"Doc" Blanchard Passes Away At 84

April 19, 2009 by CFP Staff and National Football Foundation

Felix "Doc" Blanchard, a 1959 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame and the 1945 Heisman Trophy winner, died Sunday, April 19 of pneumonia at home in Bulverde, a small town in central Texas. He was 84.

At Army from 1944-46, Blanchard played fullback, teaming with halfback Glenn Davis to form college football's most honored backfield combination. Known as "Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside," Blanchard and Davis became the only members of the same backfield to become three-time consensus All-Americans and Heisman Trophy winners.

During his three seasons at Army, Blanchard never played on a losing team, as only a 0-0 tie with Notre Dame in 1946 blemished a 27-0-1 record. In 1944, Army scored 56 points a game as the Cadets won the first of back-to-back national championships. The following season Blanchard won the Heisman Trophy and Maxwell Award. He also became the first football player to win the Sullivan Award as America's top amateur athlete.

In a 28-game career he amassed 1,908 yards and scored 38 touchdowns, leading the nation in scoring in 1945. Blanchard also played linebacker on defense and handled the Army kicking duties.

"I've just seen Superman in the flesh. He wears number 35 and goes by the name of Blanchard," were the words of Notre Dame coach Ed McKeever on first watching Felix "Doc" Blanchard.

He was born in McColl, South Carolina, and he attended St. Stanislaus Prep in Bay St. Louis, Miss. He enrolled at the University of North Carolina, playing freshman football before joining the Army and earning an appointment to West Point.

He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers with the third overall pick, but he never played professional football. Instead, he served in the Air Force, flying in the Korean and Vietnam wars. He retired as a Colonel.