Other Champions
The Tennessee State Tigers (9-0-0) and the Florida A & M Rattlers (8-0-0) were considered to be the #1 and #2 teams "among the nation's Negro grid powers". The teams from the two historically black universities played at the Orange Bowl stadium in Miami, which hosted the Orange Blossom Classic as well as the New Year's Day, historically white universities, Orange Bowl game. A crowd of 41,808 watched Tennessee State win 41-39.
Unbeaten Montana State University met Saint Joseph's College, Indiana in the Aluminum Bowl at Little Rock in the first playoff to determine the NAIA small college championship, and played to a scoreless tie. Both were declared champions, and a coin flip allowed St. Joseph's to have the trophy for six months, followed by Montana State.
Other schools that finished their seasons unbeaten and untied were Lenoir Rhyne College, the University of Wyoming, New Haven Teachers College, Hillsdale College, Central Michigan University, Kearney State College, Redlands College, Sam Houston State, Westminster College (Pennsylvania), St. Thomas (Minn.) College, Alfred University and Milton College (Wisconsin).
Read more about this topic: 1956 College Football Season
Famous quotes containing the word champions:
“Myths and legends die hard in America. We love them for the extra dimension they provide, the illusion of near-infinite possibility to erase the narrow confines of most men’s reality. Weird heroes and mould-breaking champions exist as living proof to those who need it that the tyranny of “the rat race” is not yet final.”
—Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939)
“While the Governor, and the Mayor, and countless officers of the Commonwealth are at large, the champions of liberty are imprisoned.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)