Hometown: Wheeling, WV
Career: 1955-1957
Record: 21-8-1, Bowl Record: 0-0
One of the best, and one of the most often forgotten,
Mountaineers of all time is Chuck Howley. A local product from Wheeling, Howley
was an incredible all-around athlete. He would earn a varsity letter in
football, diving, gymnastics, and track for West Virginia. Howley was
best-suited as a lineman in Coach Pappy Lewis’ scheme. Howley would find
instant success for the Mountaineers, earning three consecutive selections to
the All-Southern Conference team. The Chicago Bears would make Howley the 7th
overall selection in the 1958 draft. He would play only one season for the
Bears before suffering a knee injury that would keep him out of football until
1961. During that time, he was pumping gas in Wheeling. His career would be
renewed with an offer from Coach Tom Landry’s newly formed Dallas Cowboys.
Howley would have an amazing career as an outside linebacker for the “Doomsday
Defense,” earning 6 All-Pro selections and Super Bowl V MVP (only MVP ever
selected from losing team). It is amazing that Howley has been held out of
Canton all these years. At least the people in Morgantown had the good sense to
induct Howley into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame in 1991.
Memorable Game: Today’s memorable game is a good refresher
for Mountaineer fans as we prepare for our inaugural Big XII seaon.
The 1956 season as a whole, was not a very memorable one for
the Mountaineers. The defense was stout, but the offense failed to put up
enough points to win some close games. The offense wouldn’t need many points to
give the Mountaineers an early road win at Texas. The Mountaineer defense put
on an incredible performance against the Longhorns. The defense twice held the
Longhorns to field goals after they had marched the ball to within the
Mountaineer five yard line. The Mountaineers would get one touchdown, a 15 yard
run by Larry Krutko behind the blocking of Chuck Howley. The Mountaineers beat
the Longhorns by a narrow margin, 7-6.
This was the first and last time the Mountaineers and
Longhorns met on the grid iron until this coming season. WVU is undefeated
against Texas and I will be on-hand in Austin, TX this year to root on the
Mountaineers in their first Big XII road game.
Competition: As has been the case with all the competitions
for spots on the countdown: when there is a WVU Sports Hall of Famer, they will
usually win. No other player to wear #66 for the Mountaineers has had a Hall of
Fame worthy career. But some have had pretty successful careers such as Selvish
Capers, Theron Ellis, and Craig Wilson.
Teaser: Tomorrow we will honor a more recent Mountaineer
graduate. This is the first player in the countdown to come from the state of
Kentucky. He comes from the small town of Catlettsburg, known for the famous
resident Michael Polakovs who became Ronald McDonald. Makes me want a to get a
cheeseburger and listen to the rock music.
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