Army football All-American lineman named to Hall of Fame
Bob Novogratz was described by Hall of Fame coach Earl "Red" Blaik as the "sword and flame'' of the Army football defense during a famous team run at the close of the 1950s.
Over 65 years later, the 1959 West Point graduate will be inducted into the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame Class for 2026. He joins teammates Bob Anderson (who played the 1963 season with the New York Giants), Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins and "Lonely End'' Bill Carpenter as Hall of Famers from the 1958 Army team that went 8-0-1 and was ranked No. 3 in the nation. He will be the 28th player or coach from West Point to be inducted.
Bob Novogratz played lineman for Army football in the late 1950s. He is a 2026 College Hall of Fame inductee. NATIONAL FOOTBALL FOUNDATION
"I always feel when I am going anywhere, I'm representing a team, the '58 Army team,'' Novogratz said in a 2014 YouTube interview.
Novogratz, now 88, played at a time when athletes played on both offense and defense in college football. He was viewed as one of the most dominant linemen of his time, earning first team All-American honors at offensive guard in 1958 - he also won the Knute Rockne Lineman of the Year award from the Touchdown Club of Washington, D.C. and lineman of the year by the Los Angeles Times. On the other side, Army allowed just 5.4 points per game.
Novogratz was also a two-year letterwinner with the Army wrestling team, placing third at the 1959 Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association tournament.
"West Point had a great impact,'' he said during the 2014 interview. "All my life I've been affiliated with or associated with guys that we played together, we went to school together and we had great times together. We had great achievements as a group. ... These are some of the best friends I ever made.''
"West Point is very important to me. It's had a big effect on me, the way I live, the way I've conducted my life, the things that I've been able to do.''
Novogratz was a 2011 inductee to the Army Athletics Hall of Fame.
Novogratz served 28 years in the United States Army, with one tour of duty in Korea and two in Vietnam. Retiring with the rank of colonel, he received the Legion of Merit with three oak leaf clusters and the Vietnamese Honor Medal.
The 2026 hall of fame class will be inducted on Dec. 8 at the Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. There are 18 first-team All-Americans in the class and four standout coaches.
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(name, graduating year, status (year inducted)
Charles Daly 1905, played 1901-02 (1951)
Christian Cagle, played 1926-29 (1954)
Edgar Garbisch '25, played 1921-24 (1954)
Lawrence Jones 1917, coached 1926-29 (1954)
Elmer Oliphant 1918, played 1915-17 (1955)
Felix Blanchard '47, played 1944-46 (1959)
Glenn Davis '47, played 1943-46 (1961)
John McEwan '1917, played 1913-16 (1962)
Earl Blaik 1920, coached 1941-58 (1964)
Paul Bunker 1903, played 1899-1902 (1969)
Mortimer Sprague '29, played 1925-28 (1970)
Harry Wilson '28, played 1924-27 (1973)
Alexander Weyand 1916, played 1911-15 (1974)
George Poole, played 1944-46 (1974)
Pete Dawkins '59, played 1957-58 (1975)
Harvey Jablonsky '34, played 1931-33 (1978)
William Carpenter '60, played 1958-59 (1982)
Arnold Galiffa '50, played 1947-49 (1983)
Edgard Kenna '45, played 1942, 1944 (1984)
Robert Olds '43, played 1941-42 (1985)
Donald Holleder '56, played 1953-55 (1985)
Joseph Steffy '49, played 1945-47 (1987)
John Green '46, played 1943-45 (1987)
Francis Merritt '44, played 1942-43 (1996)
Jim Young, coached 1983-90 (1999)
Robert Anderson '60, played 1957-59 (2004)
Arnold Tucker '47, played 1945-46 (2008)
Sept. 27 - Beat No. 18 South Carolina 45-8
Oct. 4 - Beat Penn State 26-0
Oct. 11 - Won at No. 4 Notre Dame 14-2
Oct. 18 - Beat Virginia 35-6
Oct. 25 - Tied at Pittsburgh 14-14
Nov. 1 - Beat Colgate 68-6
No. 8 - Won at No. 13 Rice 14-7
Nov. 15 - Beat Villanova 26-0
Nov. 29 - Beat Navy 22-6
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Army football lineman Novogratz inducted to College Hall of Fame
