The roster
| Jack Ratliff | QB | Riverton |
| Tommy Rhone | QB | Cheyenne Central |
| Bill Bush | RB | Thermopolis |
| Harold Hand | RB | Riverton |
| Leroy Pearce | RB | Natrona |
| Harold “Hardy” Rollins | RB | Green River |
| Joe Zowada | RB | Sheridan |
| Edgar “Ed” Chenoweth | WR | Worland |
| Vern Gardner | WR | Star Valley |
| Dewey McConnell | WR | Laramie |
| Don Olcott | WR | Cheyenne Central |
| Floyd “Tally” Stevens | WR | Evanston |
| Keith Bloom | TE | Powell |
| John Pilch | TE | Thermopolis |
| George Waters | TE | Sheridan |
| Jim Clayton | OL | Lander |
| Charles Cooper | OL | Rawlins |
| Jim Godfrey | OL | Cheyenne Central |
| Bill Lucas | OL | Sheridan |
| Deroy Smith | OL | Natrona |
| J.C. Sollars | OL | Riverton |
| Fred Taucher | OL | Rock Springs |
| Richard “Dick” Viner | OL | Laramie |
| Bob Wildermuth | OL | Rock Springs |
| Fran Connor | DL | Rock Springs |
| Lyle Covington | DL | Natrona |
| John Dasovich | DL | Rock Springs |
| Edward “Ted” Layman | DL | Natrona |
| Bill Roney | DL | Powell |
| Marvin Strauch | DL | Cheyenne Central |
| Dale Terwilliger | DL | Green River |
| Dick Bowman | LB | Natrona |
| George Bozanic | LB | Lander |
| Bill Hielman | LB | Natrona |
| Ray Hobbs | LB | Sheridan |
| Bill Martin | LB | Cody |
| Gene Smith | LB | Laramie |
| Nimmo Taylor | LB | Cheyenne Central |
| Dick Campbell | DB | Sheridan |
| Vinton Farley | DB | Newcastle |
| J.B. Ford | DB | Douglas |
| Ray Haskins | DB | Torrington |
| Tony Katana | DB | Rock Springs |
| Babe Nomura | DB | Heart Mountain |
| Selmer Pederson | DB | Lander |
| Jim Storey | DB | Cheyenne Central |
| Jack Logan | Rover | Laramie |
| Bill Sweem | Rover | Sheridan |
| Charles “Timer” Moses | K | Midwest |
| Chuck Spaulding | P | Natrona |
| Frank Stine | RS | Green River |
| Peter Cook | ATH | Cheyenne Central |
| Lowell Earl | ATH | Lovell |
Hardest players to leave off the team: Carl McManis and George Grace (Sheridan); Ronnie Stevens and Boyd Henderson (Evanston); Jim Federer, Bob Huss and Danny McKinney (Cheyenne Central); Russell Zimmer and Jack Canfield (Torrington); Dick Sedar, Bill Tobin, Corky Marburger and Art Pierce (Natrona); Stanley Leggara and Al Tamayo (Kemmerer); Corman Sessions (Byron); Frank Freese (Lander); Scott Welch (Cowley); Raymond Beaver (Manderson); Leland Davis (Newcastle); Dick Heasler (Powell); George Kienlen (Green River); Jim Fagan (Lusk); Jim Bishop (Campbell County).
Impressions: Natrona’s 1948 state champions have three selections in Ted Layman, Bill Hileman and Chuck Spaulding. Rock Springs’ 1940 team, as well, has three representatives, with Francis Connor, John Dasovich and Tony Katana. The Tigers shared the title in 1940 with Sheridan. …
The 1940 season’s 11 players is the most of any year on any team. …
Some day, I’ll get around to telling the story of Evanston’s Stevens brothers, represented here by Floyd “Tally” Stevens, future head coach at BYU. Four of the Stevenses were all on the roster at Utah in the SAME season. That’s bananas. …
Two of the ends on this team, John Pilch (Thermopolis) and Vern Gardner (Star Valley), ended up playing in the NBA. …
Natrona’s Dick Bowman has an interesting, and all-too-short, story. After graduating from NCHS, he made the move to Missoula to attend Montana. He was Montana’s starting quarterback for two years and also played basketball for the Grizzlies before he joined the U.S. Marines to fight in World War II. After the war, he was ready to resume his college football career. However, while on active duty in Hawaii after the war in January 1946, he was diagnosed with leukemia; he died just six weeks later, at age 23. …
Many players of the early 1940s had their collegiate playing careers interrupted by World War II. In fact, there is a strong case to be made that some of the best college football teams ever organized came immediately after the war, in the years 1946-49-ish, with many veterans returning after serving with several years of eligibility remaining, as well as the toughness that they earned in that delay. …
The record for fastest military enlistment probably goes to Newcastle’s Vinton Farley. The Dogies’ back signed up for military service the same week of Pearl Harbor, halfway through his senior year of high school. The attack was on Dec. 7; Farley left for service on Dec. 10.
Up next: The 1950s, Thursday.
–patrick