By Darin The 1956 American football season was a landmark year that showcased dominant gridiron dynasties, historic shifts in team venues, and legendary individual performances across both the professional and collegiate landscapes.
“Pitt halfback Lou Cimarolli finds a hole in the strong Georgia Tech line and picks up 10 yards.”
Thomas C. Vrana, photographer for “The Owl”
The National Football League (NFL)
The 1956 NFL season concluded with a definitive changing of the guard. The Cleveland Browns, who had reached the NFL Championship game every single year since joining the league in 1950, failed to qualify for the title matchup for the first time.
Instead, the New York Giants emerged from the Eastern Conference with an 8–3–1 record during their first season playing at Yankee Stadium. In the Western Conference, the Chicago Bears claimed the division title with a 9–2–1 record.
On December 30, 1956, the two titans met in the NFL Championship Game under bitterly cold and icy conditions at Yankee Stadium. Armed with a revolutionary defense coordinated by Tom Landry and an offense led by league MVP Frank Gifford, the Giants decisively routed the Bears 47–7 to capture their fourth league title.
College Football
The 1956 collegiate season was defined by one of the most unstoppable teams in sports history. The Oklahoma Sooners, coached by Bud Wilkinson, put together a flawless 10–0 record to capture the consensus National Championship (topping the AP, UPI, and Coaches polls). This season formed a core component of Oklahoma’s historic 47-game winning streak, which lasted from 1953 to 1957. The Sooners’ relentless “Split-T” offense led the nation in rushing, averaging an incredible 391 yards per game.
A fascinating anomaly occurred in the individual accolades: Paul Hornung, the versatile quarterback for Notre Dame, won the 1956 Heisman Trophy. Hornung remains the only player in college football history to win the prestigious award while playing for a team with a losing record, as the Fighting Irish finished the season at 2–8.
A Deep Dive into 1956 Football History and Highlights
- January 2, 1956 – At the Rose Bowl Game’s 42nd rendition, the Michigan State Spartans used 10 fourth-quarter points to rally past the UCLA Bruins, 17-14. Spartan Halfback Walt Kowalczyk earned the MVP award.
- January 2, 1956 – Sugar Bowl – Pitt’s Bobby Grier was a racial trailblazer, becoming the first African American player to break the color barrier in the segregated Deep South.
- January 2, 1956 – The 22nd Orange Bowl featured a battle of highly ranked teams. During the game, the #1-ranked Oklahoma Sooners got past the #3 Maryland Terrapins 20-6.
- January 15, 1956 – Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum – The 6th NFL Pro Bowl assembled the League’s top players to battle each other, representing their respective Conferences. That season, it was the Eastern Conference that edged out its Western Conference rivals by the narrowest of margins, 31-30. The game’s Outstanding Player award was claimed by Ollie Matson, the running back of the Chicago Cardinals.
- January 27, 1956 – The NFL’s New York Football Giants franchise announced the end of playing their home games at the Polo Grounds, now called Yankee Stadium.
- March 4, 1956 – Inventors working with the Cleveland Browns used the first radio transmitter in a QB’s helmet. John Campbell and George Sarles, a couple of inventors from Ohio, approached Cleveland’s head coach, Paul Brown, who was always up for being on the cutting edge of innovation, with an idea.
- November 17, 1956 – Colgate University’s football team didn’t know what hit them as Syracuse fullback Jim Brown set an NCAA record with 43 points. Lincoln A. Werden of the NY Times covered the story well in his 1956 article. A crowd of 39,701 spectators watched a brilliant performance from the sensational tailback of Syracuse. In his final game for the Orange, Jim Brown accounted for 43 points, scored 6 touchdowns, and kicked 7 extra points, and the coaching staff sat him down early in the fourth quarter! The final score showed Syracuse 61, Colgate 7.
- November 24, 1956 – Varsity Stadium, Toronto – According to the CFL.ca, it was the third consecutive year the Edmonton Eskimos faced the Montreal Alouettes in the Grey Cup Final. The old saying goes, The more things change, the more they stay the same. Well, in this case, it was true: the Edmonton Eskimos defeated the Montreal Alouettes for the 3rd straight year, but this time it was 50-27.
- November 27, 1956 – The 1957 NFL Draft took place, and Notre Dame’s Paul Hornung was the first pick by the Green Bay Packers.
- December 4, 1956 – Notre Dame back Paul Hornung won the 22nd Heisman Trophy Award, becoming the first recipient to play on a team with a losing record. Hornung accounted for over half of the Irish’s points that year, amassing 420 rushing yards and 917 passing yards.
- December 30, 1956 – The Giants won their fourth NFL title by defeating the Bears, 47-7. Charlie Conerly threw two TDs, and Alex Webster rushed for two, according to Pro-Football-Reference. You can learn more about the 1956 NFL Championship game here.