The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-11-08
BLANCHARD OF
 ARMY MAY BE
 AMERICAN
By CARL LUNDQUIsr

O~"-N-- ~ United Press Stan Correspondensl
 New York, Nov. 8.-CUp) fze's still plebe, the lowlest and most humble among Army cadets, but the strapping stripling from Bisi1opvilie' s. C., already is being mentioned with those other West Point i'm mortals, Elmer Oliphant, Chris Cagle, Monk Meyer and Hank Manir as the greatest academy backs of all time.
 Such words of praise, and they have been coming in volumes, make Felix (Doc) Blanchard a marked man, but underneath his golden gridiron helmet is a level head and singleness of purpose = his goal is the goal line without considefa- tion for human obstacles who seek to stop him en route.
 Defense Star
 Extensively he is a human tank and lot of secondary defense men have expressed a need for antiAtatk guns or tank traps when they see him experimenting downfield drive. But as far as Coach Earl Red) Blaik is concerned he is even more important as line packer on de- fense. On those sweeping end runs that the cadets feature, Blanchardss long striding pace seldom is matched by would be tacklers, but what makes him look his best, according to Blaik. is the opportunity to smack down rival ball carrier 10 yards behind the line of scrin- mage.
 That Blanchard vii rate at least measure of all-America consider ation seems certain. Blaik's own word that the 20-year-old flllback ranks with the greatest backs he ever coached, should be sufficient evidence to provide him with sl1p- port when the all-star baIloting be- gins.
 The six-foot, POS pounGer, came to the academy in June of this year and he already had been tabbed for grid greatness after q year at North Carolina, where he starred as freshman.
 He has been one of Uncle Samss c. I. Joes after being drafted into the regular Army in 1043. lie was out of football that entire season, serving as an enlisted man in the Army Air Corps. He took preliminary training for West Point career at little Lafayette col lege, one of the government's train- ing schools for prospective candi- dates.
 Significantly, Blanchard never got off the bench in the 83 to 0 rout Of Villanova Saturday, but that was mainly to disappoint Notre Dame and Navy scouts, seeking to deter mine Army's grand strategy. l Also worthy of note is that much of the time, Blaik uses the big guy as a decoy, sending him out into the fiat where he waits leisurely for passes that aren't thrown. That I sort of strategy on the surface doesn't make too much sense, but against the kind of opposition that Army has been facing, it doesn't give the scouts any opportunity to de- termine just what Blanchard can do.
 Destiny
 The slow-talking easy-going fels low is an all-around athlete, play ing guard on the basketball team. and rating as one of the top sl1ot@ put men in eastern intercollegiate ranks in track He is good stu- dent and his destiny is to become | ovaA of $Ia orao fact honhe e.f all time. Barring injuries he should make 1t.
 Eastern gridiron combat is high- lighted this week in Army's annual meeting with Notre Dame at New York's Yankee Stadium. The rest of the program includes Navy Cornell, Pennsylvania Columbia. Holy Cross-C Colgate. Princeton-M -Muh- lenberg, Temple-Penn State, New York-Swarthmore, West Virginia- Lehigh, villanova-C Camp Kilmer and Lafayette Rutgers.