Villanova Univeristy Athletics

A three-year member of the varsity roster who was considered to be among the best backs to play for Villanova during his collegiate career, Andy Stopper was a two-sport standout in football and baseball while on campus. He played varsity football from 1935-37 and graduated in 1938 with a degree in Education. Stopper was inducted to the Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1980.
 
On the gridiron Stopper was both a back and a kicker for the Wildcats during a career which spanned the coaching tenures of Harry Stuhldreher and Hall of Famer Maurice “Clipper” Smith. His three varsity seasons were all good ones for Villanova, which won seven or more games in each of the 1935, 1936 and 1937 campaigns.
 
Stopper’s first year on the active roster in 1935 saw the Wildcats go 7-2 in the last of Stuhldreher’s 11 seasons as head coach. Villanova outscored the opposition by a dominant 199-67 margin on the year and the team posted shutout wins over Penn Military College, Ursinus, Western Maryland and Bucknell in its first four games.
 
As a junior in 1936, Stopper was part of the Wildcats 7-2-1 year in Smith’s first season as head coach. The season featured wins over Detroit, Penn State and South Carolina which helped Villanova be selected to play in the Bacardi Bowl. The Wildcats took on Auburn on New Year’s Day and played to a 7-7 tie on January 1, 1937. The game was the seventh in eight editions of the Bacardi Bowl and the only contest of the eight which featured two American teams playing each other as opposed to a U.S. college team playing against a Cuban team.
 
Villanova’s win over Manhattan on November 21, 1936 in the game before the Bacardi Bowl was the first contest in what grew to be a program record 22-game unbeaten streak (19-0-3) that lasted until early in the 1939 season. Stopper was a senior on the 1938 squad which went 8-0-1 and tallied wins over Detroit, Auburn and Temple. Villanova defeated Auburn at Shibe Park, 25-6, on November 5, 1938 after having tied the Tigers in both the Bacardi Bowl and in a 0-0 draw at Shibe Park on October 9, 1937.
 
In his first year at Villanova, Stopper was a member of the freshman football and baseball teams in addition to playing intramurals during the 1934-35 academic year. He played varsity baseball as a sophomore and was a three-year member of the Varsity Club. Stopper also was a four-year member of the Holy Name Society and a member of the Orientation Committee.