The 1947 Pepperdine Waves football team was an American football team that represented George Pepperdine College (now known as Pepperdine University) as an independent during the 1947 college football season. In the school's second year of college football, both under the leadership of head coach Warren Gaer, Pepperdine compiled a perfect 9–0 record and outscored opponents by a total of 350 to 26. The team did not allow any opponent to score more than seven points and concluded the season with five consecutive shutouts. The Waves extended their winning streak to 16 games after concluding the program's inaugural 1946 season with seven consecutive wins. The Waves were ranked at No. 63 (out of 500 college football teams) in the final Litkenhous Ratings for 1947.
The season included a 27–6 victory over regional power Arizona State and a 13–0 victory over crosstown rival Loyola. The Loyola game was billed as the "Big Little Game", drew a crowd of 8,000, and was televised on KLAC-TV in Los Angeles. The Pepperdine band made its debut in the fourth game of the season.
With 350 points scored, Pepperdine was the highest scoring college football team during the 1947 season, scoring five points more than second-place Michigan. Fullback Darwin Horn, a 210-pound sophomore from Inglewood, California, tied for national scoring honors with 115 points scored. He was also selected as a first-team back on the 1947 Little All-America college football team.
The team played its home games at Sentinel Field on the campus of Inglewood High School in Inglewood, California.
Schedule
Roster In its second season of college football, the 1947 squad was made up of 31 sophomores and nine newcomers. Thirty-two players were awarded varsity letters at the end of the season:
Bill Anderson, center Tom Bedore, guard Terry Bell, back John Bilbrey, back Chuck Calvert, tackle Don Clark, center Martin Cook, tackle Ted Cooyas, back Dale Drager, back Jack Drager, back Howard Geiger, tackle Chuck Gibbon, back Curly Hamilton, end Bob Hayes, back Bill Hicks, end Darwin Horn, back Bill Johnston, guard Keith Kenworthy, tackle Ted Kiappos, guard Nelson Loomis, guard Bob McCluskey, back Hal McCormick, back Pat Murphy, end Bob Nall, guard Elmer Noonan, back Bob Quine, tackle Walt Reeves, tackle Raul Regalado, back Sammy Stephens, end Norm Stillwell, end Phil Strom, guard Bo Williams, center
References