| 1955 Philadelphia Eagles season | |
|---|---|
| Owner | Happy Hundred |
| Head coach | Jim Trimble |
| Home field | Connie Mack Stadium |
| Results | |
| Record | 4–7–1 |
| Division place | 4th (tied) NFL Eastern |
| Playoff finish | Did not qualify |
The 1955 Philadelphia Eagles season was their 23rd in the league. They failed to improve on their previous output of 7–4–1, winning only four games.[1] The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season. 1955 marked the end of an era, as the last remaining Phil-Pitt Steagle, longtime player Bucko Kilroy, retired after 13 seasons in the NFL, all of them with the Eagles, going back to when they were known as the Steagles.
Off Season
NFL Draft
The 1955 NFL Draft was held on January 27–28, 1955. The draft lasted for 30 rounds, with 12 teams selecting 360 players. Because of a 7–4–1 record in the 1954 season, the Eagles picked 8th in the odd rounds and 9th in the even rounds, alternating with the San Francisco 49ers. The Eagles made a pick in every round.
The Eagles used their 1st round pick, 9th overall, to select Dick Bielski, a fullback from Maryland.
Player selections
The table shows the Eagles selections and what picks they had that were traded away and the team that ended up with that pick. It is possible the Eagles' pick ended up with this team via another team that the Eagles made a trade with. Not shown are acquired picks that the Eagles traded away.
| = Pro Bowler [2] | = Hall of Famer |
| Rd | Pick | Player | Position | School | Rd | Pick | Player | Position | School | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | Dick Bielski | Fullback | Maryland | 2 | 22 | Alex "Buck" Lansford | Tackle | Texas | |
| 3 | 33 | Frank Eidom | Back | Southern Methodist | 4 | 46 | Dean Dugger | End | Ohio State | |
| 5 | 57 | Gene Lamone | Guard | West Virginia | 6 | 70 | Billy Quinn | Back | Texas | |
| 7 | 81 | Bill McKenna | End | Brandeis | 8 | 94 | Herman Watson | Tackle | Vanderbilt | |
| 9 | 105 | Von Morgan | End | Abilene Christian | 10 | 118 | Talmadge "Duke" Washington | Back | Washington State | |
| 11 | 129 | Bob Hardy | Back | Kentucky | 12 | 142 | Andy Nacrelli | End | Fordham | |
| 13 | 153 | Jerry Krisher | Center | Ohio State | 14 | 166 | Tommy Bell | Back | Army | |
| 15 | 177 | Don Brougher | Center | Maryland | 16 | 190 | Clyde White | Guard | Clemson | |
| 17 | 18 | |||||||||
| 19 | 225 | Terry Fails | End | Vanderbilt | 20 | |||||
| 21 | 22 | |||||||||
| 23 | 24 | 286 | Vic "Hootie" Postula | Back | Michigan State | |||||
| 25 | 26 | 310 | George Palachunik | Guard | Maryland | |||||
| 27 | 28 | |||||||||
| 29 | 345 | Ron Lloyd | Tackle | Bucknell | 30 | 357 | Dave Finney | Back | Texas Christian |
Schedule
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance | Recap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 24 | New York Giants | W 27–17 | 1–0 | Connie Mack Stadium | 29,597 | Recap |
| 2 | October 1 | Washington Redskins | L 30–31 | 1–1 | Connie Mack Stadium | 31,891 | Recap |
| 3 | October 9 | at Cleveland Browns | L 17–21 | 1–2 | Cleveland Municipal Stadium | 43,974 | Recap |
| 4 | October 15 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | L 7–13 | 1–3 | Forbes Field | 33,413 | Recap |
| 5 | October 23 | Chicago Cardinals | T 24–24 | 1–3–1 | Connie Mack Stadium | 24,620 | Recap |
| 6 | October 30 | Pittsburgh Steelers | W 24–0 | 2–3–1 | Connie Mack Stadium | 31,164 | Recap |
| 7 | November 6 | at Washington Redskins | L 21–34 | 2–4–1 | Griffith Stadium | 25,741 | Recap |
| 8 | November 13 | Cleveland Browns | W 33–17 | 3–4–1 | Connie Mack Stadium | 39,303 | Recap |
| 9 | November 20 | at New York Giants | L 7–31 | 3–5–1 | Polo Grounds | 22,075 | Recap |
| 10 | November 27 | Los Angeles Rams | L 21–23 | 3–6–1 | Connie Mack Stadium | 21,668 | Recap |
| 11 | December 4 | Chicago Cardinals | W 27–3 | 4–6–1 | Connie Mack Stadium | 19,478 | Recap |
| 12 | December 11 | at Chicago Bears | L 10–17 | 4–7–1 | Wrigley Field | 34,783 | Recap |
| Note: Intra-conference opponents are in bold text. | |||||||
Standings
| NFL Eastern Conference | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | CONF | PF | PA | STK | ||
| Cleveland Browns | 9 | 2 | 1 | .818 | 7–2–1 | 349 | 218 | W2 | |
| Washington Redskins | 8 | 4 | 0 | .667 | 6–4 | 246 | 222 | W1 | |
| New York Giants | 6 | 5 | 1 | .545 | 4–5–1 | 267 | 223 | W2 | |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 4 | 7 | 1 | .364 | 4–5–1 | 248 | 231 | L1 | |
| Chicago Cardinals | 4 | 7 | 1 | .364 | 3–6–1 | 224 | 252 | L2 | |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 4 | 8 | 0 | .333 | 4–6 | 195 | 285 | L7 | |
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
Roster
(All time List of Philadelphia Eagles players in franchise history)
| = 1955 Pro Bowl[3] | = Hall of Famer |
- + = Was a Starter in the Pro-Bowl
| NO. | Player | AGE | POS | GP | GS | WT | HT | YRS | College |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Trimble | 35 | COACH | 1945 record 4–7–1 | NFL-Eagles Lifetime 25–20–3 | 4th | Indiana University | |||
| 33 | Roy Barni | 28 | DB | 4 | 0 | 185 | 5–11 | 3 | San Francisco |
| 20 | Bibbles Bawel | 25 | DB | 12 | 0 | 185 | 6–1 | 3 | Evansville |
| 60 | Chuck Bednarik | 29 | LB-C | 12 | 0 | 233 | 6–3 | 5 | Pennsylvania |
| 81 | Eddie Bell | 24 | DB-LB | 12 | 0 | 212 | 6–1 | Rookie | Pennsylvania |
| 36 | Dick Bielski | 23 | E-FB | 12 | 0 | 224 | 6–1 | Rookie | Maryland |
| 10 | Adrian Burk | 27 | QB | 12 | 8 | 190 | 6–2 | 4 | Baylor |
| 64 | Russ Carroccio | 24 | G-T-DT-DG | 7 | 0 | 235 | 6–1 | 1 | Virginia |
| 44 | Harry Dowda | 33 | DB-HB | 12 | 0 | 195 | 6–2 | 6 | Wake Forest |
| 27 | Hal Giancanelli | 26 | HB | 12 | 0 | 182 | 5–10 | 2 | Loyola Marymount |
| 22 | Ralph Goldston | 26 | HB-DB | 10 | 0 | 195 | 5–11 | 3 | Youngstown State |
| 71 | Tom Higgins | 25 | T-G-DT | 12 | 0 | 230 | 6–2 | 2 | North Carolina |
| 42 | Bob Hudson | 25 | DB-LB-E | 12 | 0 | 225 | 6–4 | 4 | Clemson |
| 63 | Ken Huxhold | 26 | G | 12 | 0 | 226 | 6–1 | 1 | Wisconsin |
| 78 | Mike Jarmoluk | 33 | DT-T-MG | 12 | 0 | 232 | 6–5 | 9 | Temple |
| 40 | [[Don Johnson (halfback)}]] | 24 | HB | 2 | 0 | 187 | 6–0 | 2 | California |
| 50 | Bob Kelley | 25 | C | 12 | 0 | 232 | 6–2 | Rookie | West Texas A&M |
| 76 | Bucko Kilroy | 34 | G-MG-T-DT | 1 | 0 | 243 | 6–2 | 12 | Temple |
| 79 | Buck Lansford | 22 | G-T | 12 | 12 | 232 | 6–2 | Rookie | Texas |
| 25 | Toy Ledbetter | 28 | HB | 8 | 0 | 198 | 5–10 | 5 | Oklahoma State |
| 67 | John Magee | 32 | G | 7 | 0 | 220 | 5–10 | 7 | La-Lafayette, and Rice |
| 41 | Jerry Norton | 24 | DB-HB | 12 | 0 | 195 | 5–11 | 1 | SMU |
| 43 | Jim Parmer | 29 | FB-HB | 12 | 0 | 193 | 6–0 | 7 | Oklahoma State |
| 35 | Pete Pihos + | 32 | E-DE | 12 | 0 | 210 | 6–1 | 8 | Indiana |
| 71 | Jim Ricca | 28 | MG-T-G-DT | 6 | 0 | 270 | 6–4 | 4 | Georgetown (DC) |
| 72 | Jess Richardson | 25 | DT | 12 | 0 | 261 | 6–2 | 2 | Alabama |
| 52 | Wayne Robinson | 25 | LB-C | 12 | 0 | 225 | 6–2 | 3 | Minnesota |
| 82 | Tom Scott | 25 | DE-LB | 12 | 0 | 218 | 6–2 | 2 | Virginia |
| 66 | Ed Sharkey | 28 | LB-G-T-DG | 7 | 0 | 229 | 6–3 | 8 | Duke, and Nevada-Reno |
| 73 | Lum Snyder | 25 | T | 12 | 0 | 228 | 6–5 | 3 | Georgia Tech |
| 80 | Bill Stribling | 28 | E | 12 | 0 | 206 | 6–1 | 4 | Mississippi |
| 24 | George Taliaferro | 28 | HB-TB-QB-DB | 3 | 0 | 196 | 5–11 | 6 | Indiana |
| 11 | Bobby Thomason | 27 | QB | 10 | 3 | 196 | 6–1 | 6 | VMI |
| 83 | Bobby Walston | 27 | E-HB-K | 12 | 0 | 190 | 6–0 | 4 | Georgia ... Uga's page |
| 77 | Jim Weatherall | 26 | DT-T | 12 | 0 | 245 | 6–4 | Rookie | Oklahoma |
| 46 | Ted Wegert | 23 | HB | 7 | 0 | 202 | 5–11 | Rookie | none |
| 86 | Norm Willey + | 27 | DE-G-E | 12 | 0 | 224 | 6–2 | 4 | Marshall |
| 75 | Frank Wydo | 31 | T-DT | 12 | 0 | 225 | 6–4 | 8 | Cornell |
| 37 Players Team Average | 27.1 | 12 | 215.7 | 6–1.4 | 3.9 |
References
- ↑ 1955 Philadelphia Eagles
- ↑ Players are identified as a Pro Bowler if they were selected for the Pro-Bowl at any time in their career.
- ↑ Players are identified as a 1955 All-Star.