Biography
Coach Lefty James’ second Cornell team lost only to power-packed Army in 1948. That Big Red mixture of war-tempered veterans and a ton of teenage talent dominated the Ivy League, including another national giant – Penn, Chuck Bednarik and all. Only QB-fullback-kicker Bob Dean, Capt. Joe Quinn (guard) and end Jack Rogers were lost from that team. The ’49 team would welcome promising reinforcements from the undefeated ’48 freshmen of Coach Pat Filley, former Notre Dame captain and All-American. The James Gang of 1949 weren’t quite up to midseason form when they took on Niagara – not one of the wonders of the football world – on opening day, Sept. 24. But the season was just 11 minutes old when "Louisiana Lightning" struck as multi-gifted halfback Hillary Chollet, of New Orleans, ran a punt back 70 yards for the first touchdown of the year. Not long after, sophomore fullback Hal Seidenberg, of Brooklyn, gathered up a fumble on the 30 and hustled it into the end zone. It was 13-0 after the first quarter. In the second half, 5-foot-8, 155-pound quarterback Pete Dorset, a wartime flier and prisoner of war in Germany, tossed a flat pass to Chollet for six more. Finally, Bernie Babula, one of the team’s elders at 25, back home from tough combat in the Pacific with the Navy, topped off a 93-yard drive with a 15-yard burst. http://www.cornellbigred.com/sports/2009/9/17/FB_0917090038.aspx
