By Woodrow Carroll
Kenosha, Wis. has been in the news lately and not for the best of reasons. Civil unrest has pushed Wisconsin’s fourth largest city (2019 estimated population, 100,000), into the national spotlight.
Call it trivia if you like, but, here goes. What Kenosha product scored one of the most famous touchdowns in National Football League history? Time is up! Answer: Fullback Alan Ameche.
The setting for Ameche’s moment was the 1958 NFL championship game, nearly a decade prior to the Super Bowl, with the New York Giants as host to the Baltimore Colts.
The Colts and Giants played in the League’s first overtime game and tied at 17. Then, on a short run by Ameche, the Colts won, 23-17.
Ameche’s touchdown run to give the Colts the 1958 NFL championship is how he is best remembered. However, Ameche who passed away in 1988 at age 55 and was called “The Horse”, was a true football legend.
Ameche, in his senior college season was the 1954 Heisman Trophy winner while playing for the University of Wisconsin. As a sophomore at Wisconsin, Ameche guided the team to the 1953 Big Ten Conference championship and the Rose Bowl. Wisconsin lost, 7-0, to Southern California, the only time between 1947 and 1959 that the Big Ten representative fell to defeat in the Rose Bowl.
The son of Italian immigrants, Ameche who was born in Italy, grew up in Kenosha and, not surprisingly, was a football standout at Kenosha Bradford High School. In Ameche’s senior year at Bradford the team was undefeated. He scored more touchdowns than the opposition did points.
Given his athletic skills, Ameche starred in track during his high school days and was a gifted amateur boxer.
Fittingly, the football field at Bradford is named in Ameche’s honor.
Kenosha Bradford was named after Mary D. Bradford who was superintendent of Kenosha Schools in 1900. Bradford was the first woman to lead a major school system in Wisconsin. The school, the Red Devils, produced noted actors Al Molinaro ( Happy Days) and Daniel Travanti (Hill Street Blues).
Ameche was a first-round pick of the Colts, No. 3 overall, in the 1955 NFL draft. He played six seasons, all with Baltimore. The season following Ameche’s celebrated overtime touchdown, the Colts repeated as NFL champions. The Colts and Giants played in the championship with Baltimore victorious, 31-16.
Plagued by ankle injuries, Ameche called it quits after the 1960 season.
Ameche’s widow, Yvonne, achieved a notable distinction of her own. Yvonne Ameche was Alan’s high school sweetheart. After graduating from high school, both went to the University of Wisconsin. Following her husband’s untimely death in 1988, Yvonne Ameche continued to attend the Heisman Trophy Award ceremonies. It was there that Yvonne met Glenn Davis, Army’s 1946 Heisman Trophy winner. A romance soon developed. The couple was married in 1996 to give Yvonne the distinction of having been married to two Heisman Trophy recipients. Sadly, in 2005, Glenn Davis died.
Alan Ameche was a cousin to noted actor Don Ameche. Just like his cousin, Don Ameche was from Kenosha where he was born.
Don Ameche joined forces with notables Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, among others after World War II, as owners of the Los Angeles Dons (fitting name) of the All-American Football League. The Dons, however, didn’t survive the merger with NFL teams in 1950 and went into the history book.
Kenosha, on Lake Michigan halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee, looks for a return to more settled times.