Football, 1957: Preseason

I got quite a few requests today from emailers and commenters for more about the 1957 football season. The scrapbook we have, kept by one of the cheerleaders, is really charming and does cover the season thoroughly so I’m happy to oblige. I think what I’ll do is just post a little at a time, spaced out over maybe a month and a half or so. Bear in mind that it’s sometimes difficult to scan things in a scrapbook—they’re often fragile and pasted in at odd angles and so forth—but I’ll do my best.

Before the season started, people thought the team might be good. Here’s the schedule: And this assessment of the situation is from a short preseason guide:

 The thing that jumps out at you today is that there were multiple capable players at several positions, including two talented quarterbacks, King Hill and Frank Ryan. That sounds, frankly, like a recipe for disaster. I’d be interested to find out exactly why it wasn’t.

Next time, we’ll see what happens at LSU.

Bonus: