31 Facts About Bob Westfall

Robert Barton "Bullet Bob" Westfall was an American football fullback who played for the University of Michigan and the Detroit Lions.

Bob Westfall was a consensus first-team All-American in 1941 and a first-team All-Pro player in 1945.

In 1987, Westfall was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Bob Westfall's father abandoned the family when Westfall was two years old which necessitated he and his older sister living in foster homes until his mother was able to move them to Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1924.

At age 10 Bob Westfall started as a caddy and worked other jobs while his sister sewed as they struggled to survive during the Great Depression.

Bob Westfall was diagnosed by doctors at the University of Michigan Hospital as having one of the worst cases of asthma that they had ever encountered.

Bob Westfall had to crawl home on his hands and knees that night, but he played the next day.

Bob Westfall rushed for 1,864 yards on 428 carries in 24 games.

Bob Westfall was a stocky runner, listed in the Michigan program at five-feet, eight-inches tall and weighing 180 pounds.

Tom Harmon netted 852 yards, slightly better than Bob Westfall who netted 808 rushing yards.

Bob Westfall scored two touchdowns and, with three minutes to play, made "the defensive gem" of the game by tackling Red Hahnenstein a yard short of a first down on the Michigan seven-yard line.

Captain Bob Westfall is pudgy and built close to the ground.

Bob Westfall rushed for 162 yards in the game, nearly as much as the entire Ohio State backfield combined.

Bob Westfall averaged more than four yards per whack against the hardest kind of opposition.

Bob Westfall fumbled only once in three years and then, in the Minnesota game this year, when he was bumped by a young wingback coming too shallow on a reverse.

Bob Westfall was selected to play in both major post-season all-star games.

Bob Westfall was captain of the Eastern All-Stars in the New Year's Day East-West Shrine Game in New Orleans.

In July 1942, Bob Westfall was voted as the starting fullback on the College All-American team in an annual game against the NFL championship team.

Bob Westfall was unanimously selected by the coaches of the Big Ten Conference.

In November 1941, the Associated Press ran a story about Bob Westfall being rated as class 4-F and therefore ineligible for the draft.

Bob Westfall told reporters that a perforated eardrum and a tendency to asthma resulted in the 4-F classification.

In February 1942, Bob Westfall married his college sweetheart, Ruthmary Smith of Wayne, Michigan.

Bob Westfall was initially assigned to play for the Eastern All-Army football team, but he broke his left elbow after falling from a horse in August 1942.

In December 1943, Bob Westfall received a medical discharge from the Army Air Corps while still stationed at Scott Field.

Bob Westfall was reported to have been discharged as a result of bronchitis and asthma.

Bob Westfall returned to the University of Michigan in 1944 to complete his degree and he worked at the B-24 bomber plant in Willow Run, Michigan.

In one of his early games in the NFL, Bob Westfall ran for two touchdowns against the defending NFL champions, the Chicago Bears, in a game played at Wrigley Field.

Bob Westfall had his best season as a pro in 1945 when he was picked as a first-team All-Pro by the Associated Press.

In 1979 Bob Westfall was selected by U of M officials as one of the 25 All-Time Great University of Michigan football players, which was announced on the TV program "Blue Magic", hosted by Tom Harmon.

In 1982 Bob Westfall was posthumously inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor.

Bob Westfall was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987.