Judge, thanks for the link.  I know I am biased, but Al Demao's accomplishments are had to beat.. All American, All Pro twice, voted one of the greatest Redskins of all time, and decorated war hero. 

- Played for the Dukes 1939 - 1941
- Tied with Leigh Bodden and Armand Niccolai for longest NFL career (9 years)
- Played in the 1941 Blue-Gray and College All-Star games
- Voted one of 70 greatest members of Washington Football Team of all-time
- Made the Pro Bowl in 1950 and 1952
- Commanded nine transport boat landings as a U.S. Navy lieutenant during the invasion at Normandy
- Duquesne Hall of Fame (1972)

Last edited by CLK (9/19/2020 1:20 pm)

Judge congratulations on your nomination.  You are in great company.  Looking over all the resumes of these great athletes is impressive.  A lot of history.  Thanks.

Judge Jack McVay Jr wrote:

I was pushing Boyd Brumbaugh because his first round opponent in the Dan McCann division was against Jack McVay and I voted for Brumbaugh! haha thanks for sharing as always CLK 😄

Looks like your humility worked against you in round one. Let's see what happens in round two.

On another note, I think the bracket should have started with 32. I can't say I'm a huge Dukes football fan, but I've followed the team closer than anyone I know of outside this board since I was an undergrad. I only recognized maybe 1/2 the names on the original ballot and some of them didn't survive round one. 
 

Judge Jack McVay Jr wrote:

Thanks luckymcd but I am dead serious about Boyd Brumbaugh and Al DeMao and Mike Basrak et al. Those were all NFL caliber players in their day and Duquesne was a top level D 1 team.I don't know if you saw the bio section and Ray Kemp was the first African American Steeler and well before Jackie Robinson and hardly anyone knows about him. There was a time when the debate over GOAT for QB was probably Otto Graham or Johnny Unitas and now neither get mentioned. Check out the bio for information about the players as there is some good Duquesne football history and thanks again.

Jack, I'm sorry to see that of the great football players from Duquesne's long ago glory days only Al DeMao remains in the voting competition.  In my opinion Mike Basrak narrowly edges out Al DeMao for the greatest of all time.  All American status means a lot to me.  It disappoints me that these men are not being given the respect that they are surely due.  Kudos to you for voting for Boyd Brumbaugh over yourself.  That shows integrity.  Al DeMao will be getting my vote in the future rounds.
 

John Unitas and Otto Graham certainly didn't get the protection from the rules/referees that later QBs would.  Same with Unitas' favorite target Raymond Berry.  Berry was mugged from the snap until the end of the play on every down.  As great as Jerry Rice was I think Berry was better.  I still put Unitas at the top of the QB list.

VBC wrote:

Judge Jack McVay Jr wrote:

Thanks luckymcd but I am dead serious about Boyd Brumbaugh and Al DeMao and Mike Basrak et al. Those were all NFL caliber players in their day and Duquesne was a top level D 1 team.I don't know if you saw the bio section and Ray Kemp was the first African American Steeler and well before Jackie Robinson and hardly anyone knows about him. There was a time when the debate over GOAT for QB was probably Otto Graham or Johnny Unitas and now neither get mentioned. Check out the bio for information about the players as there is some good Duquesne football history and thanks again.

Jack, I'm sorry to see that of the great football players from Duquesne's long ago glory days only Al DeMao remains in the voting competition.  In my opinion Mike Basrak narrowly edges out Al DeMao for the greatest of all time.  All American status means a lot to me.  It disappoints me that these men are not being given the respect that they are surely due.  Kudos to you for voting for Boyd Brumbaugh over yourself.  That shows integrity.  Al DeMao will be getting my vote in the future rounds.
 

Thanks VBC,  There were so many great DU players of yesteryear that most DU fans never heard of, and Mike Basrak was certainly one of them. I don't know if I am reading your comment correctly, but Al Demao was also an All American.  In 1941 he was selected a 1st team  All American by Life Magazine, 2nd team by United Press, and 3rd team by NEA Sports Syndicate..  I guess back then there were about twelve major selection groups.  Not sure why the DU website does not list him as an All American player in his bio. 

Judge Jack, you are not only a great DU football player, but if there was an award for the greatest Duquesne gentleman of all time you would win hands down.  

 

That is perhaps the difference, VBC.  If Al Demao makes it through to the next round he no doubt would face Art Rooney.  I don't see how anyone beats Mr. Rooney in Pittsburgh.

Last edited by CLK (9/23/2020 1:50 pm)

Judge Jack McVay Jr wrote:

Thanks luckymcd but I am dead serious about Boyd Brumbaugh and Al DeMao and Mike Basrak et al. Those were all NFL caliber players in their day and Duquesne was a top level D 1 team.I don't know if you saw the bio section and Ray Kemp was the first African American Steeler and well before Jackie Robinson and hardly anyone knows about him.

As a sports historian I'm very familiar with the players from back when the Dukes were a legitimate D-1 program. I'm also familiar with the players of the last 20 years or so. Admittedly, the majority of the names I didn't recognize at all were from your era. In full disclosure I didn't know of your on-field exploits. I saw your name on the ballot and my first thought was I wonder if that's the same guy? I did see the bio section, and used it to vote on the half I didn't know. I just felt like they stretched a bit to get to the magic bracket number of 64, as there were some players I didn't recognize even from the eras I am familiar with.

After writing this up I took another look at the bracket. I recognized exactly half of the nominees, but 9 of the 32 didn't make it out of the first round. Now I suppose it's possible that if the ballot was only 32 some or all of them wouldn't have made the smaller ballot. I suspect most of them would have though.