1946 Chicago Rockets season

1946 Chicago Rockets season
Head coachDick Hanley, Pat Boland, Bob Dove, Ned Mathews, and Willie Wilkin
Home fieldSoldier Field
Results
Record5–6–3
Division place4th AAFC West
Playoff finishdid not qualify

The 1946 Chicago Rockets season was the inaugural season for both the Chicago Rockets and the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) in which they played. The Rockets compiled a 5-6-3 record, were outscored by a total of 315 to 263, and finished in last place in the AAFC's West Division.[1]

Dick Hanley, who had been the head coach at Northwestern from 1927 to 1934, was the head coach at the start of the season. After the first three games, the players voted 32-to-1 to remove Hanley. The team felt that Hanley's double-wing system was outdated. After a two-hour meeting between the players and team owner John L. Keeshin, Keeshin fired Hanley. Three of the players (Ned Mathews, Bob Dove, and Willie Wilkin) took over as player-coaches.[2] The "self-coached experiment" ended on October 29 when Pat Boland was hired as head coach.[3]

The team's statistical leaders included quarterback Bob Hoernschemeyer with 1,266 passing yards and 375 rushing yards, halfback Elroy Hirsch with 347 receiving yards, and backup quarterback (and placekicker) Steve Nemeth with 59 points scored (32 extra points, 9 field goals).[1] Hoernschemeyer was the only Chicago player named to the All-AAFC team, receiving second-team honors from both the United Press and on the official All-AAFC team.[4][5]

  1. ^ a b "1946 Chicago Rockets Statistics and Players". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  2. ^ "A New Twist: Rockets Now Self Coached". Chicago Tribune. September 27, 1946. p. II-1 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Boland Named Head Coach of Rocket Eleven". Chicago Tribune. October 30, 1946. p. III-1 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Jungmichael Named On All-AAFC Second". The Miami News. December 16, 1946. p. 4B – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "All-Star Pro Eleven Named". Baltimore Sun. January 5, 1947. p. Sports 2 – via Newspapers.com.