page_title: Pittsburgh Panthers football
section_title: John Michelosen era (1955–1965)
hierarchical_section_title: Pittsburgh Panthers football / History / John Michelosen era (1955–1965)
caption_attribution_description: A Pitt football player carrying the ball in a 1955 game against Cal at Pitt Stadium, which the Panthers won 27-7.
context_page_description: The Pittsburgh Panthers football program is the intercollegiate football team of the University of Pittsburgh, often referred to as "Pitt", in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Traditionally the most popular sport at the university, Pitt football has played at the highest level of American college football competition, now termed the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, since the beginning of the school's official sponsorship of the sport in 1890. As of the 2013 season, Pitt competes as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
  Pitt claims nine national championships and is among the top 20 college football programs in terms of all-time wins. Its teams have featured many coaches and players notable throughout the history of college football, including, among all schools, the 12th most College Football Hall of Fame inductees, the 12th most consensus All-Americans, and the fifth most Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees. The Panthers are currently coached by Pat Narduzzi.
context_section_description: In 1955 Pitt sought a return to the roots of its previous success by turning to John Michelosen, a quarterback on Jock Sutherland's 1936 and 1937 championship teams who later served as a Sutherland assistant and as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Michelosen immediately brought Pitt football back to respectability in his first season with the 1955 Eastern Championship that was capped by an appearance in the 1956 Sugar Bowl. Pitt's invitation to the Sugar Bowl was surrounded by controversy because Pitt, an integrated team, was the first to bring an African-American, Bobby Grier, to play in a southeastern bowl game in the segregated Deep South. Grier's play in the Sugar Bowl cemented the university's place in civil rights history as the first team to break the color barrier for southeastern bowls. However, the game was marred by protests in the South leading up to the game, which Pitt lost 7–0 when a controversial interference penalty was called on Grier that set up the winning touchdown for Georgia Tech. The following season, Michelosen guided Pitt to another bowl berth, the Gator Bowl, which resulted in another seven-point loss to Georgia Tech.
  Four additional winning seasons followed against formidable national schedules that were highlighted by victories over Notre Dame, USC, Miami, UCLA, Penn State, Oregon, Syracuse, Nebraska, and West Virginia. A three win season in 1961 that included wins at Miami and over Navy and USC, along with three close losses by 6 points or less to Baylor, Washington, and Notre Dame, was followed by a 5–5 record in 1962 and then perhaps the best team of the Micheloson era in 1963. The 1963 team, led by All-American Paul Martha, swept through a schedule that included wins at Notre Dame, UCLA, West Virginia, and Miami and home victories against Washington, Cal, Syracuse, and Penn State. The only loss of the season was in late October at Navy, which was led by Roger Staubach and would finish the season ranked second in the nation. The Panthers, at 7–1 and ranked fourth in the nation, headed into their rivalry  against Penn State with a chance to play for a national championship. However, national tragedy struck on November 22 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated which resulted in postponing Pitt's next-to-last game against Penn State from November 23 to December 7. The Panthers defeated the Miami Hurricanes on November 30, improving their record to 8–1. The bowls, which feared inviting Pitt before their season finale against Penn State the following week, signed other teams, leaving Pitt without a bowl invitation despite defeating the Nittany Lions, 22–21, and ending the season with a 9–1 record. Perceived as perhaps the best team of the modern football era not to appear in a bowl, the 1963 team finished with its number three ranking intact, but infamously received the label of the "No Bowl Team".
  The bad luck of 1963 seemed to jinx the program for the rest of Michelosen tenure, and despite wins over Oklahoma, Miami, West Virginia, and Penn State, two three-win seasons followed. The losses prompted the removal of Michelosen as coach, a move that sent the football program into a tailspin.
  In eleven seasons at Pitt, the second longest coaching tenure at the school after Sutherland's, Michelosen achieved a 56–49–7 record with only 4 losing campaigns. Pitt finished ranked among the top twenty programs in four seasons with Michelosen at the helm. Michelosen was a major coaching influence on such modern day NFL coaching greats as Mike Ditka and Marty Schottenheimer, both of whom played at Pitt under Michelosen.
caption: Pitt advancing the ball in a 27–7 win over Cal in a 1955 game at Pitt Stadium
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