1939 Kansas State Wildcats football team

The 1939 Kansas State Wildcats football team represented Kansas State University in the 1939 college football season. The team's head football coach was Wesley Fry, in his fifth and final year of his at the helm of the Wildcats. The Wildcats played their home games in Memorial Stadium. The Wildcats finished the season with a 4–5 record with a 1–4 record in conference play. They finished in a three-way tie for last place in the Big Six Conference. The Wildcats scored 107 points and gave up 108 points.^[1]

1939 Kansas State Wildcats football
1939 Nebraska vs. Kansas State football game
Conference	Big Six Conference
Record	4–5 (1–4 Big 6)
Head coach	Wesley Fry (5th season)
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons ← 1938 1940 →

1939 Big Six Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 6 Missouri $	5	–	0	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
No. 18 Nebraska	4	–	1	–	0			7	–	1	–	1
No. 19 Oklahoma	3	–	2	–	0			6	–	2	–	1
Kansas	1	–	4	–	0			2	–	6	–	0
Iowa State	1	–	4	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
Kansas State	1	–	4	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Kansas State was ranked at No. 61 (out of 609 teams) in the final Litkenhous Ratings for 1939.^[2]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 30	Fort Hays*	Memorial Stadium Manhattan, KS		W 34–7
October 6	at Marquette*	Marquette Stadium Milwaukee, WI		W 3–0	15,000	[3]
October 14	Colorado*	Memorial Stadium Manhattan, KS (rivalry)		W 20–0
October 21	at Missouri	Memorial Stadium Columbia, MO		L 7–9	12,000	[4]
October 28	No. 10 Nebraska	Memorial Stadium Manhattan, KS (rivalry)	W9XAK	L 9–25
November 4	at Kansas	Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS (rivalry)		W 27–6
November 11	No. 6 Oklahoma	Memorial Stadium Manhattan, KS		L 10–13	17,545
November 18	at Iowa State	Clyde Williams Field Ames, IA (rivalry)		L 0–10	5,339
November 25	at Boston College*	Fenway Park Boston, MA		L 0–20	11,000
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Homecoming game against Nebraska

Kansas State played the Nebraska Cornhuskers on October 28, 1939. This game is notable for being the first college football homecoming game ever televised.,^[5] the second ever televised college football game and the first televised game west of New York City.

Kansas State scored first with a field goal, but two minutes later Nebraska took the lead.^[6] Nebraska won the game 25–9.^[7]

Although Nebraska entered the game a 12–5 favorite,^[8] the game itself was considered to a good test for Nebraska, who was undefeated at the time. The matchup was considered to be important to the outcome of the Big Six Conference championship.^[9] Nebraska ended the game as one of ten college teams in the US that were unbeaten up to that point.^[10]

References

1. "1939 Kansas State Wildcats Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
2. E. E. Litkenhous (December 31, 1939). "Vols Second In Final Litkenhous Grid Rankings; Southern California Tenth". Johnson City Sunday Press. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Hilltops Drop 3-0 Decision To Kansas State: Marquette Fails to Make Good on Numerous Scoring Chances". The Capital Times. October 7, 1939. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Missouri Beats Kansas State in First Big Six Game, 9 to 7". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 22, 1939. p. 1C – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Televised Game". Morning Chronicle. Manhattan, Kansas. October 28, 1939.
6. "Nebraska Cornhusker (yearbook)". University of Nebraska. 1940. p. 176. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
7. DeLassus, David. "Coach: Wesley L. Fry-Coaching Records Game-by-Game (1939)". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on March 2, 2012. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
8. Breitz, Eddie (October 27, 1939). "Roundup-Sports". The Fayetteville Observer. p. 10. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
9. "Feature Big Six Tilt". St. Joseph News-Press. October 25, 1939. p. 8. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
10. "Nation's Football Teams Head Into Climax of Slate". St. Joseph News-Press. October 30, 1939. p. 4. Retrieved April 3, 2011.