Gonzaga University Athletics

By the time he had completed three varsity football seasons for Gonzaga in 1933, Bob Bellinger was considered by many observers the best collegiate lineman in the West. Bellinger, who came to Gonzaga from Seattle, was team captain in his senior year and an inspirational leader, as a local sports report emphasized after the 1933 game with Idaho: “Time after time, the hard-charging Bulldog leader broke through… to smash backs down for five and six-yard losses. His offensive play opened great holes… and his courage and fight seemed to spread to all his teammates. Bellinger is a great ball player…” Bellinger was given honorable mention on the Associated Press All-America squad. A year later, he was starting for the New York Giants in the first of his two National Football League seasons. Playing with fellow Gonzaga alums Ray Flaherty and Max Krause, Bellinger helped the Giants to successive divisional championships and New York won the NFL championship of 1934, beating Chicago in the famed “sneaker game.”