1939 New Hampshire Wildcats football team

The 1939 New Hampshire Wildcats football team was an American football team that represented the University of New Hampshire as a member of the New England Conference during the 1939 college football season. In its third year under head coach George Sauer, the team compiled a 3–5 record, being outscored by their opponents 126–71.

1939 New Hampshire Wildcats football
Conference	New England Conference
Record	3–5 (1–1 New England)
Head coach	George Sauer (3rd season)
Captain	Burton Mitchell^[1]
Home stadium	Lewis Field
Seasons ← 1938 1940 →

1939 New England Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Maine $	3	–	0	–	0			5	–	2	–	0
Connecticut	1	–	1	–	0			5	–	3	–	0
New Hampshire	1	–	1	–	0			3	–	5	–	0
Rhode Island State	1	–	2	–	0			3	–	4	–	1
Northeastern	0	–	2	–	0			0	–	6	–	1
$ – Conference champion

New Hampshire was ranked at No. 260 (out of 609 teams) in the final Litkenhous Ratings for 1939.^[2]

The team played its home games at Lewis Field (also known as Lewis Stadium) in Durham, New Hampshire.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 30	Colby*	Lewis Field Durham, NH	L 6–20		^[3]
October 7	Northeastern	Lewis Field Durham, NH	W 15–6		^[4]
October 14	at Maine	Alumni Field Orono, ME (rivalry)	L 0–6		^[5]
October 20	at Springfield*	Pratt Field Springfield, MA	L 2–3		^[6]^[7]
October 28	Vermont*	Lewis Field Durham, NH	W 22–7	6,000	^[8]^[9]
November 4	at Rutgers*	Rutgers Stadium New Brunswick, NJ	L 13–32		^[10]
November 11	Tufts*	Lewis Field Durham, NH	W 13–6	6,000	^[11]^[12]
November 18	at Harvard*	Harvard Stadium Boston, MA	L 0–46	15,000	^[13]^[14]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Source: ^[15]^[1]

The Harvard team was captained by "Torby" Macdonald,^[1] roommate of John F. Kennedy, who would go on serve in the United States House of Representatives from 1955 to 1976. The 1939 game remains the last time that the Harvard and New Hampshire football programs have met.^[16]

New Hampshire captain Burton Mitchell was inducted to the university's athletic hall of fame in 1998.^[17]

References

1. The Granite. Durham, New Hampshire: University of New Hampshire. 1941. pp. 108–116. Retrieved January 22, 2020 – via library.unh.edu.^{[permanent dead link]}
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. Jones, Fred (October 2, 1939). "Gridiron Guff". The Portsmouth Herald. Portsmouth, New Hampshire. p. 8. Retrieved January 22, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
4. "Huskies Will Try to Wreck Bates". The Boston Globe. October 9, 1939. p. 10. Retrieved January 22, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
5. "Gridiron Guff". The Portsmouth Herald. Portsmouth, New Hampshire. October 16, 1939. p. 8. Retrieved January 22, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
6. "Wildcats Get First Taste Of Arc-Light Football Tonight". The Portsmouth Herald. Portsmouth, New Hampshire. October 20, 1939. p. 12. Retrieved January 22, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
7. "Baseball Score Gives Gymnasts Win Over N.H.U." The Portsmouth Herald. Portsmouth, New Hampshire. October 21, 1939. p. 5. Retrieved January 22, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
8. Hickey, Walt (October 30, 1939). "New Hampshire Cashes In On "Breaks" To Beat Vermont 22-7". The Burlington Free Press. Burlington, Vermont. p. 13. Retrieved January 22, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
9. "Vermont-New Hampshire Statistics". The Burlington Free Press. Burlington, Vermont. October 30, 1939. p. 13. Retrieved January 22, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
10. "Monday Morning Quarterback". The Daily Home News. New Brunswick, New Jersey. November 6, 1939. p. 12. Retrieved January 22, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
11. "New Hampshire Takes on Tufts". The Boston Globe. November 11, 1939. p. 8. Retrieved January 22, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
12. "Tufts". The Boston Globe. November 11, 1939. p. 7. Retrieved January 22, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
13. "Harvard Leading, 33-0; Macdonald Star". The Boston Globe. November 18, 1939. p. 1. Retrieved January 22, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
14. "Harvard—". The Boston Globe. November 18, 1939. p. 7. Retrieved January 22, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
15. . College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on October 29, 2016. Retrieved January 22, 2020 – via Wayback Machine.
16. . College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on September 15, 2015. Retrieved January 26, 2020 – via Wayback Machine.
17. "Hall of Fame". unhwildcats.com. Retrieved January 27, 2020.