1945 Philadelphia Eagles season

The 1945 Philadelphia Eagles season was the Eagles' 13th in the league. The team failed to improve on its previous output of 7–1–2, losing three games.^[1]

1945 Philadelphia Eagles season
Head coach	Greasy Neale
Home field	Shibe Park
Local radio	WCAU
Results
Record	7–3
Division place	2nd NFL Eastern
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
← 1944 Eagles seasons 1946 →

As a result, the team also failed to qualify for the playoffs for the 13th consecutive season.

Offseason

NFL draft

The 1945 NFL draft was held on April 8, 1945. It was the last draft held in Chicago; later in the year, the league moved its offices to Philadelphia. The Eagles ended up with picks in thirty of the thirty-two rounds in the draft, and picked ninth in each of those rounds. The teams with the five worst records in the 1944 season were the only teams picking in rounds two and four.

Future Hall of Famers in this draft included Charley Trippi, a halfback from Georgia who was chosen in the first round and was the number one pick of the Chicago Cardinals. Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch, a wide receiver from Michigan was chosen as fifth overall by the Cleveland Rams. Pete Pihos, a defensive end from Indiana University, Tom Fears, an end from UCLA, and Arnie Weinmeister, a defensive tackle from Washington were also part of this draft.

Player selections

The table shows the Eagles selections, what picks they had that were traded away, and the team that ended up with that pick. It is possible the Eagles' pick ended up with this team via another team that the Eagles made a trade with. Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.

= Pro Bowler[2]

= Hall of Famer

Rd	Pick	Player	Position	School		Rd	Pick	Player	Position	School
1	8	John Yonakor	Defensive end	Notre Dame		2		No PICK
3	25	Alvin Dark	Back	LSU		4		No PICK
5	41	Pete Pihos	Wide receiver	Indiana		6	52	Chuck Dellago	Guard	Minnesota
7	63	Gonzalo Morales	Back	St. Mary's (CA)		8	41	Sam Robinson	Back	Washington
9	85	Forrest Hall	Back	San Francisco		10	96	Joe Sadonis	Tackle	Fordham
11	107	Rudy Mobley	Back	Hardin–Simmons		12	118	Jim Newmeyer	Tackle	St. Vincent
13	129	Bill Chambers	Tackle	UCLA		14	140	John Duda	Back	Virginia
15	151	Bill Montgomery	Back	Louisiana State		16	162	Howard Werner	End	Syracuse
17	173	Jim Austin	Back	Missouri		18	184	Quentin Klenk	Tackle	USC
19	195	Joe Spencer	Tackle	Oklahoma A & M		20	206	Leo Pratt	Tackle	Oklahoma A & M
21	217	Phil Teschner	Tackle	Brown		22	2228	John Magee	Guard	Rice
23	239	Norm "Monk" Mosley	Back	Alabama		24	250	Blair Brown	Guard	Oklahoma A & M
25	261	Bob Hall	End	Stanford		26	272	Dan Talcott	Tackle	Nevada-Reno
27	283	Bill Thompson	Tackle	New Mexico		28	294	Al Fleming	Center	Wichita State
29	305	Leo Benjamin	Center	West Virginia		30	316	Jim Dougherty	Back	University of Miami (OH)
31	292	Ken Reese	Back	Alabama		32	298	Loren Braner	Center	Pittsburgh

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	October 7	Chicago Cardinals	W 21–6	1–0	Shibe Park	25,581
2	October 14	at Detroit Lions	L 24–28	1–1	Briggs Stadium	22,580
3	October 21	at Washington Redskins	L 14–24	1–2	Griffith Stadium	35,550
4	October 28	Cleveland Rams	W 28–14	2–2	Shibe Park	38,149
5	November 4	at Pittsburgh Steelers	W 45–3	3–2	Forbes Field	23,018
6	November 11	New York Giants	W 38–17	4–2	Shibe Park	30,047
7	November 18	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 30–6	5–2	Shibe Park	23,838
8	November 25	Washington Redskins	W 16–0	6–2	Shibe Park	37,306
9	December 2	at New York Giants	L 21–28	6–3	Polo Grounds	45,372
10	December 9	Yanks	W 35–7	7–3	Shibe Park	27,905

Game recaps

Standings

NFL Eastern Division
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	PF	PA	STK
Washington Redskins	8	2	0	.800	6–2	209	121	W2
Philadelphia Eagles	7	3	0	.700	5–2	272	133	W1
Yanks	3	6	1	.333	3–2–1	123	211	L5
New York Giants	3	6	1	.333	2–4–1	179	198	L1
Pittsburgh Steelers	2	8	0	.200	1–7	79	220	L3

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Roster

(All time List of Philadelphia Eagles players in franchise history)

= 1945 Pro All-Star[3]

+ = 1st team All-Star

NO.	Player	AGE	POS	GP	GS	WT	HT	YRS	College
	Greasy Neale	53	Coach	1945 record 7–3–0	NFL-Eagles Lifetime 23–25–4			5th	West Virginia Wesleyan
	Ben Agajanian	26	K	1	1	215	6–0	Rookie	New Mexico
	Bruno Banducci	25	G	9	8	216	5–11	1	Stanford
	Jack Banta	28	HB	5	1	191	5–11	4	USC
	Mel Bleeker	25	HB	4	4	189	5–11	1	USC
	Johnny Butler	27	HB-TB	7	0	185	5–10	2	Tennessee
	Larry Cabrelli	28	E-DB	10	8	194	5–11	4	Colgate
	Rocco Canale	28	T-G	3	0	240	5–11	2	Boston College
	Jim Castiglia	27	FB	1	1	208	5–11	4	Georgetown (DC)
	Enio Conti	32	G	2	1	204	5–11	4	Arkansas, and Bucknell
	Dick Erdlitz	25	HB	7	0	181	5–10	3	Northwestern
	Jack Ferrante	29	E-DE	10	8	197	6–1	4	none
	Terry Fox	27	FB-LB	2	0	208	6–1	4	Miami (FL)
	George Fritts	26	T	10	1	205	5–11	4	Clemson Tigers football
	Charlie Gauer	24	FB-E	7	0	213	6–2	2	Colgate
	Jack Hinkle	28	B	3	2	195	6–0	5	Syracuse
	Dick Humbert	27	E-DE	4	2	179	6–1	4	Richmond
	Abe Karnofsky	23	QB-HB-DB	8	2	175	5–10	Rookie	Arizona
	Bucko Kilroy	24	G-MG-T-DT	9	0	243	6–2	2	Notre Dame, and Temple
	Ben Kish	28	B	9	5	207	6–0	5	Pittsburgh
	Vic Lindskog	31	C	10	6	203	6–1	1	Stanford
	Mike Mandarino	24	T-C-G	5	0	240	5–11	1	La Salle
	Bap Manzini	25	C	9	4	195	5–11	1	St. Vincent
	Duke Maronic	24	G	8	2	209	5–9	1	none
	Flip McDonald	24	E	9	2	200	6–2	1	Oklahoma
	Fred Meyer	26	E-DE	8	0	190	6–2	3	Stanford
	Eddie Michaels	31	G	9	8	205	5–11	9	Villanova
	Red Ramsey	34	E	2	0	196	6–0	7	Texas Tech
	John Rogalla	28	FB	8	4	215	6–0	Rookie	Scranton
	Jack Sanders	28	G	3	0	219	6–0	5	SMU
	Vic Sears	27	T-DT	10	9	223	6–3	4	Oregon State
	Allie Sherman	22	QB	10	1	170	5–11	2	Brooklyn
	Abe Shires	28	T	7	0	220	6–2	Rookie	Tennessee
	John G. Smith		T	1	0	200	6–2	Rookie	Florida
	Milt Smith	26	DB-QB	5	0	185	6–3	Rookie	UCLA
	Ernie Steele	28	HB-DB	7	1	187	6–0	3	Washington
	Gil Steinke	26	HB	7	1	175	6–0	Rookie	Texas A&M-Kingsville
	Bob Suffridge	29	G	10	1	205	6–0	4	Tennessee
	Tommy Thompson	29	QB	8	0	192	6–1	5	Tulsa
	Steve Van Buren+	25	HB	10	9	200	6–0	1	LSU
	Buzz Warren	29	TB-HB	1	0	175	5–11	Rookie	Tennessee
	Al Wistert+	25	T-G-DT	10	10	214	6–1	2	Michigan
	Roy Zimmerman	27	QB-WB-K	10	8	201	6–2	5	San Jose State
	41 Players Team Average	26.3		10		201.5	6–0.1	2.5

References

1. 1945 Philadelphia Eagles
2. Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro-Bowl at any time in their career.
3. Players are identified as a 1945 Pro All-Star.