may have forgot about them and the situation in the early '40's.

Just responding in disagreement to the Thread Title

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Just responding in disagreement to the Thread Title

Thank you Mr. Literal.

 

[koralakers]

No doubt. They crushed teams. What a different era that was. Maybe best all-time DI winning percentage??

 

[guffus]

Many have not or may have forgot about them and the situation in the early '40's.

You are posting on an Iowa football message board. Odds are good that many on this board have heard of them already.

But outside of this board, yeah, I am guessing the casual fan does not know anything about this.

 

[homes]

It's interesting that they ranked those teams. The players weren't enrolled in college, were they? It looks like they played other Navy-based teams, along with some colleges. The Gazette article addressed that Iowa was made up of a lot of freshmen as the upperclassmen were already in the military. No doubt they were good, as they were getting the best guys available (of those who didn't want to get shipped off to Europe or the South Pacific right away); but it seems odd they ranked them with the college teams. However, it was not the usual circumstances then either.

 

[JoeyLabasForPresident]

It's interesting that they ranked those teams. The players weren't enrolled in college, were they? It looks like they played other Navy-based teams, along with some colleges. The Gazette article addressed that Iowa was made up of a lot of freshmen as the upperclassmen were already in the military. No doubt they were good, as they were getting the best guys available (of those who didn't want to get shipped off to Europe or the South Pacific right away); but it seems odd they ranked them with the college teams. However, it was not the usual circumstances then either.

My understanding was that they took classes through the UofI, but I could be mistaken as I’m struggling to find that information now.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

"75 Years of Hawkeye Football" by Lamb and McGrane touches on it a bit. Some were college aged, many were older. During that time, military pretty much had the run of college campuses and facilities. In some cases, they integrated the military guys into the college teams, while in other cases--like the Iowa Pre-Flight, et. al.--there were separate teams for the college and the military. That was a "low" time for Iowa football and would pretty much remain that way, save a couple seasons upon Dr. Eddie Anderson's return, until Evy arrived.

 

[Northside Hawk]

There was at least one example of NFL teams having to combine because of wartime player shortages. In 1943 the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles combined to form the Steagles.