Francis "Hank" Lauricella

Sport: Football

Induction Year: 1983

Induction Year: 1983

Between 1951 and 1962, four products of Louisiana high school football finished first or second in Heisman Trophy voting.

Two of them became head coaches in college football and now athletic directors. One became a dentist, and served time in federal prison for counterfeiting. The other one went into real estate business and became a Louisiana state senator.

Senator Francis “Hank” Lauricella led the parade of Heisman candidates in 1951, but the was the last member of the quartet to be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. He also was the only one (the others were Billy Cannon, Jerry Stovall and John David Crow) who didn’t play in the National Football League.

Growing up in New Orleans, where he starred for Coach Lou Brownson’s Holy Cross Tigers, Lauricella became the last of the great triple threat tailbacks a the University of Tennessee because General Robert Neyland, the Volunteers’ coach, happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Making a trip to New Orleans after a disappointing 5-5 season in 1947, Neyland decided to mix business with pleasure by checking out a high school game. He liked what he saw in Lauricella.

Brownson had switched from the T-formation to the single wing to take advantage of Lauricella’s versatility. Holy Cross, which won the Class AA state championship in 1945 (when Lauricella was a sophomore), lost that game, but its tailback won a trip to Knoxville.

It was love at first sight.

“I was supposed to stop by Ole Miss for a visit on my way home to Louisiana,” Lauricella recalled, ‘but I had already decided where I was going to school.”

As a sophomore, he threw three touchdown passes in a 35-7 victory over Ole Miss. The following year (1950), he led the Volunteers to an 11-1 season that included a 7-0 victory over Southeastern Conference champion Kentucky, coached by Paul “Bear” Bryant.

The volunteers played Texas in the Cotton Bowl at the end of that season.

“Texas is stronger than we are,” Neyland told his team. “But we’re in better condition. They’ll lead us at halftime. But we’re going to win in the fourth quarter.”

That is exactly what happened, thanks to Lauricella’s 74-yard run in the fourth quarter. For the game, he had 131 yards rushing in Tennessee’s 20-14 victory.

“I’ll never forget the general’s optimism,” he recalled. “The Texas band was outside our dressing groom playing ‘The Eyes of Texas.’ When they finished, he said, “Don’t worry, men. After this game’s over, they’ll be playing the ‘Tennessee Waltz.’”

In 1951, Lauricella did something that none of the other great Tennessee tailbacks accomplished. He led the Volunteers to the national championship.

Lauricella led the SEC in rushing with 881 yards, setting a conference record that stood for 35 yeas by averaging 7.9 yards per carry. The Vols extended their winning streak to 21 games, earning a Sugar Bowl match-up with Maryland.

At that time, the wire service conducted their final polls before the bowl games. Tennessee was ranked No. 1 by Associated Press and United Press International, while Maryland was ranked third by AP and fourth by UPI.

The Sugar Bowl Classic gave Lauricella the only opportunity to play in his hometown in his collegiate career, but it wasn’t a happy homecoming.

“Maryland came up with a defense we had never seen,” he recalled. “It was a version of the four-man line, and we were late adjustin to it. We had enjoyed so much success running the football that season, we didn’t got to our passing game that much. When we fell behind Maryland, we were forced out of our normal sequence.”

There was nothing normal about Lauricella’s statistics in that game. He had one yard rushing, fumbled a kickoff at the 13 yard-line to set up a Maryland touchdown and threw three interceptions in five attempts.

“Lord, what a day that was,” Lauricella recalled of Maryland’s 28-13 victory over the Volunteers. “It was a very sad and deflating experience.”

Maryland coach Jim Tatum—who told his players to “vote again” when they originally voted to accept a bid to the Cotton Bowl—prepared his Terps for the No. 1-ranked Vols by telling them the story about the man who was asked if he was the toughest guy in town. “No,” he replied, “but I’m the guy who beat the toughest guy in town.”

More than 25 year later, Lauricella said he is still reminded of the loss at least once a week. “Everyone I meet says, ‘Hey, Hank, I was at that Sugar Bowl and I was pulling for you.’ Tulane Stadium held 83,000 people at that time, but it seems like at least 300,000 saw that game,” he recalled.

“Sometimes, you become more popular in defeat than in winning,” he added. “I learned life is not all glory. It was humiliating, but it may have made me a better man.”

It was only the fourth loss in his 33-game varsity career at Tennessee. He had 2,568 yards total offense in those three yeas, and was responsible for 29 touchdowns. He also averaged 36.5 yards in 131 punts, and returned kicks.

At 5-10 and 170 pounds, Lauricella was too small for pro football. But he was as big as several Heisman Trophy winners in that era: Glenn Davis of Army, Doak Walker of SMU and the player who beat Lauricella in 1951 Heisman voting, Dick Kazmaier of Princeton.

“I discovered a little guy could do well running behind one of those Tennessee lines,” Lauricella said. “It wasn’t a real disappointment not to win the Heisman Trophy, because I never felt like I was a contender for it. I wasn’t too good a runner, and I really wasn’t that good a passer, either. But when you put the whole package together, I came out best.”