1931 College Football All-America Team

The 1931 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1931. The organizations that chose the teams included: Associated Press, United Press, Collier's Weekly/Grantland Rice, Newspaper Enterprise Association, Hearst/INS, Central Press Association, and College Humor.

The only unanimous All-American selection in 1931 was Tulane's Gerald “Jerry” Dalrymple.

NCAA consensus All-American team

The following players make up the consensus All-American team recognized in the NCAA All-American guide.

Proliferation of All-American teams

In 1931, Damon Runyon wrote a column about the proliferation of “All-America” teams. He noted: “The ‘All’ boys are it, tooth and nail. They are ‘All’-ing North, South East and West. They will wind up ‘All’-Americaing, the most virulent form of the ‘All’ plague that besets us every Winter. The late Walter Camp little realized what he was bringing upon the country . . . At the moment, Mr. Camp probably had no idea that he was sowing the seed of a fearful pestilence.”^[1] Runyon noted that Camp’s word was viewed as gospel, but with his passing “the rush to fill his shoes was prodigious,” and the “’All’ business became a national obsession.”^[1]

All-Americans of 1931

Key

Bold - Consensus All-American^[2]

Selectors recognized by NCAA in consensus determinations

• AP = Associated Press^[3]
• UP = United Press^[4]
• COL = Collier's Weekly as selected by Grantland Rice^[5]
• NEA = Newspaper Enterprise Association^[6]
• INS = International News Service, the wire service of the Hearst newspapers^[7]
• AAB = All America Board^[8]

Other selectors

• CP = Central Press Association, also known as the Captain's Poll, selected by a poll of the captains of the major football teams^[9]
• WCFF = Walter Camp Football Foundation^[10]
• HSM = All-American team selected by 18,006 fans through nation-wide contest sponsored by clothier Hart, Schaffner and Marx^[11]
• CH = College Humor magazine^[12]
• LP = selected by Lawrence Perry, a former Princetonian who wrote a nationally-syndicated sports colyum called For The Game's Sake^[13]

Ends

• Gerald "Jerry" Dalrymple, Tulane (AP–1; UP–1; COL–1; CP–1; NEA–1; INS–1; WCFF; HSM; CH-1; LP; AAB)
• Vernon "Catfish" Smith, Georgia (AP-1; COL–1; NEA–2; INS–2; HSM; CP–1; CH-2; LP)
• Henry Cronkite, Kansas State (AP–2; UP–1; NEA–1; INS-2; CP–3; CH-1)
• John "Johnny" Orsi, Colgate (AP–2; CP–2; NEA–2; INS-1; WCFF; CH-2; AAB)
• Paul Moss, Purdue (NEA–3; INS-3l CP–2; )
• Koontz, Southern Methodist (CP-3)
• Bill Hewitt, Michigan (NEA-3)
• Garrett Arbelbide, Southern California (AP-3)
• Fred Felber, Univ. of North Dakota (AP-3)
• Barres, Yale (INS-3)

Tackles

• Dallas "Dal" Marvil, Northwestern (AP–1; NEA–3; INS-1; CP–1; CH-2; HSM)
• Jesse Quatse, Pittsburgh (UP–1; COL–1; CP-2; WCFF; CH-1; AAB)
• Jack Riley, Northwestern (NEA–1; INS-2; WCFF; AAB)
• Paul Schwegler, Washington (AP–1; COL–1; INS-3; CP–2)
• Joseph Kurth, Notre Dame (AP–2; UP–1; NEA–1; INS–2; CP–3; LP)
• John "Jack" Price, Army (AP–3; CP–1; NEA–2; INS-1; CH-2)
• James MacMurdo, Pittsburgh (AP–2; NEA–3; INS-3; HSM)
• Ira Hardy, Harvard (NEA–2; CH-1; LP)
• Hugh Rhea, Nebraska (AP-3)
• Saunders, Tennessee (CP-3)

Guards

• Clarence "Biggie" Munn, Minnesota (AP–1; UP–1; COL–1; NEA–1; INS–1; CP–1; HSM; CH-1; LP; WCFF; AAB)
• Johnny Baker, Southern California (AP–2; UP–1; NEA–1; INS–1; CP–2; WCFF; HSM; CH-2; LP; AAB)
• Herman Hickman, Tennessee (AP–3; COL–1; NEA–3; INS-3; CP–1; CH-1)
• Frank (Nordy) Hoffman, Notre Dame (AP-1; NEA–2; INS-2)
• Joe Zeller, Indiana (NEA-2)
• Ignatius "Jim" Zyntell, Holy Cross (CP-2)
• James Evans, Northwestern (AP–2; CP-3)
• Maurice "Mush" Dubofsky, Georgetown (NEA-3)
• Gregory Kabat, Wisconsin (AP–3; CP-3)
• Milton "Red" Leathers, Georgia (INS-2)
• H.R. Myerson, Harvard (INS-3)
• Corbus, Stanford (CH-2)

Centers

• Tommy Yarr, Notre Dame (AP–1; NEA–2; INS-1; WCFF; HSM; CH-2; AAB)
• Maynard Morrison, Michigan (AP–3; COL–1; NEA-1; CP–3)
• Ralph Daugherty, Pittsburgh (AP–2; NEA–3; INS–3; CP–1; LP)
• Charles Miller, Purdue (UP-1; CH-1)
• Pete Gracey, Vanderbilt (CP-2)
• McDuffie, Columbia (INS-2)

Quarterbacks

• W. Barry Wood, Jr., Harvard (AP–1; COL–1; NEA–1; INS-1; CP–1; HSM; CH-2)
• Austin Downes, Georgia (CP-3)
• William Morton, Dartmouth (AP–2; NEA–2; INS-3; CH-1)
• Carl Cramer, Ohio State (AP-3)

Halfbacks

• Marchmont "Marchy" Schwartz, Notre Dame (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP–1; UP–1; COL–1; NEA–1; INS–1; WCFF; HSM; CH-1; LP; AAB)
• Ernie "Pug" Rentner, Northwestern (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP-1; UP–1; COL–1; NEA–1; INS–1 [named as fullback by Hearst]; CP–1; WCFF; HSM [named as fullback]; CH-1; LP; AAB)
• Donald Zimmerman, Tulane (AP–2; NEA–2; INS-1; CP–1; CH-2)
• Bob Monnett, Michigan State (CP-1)
• Eugene McEver, Tennessee (AP–2; NEA–2; INS-2; CP–2)
• Francis "Bud" Toscani, St. Marys (NEA-2)
• Cornelius Murphy, Fordham (CP-3; CH-2) {Murphy died from a ruptured blood vessel in the brain in December 1931}
• J.W. Crickard, Harvard (NEA-3)
• Albert J. "Mighty Atom" Booth, Jr., Yale (AP–3; INS-2)
• Weldon Mason, Southern Methodist (AP-3)
• Ray Stecker, Army (INS-3)

Fullbacks

• Gaius "Gus" Shaver, Southern California (COL–1 [selected as fullback]; UP–1 [selected as quarterback]; NEA–3 [selected as quarterback]; INS–2 [selected as quarterback]; CP–1 [selected as fullback]; WCFF [selected as quarterback]; LP [selected as quarterback]; AAB)
• Erny Pinckert, Southern California (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP–1; NEA–1; INS–3 [picked as halfback]; HSM [named as halfback]; CH-1)
• Johnny Cain, Alabama (UP–1; NEA–3 [picked as halfback]; INS-3; WCFF; CH-2; AAB)
• Ralston "Rusty" Gill, California (NEA–3; LP)
• Orville Mohler, Southern California (AP-3; CP-2 [picked as quarterback])
• Jack Manders, Minnesota (CP-2)
• Bart J. Viviano, Cornell (AP-2)
• Clarke Hinkle, Bucknell (INS-2)
• Nollie Felts, Tulane (CP-3)

Notes