Army fullback Felix "Doc" Blanchard and halfback Glenn Davis were so well known at the peak of their storied football careers that their popularity among Americans transcended sports.
Long before Michael Jordan, Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods became megastars, Blanchard and Davis captured the imagination of even the most casual sports fan with their exploits on fall Saturday afternoons more than six decades ago.
Blanchard, who died early Sunday at his daughter's home in Bulverde, won the Heisman Trophy in 1945. He was the first junior to receive college football's most prestigious individual award, and might have become the first player to repeat as a Heisman winner if he hadn't missed two games with a knee injury early in the 1946 season.
Davis, who died in 2005, picked up the slack and won the Heisman the year after his backfield partner did.
Forever known as "Mr. Inside" and "Mr. Outside" in American sports lore, Blanchard and Davis led the U.S. Military Academy to Associated Press national championships in 1944 and 1945. Only a scoreless tie with No. 1 Notre Dame in 1946 kept No. 2 Army from finishing atop the AP poll for a third consecutive year.
The Black Knights were 27-0-1 under legendary coach Earl "Red" Blaik during that span. Blanchard was nicknamed "Mr. Inside" because of his ability to pound defenses between the tackles, and Davis was known as "Mr. Outside" because of his swift dashes around the ends.
"Doc and Glenn were genuine celebrities," former teammate Joe Steffy, who lives in Newburgh, N.Y., told Kens5.com on Monday. " They were like matinee idols, to say the least. Pro football hadn't taken off yet, so most football fans followed the colleges back then. Doc and Glenn were on the covers of Life, Newsweek, all the big magazines."
Former St. Gerard High School football coach George Pasterchick, 78, remembers idolizing Blanchard and Davis as a kid growing up in Clifton, N.Y., located less than 100 miles from West Point, N.Y., home of the Army Black Knights.
"I'd listen to the games on the radio and read about them in our hometown newspaper," Pasterchick said. "They were the heroes of the day. There were a lot of problems in the world when they were playing, with World War II going on, but Doc and Glenn Davis gave Americans something to cheer about. When we got together to play sandlot ball in the neighborhood, we imitated those guys."
Blanchard, who was 84, died of pneumonia. He moved from San Antonio to Bulverde in 1993 to live with the youngest of his three children, Resa Blanchard, after the death of his wife, Jody.
While Davis remained outgoing in his later years, Blanchard shunned the spotlight and rarely talked about the halcyon days at Army.
"Doc told me on more than one occasion that the worst thing that can happen to you is to become a celebrity," Steffy said. "He said you don't have a life. All the attention becomes a nuisance. That bothered him a lot."
Steffy, who was Blanchard's best friend, spoke to him on the phone regularly. He recalled having dinner with Blanchard in San Antonio on the night before Army played Texas A&M at the Alamodome in 2006.
"Even after all those years, people still recognized Doc and came to our table to ask him for an autograph," said Steffy, 83. " It was amazing. Doc was cordial and signed, but you could tell he didn't particularly care to do it."
Not surprisingly, Blanchard did not attend the Army-A&M game.
"That was just Doc and I respected his wishes," Steffy said. "He was a great guy."
Blanchard attended Army reunions occasionally, but he generally stayed close to home and was reclusive.
"My father was a very private person," Resa Blanchard said. "But he was very normal. He loved his children and grandchildren, and missed my mother very much after she died. I think it's wonderful that he did all those things at Army, but I didn't grow up hearing stories about it. He was just a very humble man."
Former Army tackle Hal Tavzel, who lives in San Antonio, played with Blanchard and Davis and graduated with them from West Point in 1947. He still spoke with Blanchard occasionally.
"Doc was a terrific person and a great football player," Tavzel said. "He had incredible quickness for a guy his size (Blanchard was 6 foot, 210 pounds) and could hit. After his wife passed on, he was a very private person, and we respected that."
A three-time All-American, Blanchard also was a hard-hitting linebacker in the days of two-way football.
Blanchard scored 38 touchdowns and gained 1,908 yards in his three seasons with Army. Drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers with the third overall pick, Blanchard never played pro football.
He had a long career as a fighter pilot in the Air Force, flying in the Korean and Vietnam wars before retiring as a colonel.
"All Doc ever wanted to be was a jet pilot," Steffy said. "He never wanted to play pro football."
Blanchard is survived by two other children, Felix Anthony III, who lives in North Carolina; and Jo Mills, who lives in the San Antonio area.
Private funeral services for Blanchard will be held at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery at a later date, Resa Blanchard said.
