The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-12-21
ST. MARY GAELS BEST IN WEST DURING 1S45
BY HAL WOOD United Press sports Writer

San Francisco. Dec. 2i. tUPl A rags Co riches" stoTy that prob ably never before has been eQuallcd on the gridiron tells the tale O; how s. MaTy's Oaels gailopcd Into the New orleans New Years Day Sugar Bowl against powerful okla home A. 6 M.
 Beaten in every tilt they played during is44. when they kept foot ball going flor the love oi the game. the 0aels came back in ls45 to capture seven. lose one and win acclaim as the finest grid en- Smble in the West and draw the richest bowl plum possible for a western non-coniereDce football team
 The wartime story of the Gaels largely Is bullet around genial Jim Phelan. their quiek-witted Irish coach, who decided that if the boys wanted 10 play football during hos tllities. he would string along with them.
 Enrollment Dwindled
 h pre-war days the Gaels always were a football power Then the Navy moved in and took over most of the campus; the enrolment at St. Marys dwindled 10 around 100 Students-but the Moraga Micks still iielded a football team.
 His i943 outfit won couple, dropped five; in 1924 the team lost all five games on the schedule. But the boys still enjoyed playing against the "big names ill the service-so Jimmy let them.
 T never enjoyed coaching so much in my life as did in l944- and I never learned more about the game" Phelan said at the end of the season.
 Youths Can Hold
 What he learned he put into use this year-with startling results. One of the things he found out was that l7-year-olds, if given the proper sets Of plays could hold their own against mature men.
 So he lined up husky band Of kids just out of high school and a few discharged war veterans. Among these was Herman Wedemeyer, the boy who developed into everybody's y's All-American, a quadruple-threat back, from Honolulu, who had played with the 1943 team.
 A brilliant quarterback, Dennis O'Connor, was a hold-over from the Winless 1944 club. He and Wede- meyer are the only sophomore on the starting eleven-all the rest are freshmen.
 A scat back. Charles (Spike) Cor deiro, also was imported from Homo lulu. A husky bunch of durable youngsters was rounded up from California high schools for the for ward wall.
 Wide-Open Offensive
 For this club Phelan developed 2 wide-open brand of offensive ball designed to take advantage of the kids speed.
 Under the guidance of Quarter back O'Connor; with the running of Cordeiro and the passing, run nirlg and kicking of Wedemeyer, the system paid big dividends.
 The Gaels were the finest drawing card in the West. They played N 3eO GOO fans as they beat: California 2o-13. in the opener; Stockton Army Commandos, 26-O; University ol Nevada 3e-o; Amos Alonzo stagg's College of Pacific, 61-0; Mcclellan Field Flyers, 58-o; University ol1 ol Southern California (The Rose Bow; team), 26-o; Fresno State, 32-6; ano then lost the finale to UCLA, l3-7, Ill the last 40 seconds of the season.
 The odds are reported 3 I agalns' the Gaels in their Sugar Bowl pay tie against the Oklahoma A. ana M outfit Bit if westerners have learnec one thing about football this year it is this: ~ -,,
 Never sell St. Mary's College Gal loping Gaels Short!'