Jack Shanafelt
In an era when the Penn football program consistently took on national football powerhouses such as Notre Dame, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Georgia, Navy, Army and Penn State, Jack Shanafelt was a standout tackle for the Quakers. He played both sides of the ball -- one of the last ‘sixty-minute men’ -- and was the last Penn Football player to earn Division I first-team All-America honors. Shanafelt was a three-year letterwinner and started all three years of his varsity career for the Quakers (at the time, freshmen were not allowed to play varsity football). All the more impressive, he was an asset to the Red and Blue on both offense and defense. In his second season as a starter, Shanafelt began to garner national recognition. He had key fumble recoveries in a win at Columbia and a tie with Navy. In the 1952 season finale, he added 11 tackles in the Thanksgiving Day win over Cornell. Shanafelt finished the year with 51 tackles, which led all Penn linemen. The breakout season earned him All-East honors as a junior. He duplicated the accolade in his final season wearing the Red and Blue. In the final year of head coach George Munger’s Hall of Fame career, No. 72 was arguably the team’s most prominent player. Following his senior season, Shanafelt was selected first-team All-America by several publications including the Associated Press, Football Writers Association and Look Magazine -- premier honors in the 1950s, as at the time only 11 players in the entire country were picked. Shanafelt is known as Penn’s last Division I All-America selection, as he was the final Quaker player to receive the honor prior to the program’s move to the Football Championship Subdivision (Division I-AA) upon its creation in 1978. Following his collegiate career in the Red and Blue, Shanafelt was selected in the 1954 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. In addition, he was a member of the Army All-Star football team in Japan and later elected to the Ohio Sports Hall of Fame.
