A legend in the world of collegiate football, Adam Walsh brushed
aside professional and big-time college overtures to make his home
beneath the pines, leading Bowdoin into a "golden age" of gridiron
success.
Already well-known by the time he arrived in Brunswick, Walsh had
captained the celebrated 1924 Notre Dame Fighting Irish team that
featured the "Four Horsemen." A six-foot, 190-pound center, Walsh
was the core of the unbeaten squad that captured the National
Championship with a Rose Bowl victory over Stanford.
Despite playing under immortal coach Knute Rockne, Walsh had not
planned to enter the coaching profession, but found himself rubbing
elbows that spring on a football field in Santa Clara, California,
with Pop Warner of Stanford and Howard Jones of Southern
California. In 1929, he moved across the country to coach at Yale
and Harvard before signing on to coach football at Bowdoin in
1935.
Taking the helm of a squad that had posted an 0-6-1 mark in 1934,
Walsh led his very first Bowdoin team to a 5-1-1 record and the
school's first undisputed Maine State Championship in 26 years. His
1936 squad (5-2-0) included four Phi Beta Kappas en route to the
Maine title, and his 1937 charges (4-1-2) allowed just 27 points
and 24 first-downs on their way to the state crown. The 1938 team -
captained by Nels Corey - was perhaps his best, going 6-1-0, and
earned the distinction of New England Small- College champion.
In all, five of Walsh's first eight seasons saw the Polar Bears
earn the State crown, and his pre-war Bowdoin teams posted an
overall record of 34-16-6, a string of success that has not been
approached before or since.
When Bowdoin suspended the football program during World War II,
Walsh took a job at his alma mater for a pair of seasons and in
1945 was tapped as the head coach of the NFL's Cleveland Rams. He
enjoyed similar success in the pro ranks, including winning the NFL
Championship with a 13-2 record in 1945 and being named NFL Coach
of the Year. He then used a clause in his contract to be released
from the team after they moved to Los Angeles in 1946, and made
national news by returning to Brunswick to coach his Polar Bears in
1947. Walsh coached 12 more seasons at Bowdoin, winning two more
State Championships in 1949 and 1952 before retiring following the
1958 campaign. He closed the books with 63 career victories, the
most ever by a Bowdoin football coach.
Walsh moved on to a career in public service, where he became
involved in town and state politics, eventually being named U.S.
Marshal for Maine by President John F. Kennedy. In 1968 he received
college football's highest honor when he was inducted into the
College Football Hall of Fame. A native of Churchville, Iowa, Walsh
graduated from Hollywood High School in California. He was a 1924
graduate of Notre Dame and a 1984 honorary degree recipient at
Bowdoin. Walsh was married to Dorothy Fisher Walsh for over 40
years; the couple had three children and 11 grandchildren. Upon his
retirement, he returned to California and passed away in 1985 in
Westwood, at the age of 83.
