The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Longhorns' first All-American and former All-Pro end Mal Kutner dies
02.04.2005 | Football
TYLER, Texas -- Malcolm Kutner, a star in the D.X. Bible era of UT football and an All-American on the 1941 team, generally regarded as the best of its era and one of the best teams in school history, passed away Thursday after an extended illness. The 1941 squad finished 8-1-1 and ranked No. 4 nationally. Kutner was a three-sport star at Texas, earning a total of seven letters in football, basketball and track & field.
Kutner became the first Longhorns football player to make first-team All-American when he was named to both The Associated Press and the Grantland Rice teams following the 1941 season. A 6-2, 190-pound end, he was also one of the Longhorns pictured on the cover of Life Magazine that season, and was the first UT player chosen to play with the collegiate team in the Chicago All-Star Game against the NFL champions. He also was a member of two SWC Champion relay teams on the track.
Following his senior season, he served as an aviator in the U.S. Navy, where he continued his football as a member of the Armed Forces team during World War II. Following his service career, he played five years with the Chicago Cardinals of the NFL during the 1946-50 seasons. He was NFL Rookie of the Year in 1946, made the All-Pro team in both 1947 and '48 and earned NFL Most Valuable Player honors in 1948.
Kutner retired from the NFL follwoing the 1950 season and entered the oil business in Texas. He was elected to the Longhorn Hall of Honor in 1965 and the National Football Foundation's College Hall of Fame in 1974.
Kutner is the third Longhorn in the NFF Hall of Fame to pass away recently. Hub Bechtol, an end from the mid-1940s era, and Harrison Stafford, a bruising two-way player from the early 1930s, both succumbed last year.
Services were pending.
