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'Who wore it best' at Michigan State: No. 41

Cody Tucker
Lansing State Journal
MSU's Glenn Winston picks up 15 yards and a first down on an end-around play in the fourth quarter against Montana State Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009.

Ever see a number on a Michigan State football jersey and think of all the great players to wear it? Me, too. In this 99-part daily series, I’ll give you my take on which Spartan football player was the best ever to wear each number. The criteria are simple: How did he perform at MSU? And what kind of impact did he have on the program? 

No. 41 – Thomas Yewcic

Quarterback/ halfback, 1950-1953, Conemaugh, Pennsylvania.

Résumé

1951: 3-7 passing, 42.9 completion percentage, 50 yards, touchdown, interception          

1952: 41-95 passing, 43.2 completion percentage, 941 yards, 10 touchdowns, 5 interceptions; 30 rushes, 133 yards, touchdown

1953: 34-80 passing, 42.5 completion percentage, 489 yards, 7 touchdowns, 8 interceptions; 18 rushes, 46 yards

Total: 78-182 passing, 42.8 completion percentage, 1,480 yards, 18 touchdowns, 14 interceptions; 49 rushes, 179 yards, touchdown

Tom Yewcic was a quarterback at Michigan State for 1950-53, winning a pair of national titles in 1952 and 53.

Why Yewcic?

Thomas Yewcic is one of the most decorated Michigan State athletes you've probably never heard of.

His stats aren’t all that impressive. His impact, undeniably incredible.

And it all started with a trick play — The “Transcontinental Pass” — at Ohio State in 1951.

Trailing the seventh-ranked Buckeyes 20-17 with three minutes remaining and facing a fourth-and-9 from their own 28, MSU quarterback Al Dorow lateralled to Yewcic, who faked a run around the edge before planting his feet and firing a strike back to Dorow. The QB snagged the ball at the OSU 15, avoided a pair of tackles and made his way into the end zone to give the No. 1 Spartans the 24-20 victory, stunning more than 82,000 inside Ohio Stadium.

It was Yewcic’s first collegiate pass. It was also his first offensive play.

Undefeated, MSU went on to claim its first national championship that season. They would do it again in 1952. This time with Yewcic under center.

His first career start came at Michigan Stadium that season, where Yewcic led MSU to a 27-13 come-from-behind win over the rival Wolverines. He completed 7 of 14 passes for 171 yards for Biggie Munn’s squad. Yewcic tossed a then-school record 941 yards and 10 touchdowns en route to first-team All-American honors. In 1953, he once again carried the Spartans to new heights, leading MSU to a 28-20 win over UCLA in the program’s first-ever trip to the Rose Bowl.

Tom Yewcic wasn't only a national champion quarterback for the Spartans, he also helped lead Michigan State to its first-ever trip to the College World Series as a member of the Spartans baseball team.

On the gridiron, Yewcic finished with a 27-1 career record. But he wasn’t done yet. He was also a member of the Spartans’ baseball team and helped lead MSU to its first-ever trip to the College World Series.

"It's really remarkable in the years that I was there that it all came together,” Yewcic told MSUSpartans.com in 2003. “We won the national championship in football, we won the Rose Bowl, and then we go to the College World Series. It was exciting. I was very pleased with how everything went."

MORE: Michigan State football: Who Wore It Best?

Yewcic went on to play baseball in the Detroit Tigers’ organization after graduation, recording a major league at-bat in 1957. In 1961, he made the move back to football where he was a quarterback and punter for the Boston Patriots.

Yewcic, who is in the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame, went on to coach and scout for the Patriots for two decades.

Charles "Mad Dog" Thornhill, a national champion linebacker at MSU, also deserves a nod at 41. 

MORE ON THOMAS YEWCIC:
Tom Yewcic: 2013 Michigan State baseball distinguished alumnus of the year
Catching Up with Tom Yewcic
Yewcic to be inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame
 

Shane Bullough, a Michigan State linebacker from 1983-86, was also one of the best to ever wear the No. 41 jersey in East Lansing.

Who else wore No. 41?

Kenith Alderson (FB/LB, 1970-72), Charles Bullough (LB, 1988-91), Shane Bullough (LB, 1983-86), Matt Dawes (LB, 2000-01), Kyler Elsworth (LB, 2010-13), David Herron (LB, 2003-06), Stephen Holman (TB, 1992-93), Richard Kieppe (HB, 1940-42), Robert Ludwig (HB, 1945), Darrin McClelland (FB, 1979-82), James Ninowski (QB, 1955-57), Gerald Owens (DT, 2016-17), Edward Pearce (HB, 1937-39), John Polonchek (HB, 1947-49), John Powers (P, 1975-76), Travis Reece (FB/LB, 1994-97), Steve Sebo (HB, 1934-36), Kermit Smith (FB, 1967-69), Charles Thornhill (G/LB, 1964-66), Edgar Wilson (SE, 1977), Glenn Winston (RB, 2008-09)

Contact Cody Tucker at (517) 377-1070 or cjtucker@lsj.com and follow him on Twitter @CodyTucker_LSJ.