Sport: Navy’s Destroyer

Like most college football coaches, Navy’s Wayne Hardin is cautious with predictions and knows the head-swelling danger of singling out any one player for effusive praise. Coach Hardin breaks all the rules when he talks about a stubby halfback named Joe Bellino. “Joe is the best college football player I’ve ever seen,” says Hardin. “If he doesn’t make first-string All-America this year, the game isn’t on the level.”

Led by Bellino, Navy has turned into one of the surprise teams of the 1960 season. Last week Navy preserved its undefeated record and high national ranking by savaging the Air Force Academy, 35-3. Bellino was everywhere. On defense he broke up an Air Force attack with a timely pass interception. On offense he scored once on a pass, twice on explosive runs that left a slew of tacklers sprawled in his wake. His neat quick-kicking kept the Navy out of trouble.

What sets Bellino apart is his flair for broken-field running. Not only can Bellino whisk around end like any frail halfback, but he is built like a weight lifter—5 ft. 9 in., 181 Ibs.—with a pair of fullback’s legs that can slam him through a sliver of light in the line. Like a crab, he can scuttle equally fast in any direction. Says Coach Hardin: “In any one-for-one situation—a tackler against Joe—we feel sure that Joe is sure to win. He is a rarity—a fast man who can also dodge.”

Leave It to Joe. “The object of Navy’s offense,” admits Coach Hardin, “is simply to break Joe loose. We feel that if we give him the ball often enough—maybe 20 times in the 60 to 80 plays we get to run in a game—and if we give him a little blocking, he’ll go a long way.” Bellino can quick-kick over 50 yds., plays safety on defense. Says Hardin: “Joe can do anything you ask of him.”

A marked man, Bellino has been buffeted all season long like a destroyer in a typhoon. Packs of tacklers relieve their frustrations by racking him up whenever they can lay heavy hands on him. What is more, Bellino’s jet-quick starts often twist the heavy muscles of his legs into knots. After scoring Navy’s first touchdown in the 15-to-14 upset of the University of Washington this month. Bellino had to limp off the field three times to have a cramp kneaded out of his leg.

Cooled Heels. Navy’s prize package is one of four high school backfield stars-and the first to go to college—born to a Sicilian factory worker in Winchester, a suburb of Boston. Growing up in the “Plains,” the Italian section hard by the railroad tracks, Bellino developed into a pool shark and versatile high school athlete, who had his pick of 52 football scholarships. A group of Navy alumni, including Edward J. McCormack Jr., now Massachusetts’ attorney general, persuaded him to sign on at Annapolis.

At Annapolis, Bellino is a star catcher (batting average: .320), gets feelers from the major leagues. But football is his game. Against Army last year, when he scored three touchdowns and led his underdog team to a stunning 43-12 victory, Bellino became a Navy hero to rank with any of the past. After the game, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Arleigh (“31-Knot”) Burke cooled his heels in the locker room waiting to shake hands with Bellino. This year Bellino seems headed for even greater things. Said Washington Coach Jim Owens after Bellino had helped ruin his fine team’s chances for an undefeated season: “He made us look as though we hadn’t practiced tackling.”