Crimson Tide Top 10 Sugar Bowls: No. 9, 1945 Alabama vs. Duke

The Alabama Crimson Tide will be making its 17th appearance in the Sugar Bowl, the most of any team, when it squares off against the No. 9 Kansas State Wildcats inside Caesars Superdome on Dec. 31 (11 a.m. CT on ESPN).

BamaCentral is counting down the Top 10 Sugar Bowls for Alabama:

#11 Duke 29 (Final: 7-3-0)
Alabama 26 (Final: 5-2-2)

The University of Alabama didn’t field a football team in 1943 due to World War II, but the following year Coach Frank Thomas had enough players, 20, down from the then-normal 50, to piece together a team, appropriately nicknamed “The War Babies.”

Most of the Tide was comprised of 17-year-old boys too young to be drafted, students medically disqualified from military service, and returning veterans – not to mention the Southeastern Conference waiving its rule against freshman participation. The key player was a small all-around player named Harry Gilmer, who had a unique passing style of leaping as he threw.

Thomas went from hoping the ragtag collection wouldn’t “disgrace the University” to becoming the favorite of all the teams he coached.

With a 5-1-2 record, the War Baby Tiders secured the school’s first invitation to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, where Gilmer put on a dazzling performance in front of 72,000 fans.

Though much-older Duke pulled out a 29-26 victory in the final moments, Gilmer was named the game’s most valuable player.

Alabama Recap

To say that the 1945 Sugar Bowl game was charged with drama every minute, it wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration. The lead changed four times. The outcome was uncertain until the last second. The heart-throbbing finish pulled 72,000 people out of their seats.

In the final analysis, it was the power and experience of Duke’s Navy trainees that prevailed over Alabama’s inspired wartime civilian group, 29-26. Harry Gilmer hit the tough Duke line hard for important gains and made many tackles, personally downing the Blue Devils ball carrier after every kickoff.

One of Gilmer’s passes stood out. Forced far back, Gilmer tripped over one Duke man. Two more Blue Devils got a piece of him. Suddenly, he broke loose for an instant, leaped high, and whipped the ball 41 yards to Ralph Jones, a big end.

On the game’s final play, Gilmer fired another long pass to Jones, who just missed scoring a touchdown on a 33-yard gainer to Duke’s 25.

Sugar Bowl Summary

Grantland Rice, the famed sportswriter, covered many of the biggest sports events of the first half of the 20th Century. He said he never saw a game the equal of the 1945 Sugar Bowl, a game of contrasting styles, a game that changed hands four times, and a game that was in doubt until the last second. Literally.

This game came to a stirring climax exactly 60 playing minutes after the kickoff, with 24 open yards to the end zone in front of a ball-carrier straining to get free of a defender hanging on for dear life as the gun sounded.

As the chilly, golden afternoon began to fade, Rice searched for the precise words to describe what he had just witnessed. He settled on a simple and succinct lead: “The Sugar Bowl classic of 1945 must go down in the book as one of the great thrillers of all time.”

At the same time in the Duke locker room, Blue Devil captain Gordon Carver was sighing, “I sure was glad to hear that final whistle.”

The civilian kids from the Capstone of Alabama put on a show against the war veterans of Duke. The power-running of Tom Davis and George Clark prevailed over the arm of the Crimson Tide’s Harry Gilmer. But just barely.

Rice could scarcely contain his enthusiasm, saying the 18-year-old Gilmer, who rolled up 142 yards passing – almost a hundred yards fewer than Duke’s 336 yards rushing – was “the greatest college passer I ever saw.”

Gilmer finished the game a perfect 8-of-8 for 145 yards.

Recap excerpted from the book “Sugar Bowl Classic: A History” by Marty Mulé.

Alabama Recap

Sugar Bowl Summary

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