re: Best white RB from your team?

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Never saw Wadiak play, so for me it's Ryan Brewer. He was a little ball of awesome for us.

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Never saw him play either ... but I used to know a lot of people who had and they said he was the greatest of the day, in the entire country.

He was a WWII Navy vet from Chicago. I used to drive by the spot where the car crash occurred all the time.

Newspaper Clipping of the crash.

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WADIAK THE CADILLAC

By John Daye

On the night of March 9, 1952 (almost four months after the South Carolina-Clemson game of
1951) Steve Wadiak of the University of South Carolina died tragically in an automobile accident
near Aiken, South Carolina, thus ending the career of one of college football’s greatest unknown
running backs.

“Wadiak The Cadillac,” as he was known by the South Carolina fans and foes
alike, had just capped a brilliant four-year gridiron career with 2, 878 rushing yards; a mark that
still ranks fourth all-time at South Carolina. He had been selected in the third round of the 1952
NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers shortly
before his fatal accident.


“The Cadillac,” a U.S. Navy veteran of World
War II, was born and reared in Chicago prior to
being recruited to South Carolina by Rex
Enright, the former Rockne fullback at Notre
Dame and then head coach at South Carolina.
The only other school to actively recruit
Wadiak was Purdue, but an ex-South Carolina
and then Chicago Bear player named Bill Milner
convinced Enright to take the unknown Wadiak,
and the rest is deeply embedded in Gamecock
football history.


Beginning with his freshman year in 1948, “The
Cadillac” carved his niche football-wise by
rushing for 420 yards on 51 carries, including a
rather inauspicious start in the annual “Big
Thursday” game against Clemson. On his first
carry ever against Clemson, Wadiak ran for 43
yards, but late in the game he lost a fumble
deep in his own territory. Although the
Gamecocks stopped Clemson after that fumble,
Wadiak vowed never to lose to the hated Tigers
again after that 13-7 loss in his first season.


During his sophomore season in 1949, Wadiak
upped his rushing total to 775 yards on 152
carries, although the Gamecocks suffered
through another losing season with an overall
record of 46-0. The shining moment of that season was the 27-13 victory over Clemson in which
“The Cadillac” scored one touchdown and set up another with a 59-yard kickoff return.


Prior to the 1950 season, Wadiak was beginning to gain both regional and national acclaim as a
running back He set a Southern Conference record with 998 rushing yards in 1950, breaking the
old mark set by the legendary Charlie “Choo-Choo” Justice of North Carolina. Again Wadiak had
an outstanding performance on “Big Thursday”’ carrying the ball 19 times for 256 yards (13.5
yards per carry) while scoring both South Carolina touchdowns in a 14-14 tie game with Clemson.
He also chipped in a 95-yard touchdown run in the Gamecocks’ 34-20 win over George
Washington in a night game played at the nation’s capital.

Following the season he was named
Player of the Year in the Southern Conference as well as captain of the All-South team and wasAmerican on both the Williamson and Helms Foundation teams for 1950. As a result of that great
season in 1950, Wadiak was depicted on a 1951 Topps Magic trading card that featured great
college stars of that era.


Even though his rushing yardage was down during his senior season of 1951, Wadiak and the
Gamecocks finished with a winning record of 5-4-0 and a convincing 20-0 victory over arch-rival
Clemson. “The Cadillac” finished the year with 685 rushing yards after playing the first four
games with a broken rib suffered during a pre-season scrimmage.

Although his senior season was not up to his previous years statistically speaking, Wadiak still
received some post-season honors. He was named to the Collier’s magazine All-South team by
their All-American Board of Coaches. Some of the other players named were Marion Campbell
of Georgia, Bob Ward of Maryland, Ray Beck of Georgia Tech, Vito Parilli of Kentucky, Hank
Lauricella of Tennessee, and Ed “Big Mo” Modszelewski of Maryland The Associated Press also
selected Wadiak for their prestigious All-Southern offensive team for 1951 that included such
other stars as Ward, Modszelewski, Bill George of Wake Forest, and Billy Hair of Clemson.


After his senior season, “The Cadillac” represented South Carolina in the annual Blue-Gray allstar
game, followed by the Senior Bowl game in Mobile, Alabama. Wadiak scored the lone
touchdown for the South at the Senior Bowl in an impressive performance in his final football
game ever.

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