1951 Washington Huskies football team

American college football season

1951 Washington Huskies football

Conference	Pacific Coast Conference
Record	3–6–1 (1–5–1 PCC)
Head coach	Howard Odell (4th season)
Captain	Ted Holzknecht
Home stadium	Husky Stadium
Seasons← 1950 1952 →

1951 Pacific Coast Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 7 Stanford $	6	–	1	–	0	9	–	2	–	0
No. 17 UCLA	4	–	1	–	1	5	–	3	–	1
No. 12 California	5	–	2	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
USC	4	–	2	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
No. 18 Washington State	4	–	3	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
Oregon State	3	–	5	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
Washington	1	–	5	–	1	3	–	6	–	1
Oregon	1	–	6	–	0	2	–	8	–	0
Idaho	0	–	3	–	0	2	–	7	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1951 Washington Huskies football team was an American football team that represented the University of Washington during the 1951 college football season. In its fourth season under head coach Howard Odell, the team compiled a 3–6–1 record, finished in seventh place in the Pacific Coast Conference, and outscored its opponents by a combined total of 273 to 218.

Ted Holzknecht was the team captain. The team featured fullback Hugh McElhenny, who would go on to become a member of the NFL Hall of Fame.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance
September 22	Montana*	No. 8	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	W 58–7	36,987
September 29	at Minnesota*	No. 8	Memorial Stadium Minneapolis, MN	W 25–20	50,634
October 6	USC	No. 12	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	L 13–20	43,747
October 13	vs. Oregon		Providence Park Portland, OR (rivalry)	W 63–6	30,414
October 20	No. 8 Illinois*	No. 20	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	L 20–27	53,760
October 27	No. 11 Stanford		Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	L 7–14	48,343
November 3	Oregon State		Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	L 14–40	33,327
November 10	at California		California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	L 28–37	46,000
November 17	at No. 18 UCLA		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	T 20–20	31,597
November 24	No. 17 Washington State		Husky Stadium Seattle, WA (rivalry)	L 25–27	51,221
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Game summaries

USC

USC at Washington

	1	2	3	4	Total
• Trojans	7	6	0	7	20
No. 12 Huskies	7	0	0	6	13

Date: October 6
Location: Husky Stadium, Seattle
Game attendance: 43,747

Cover of the program for the November 3 game against Oregon State College.

The highlight of the 1951 contest came in the fourth quarter when Hugh McElhenny returned a punt from Des Koch for 100 yards, running past Frank Gifford on his way to the end zone.

NFL draft selections

Two University of Washington Huskies were selected in the 1952 NFL draft, which lasted 30 rounds with 360 selections.

= Husky Hall of Fame

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Hugh McElhenny	Running back	1st	9	San Francisco 49ers
Don Heinrich	Quarterback	3rd	35	New York Giants

Heinrich did not play in 1951 due to a shoulder injury, then led the Huskies in 1952.
Due to military service, his first season with the Giants was in 1954.

References

"Washington Yearly Results (1950-1954)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
Eskenazi, David. "Wayback Machine: McElhenny's 100-yard return". SportpressNW. Rudman, Steve. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
"1952 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
"The Husky Hall of Fame". gohuskies.com. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
"Don Heinrich injured". St. Petersburg Times. (Florida). Associated Press. September 9, 1951. p. 54.
"Huskies dump Montana 58-7". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. September 23, 1951. p. 8.
"Huskies batter Grizzles, 58-7". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. September 23, 1951. p. 14.
"Don Heinrich earns pass title as Huskies edge WSC 33-27". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. November 30, 1952. p. 10.
"N.Y. grid Giants sign ex-Husky Don Heinrich". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. January 5, 1954. p. 11.

v t e Washington Huskies football
Venues	Denny Field (1895–1920) CenturyLink Field (2011–2012) Husky Stadium (1920–2011, 2013–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Oregon Washington State: Apple Cup Northwest Championship
Culture & lore	Dubs Harry the Husky "Bow Down to Washington" Husky Marching Band Quarterback U The Wave 1985 Oregon State game Whammy in Miami
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks Annual awards NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

Categories: