Chal Daniel


Chal Newton Daniel, Jr. was an All-American football player who was drafted by the Cardinals in the 6th Round of the 1942 NFL Draft, but he went to serve in World War II instead and died in a training flight.
Daniel was born in El Paso, Texas, in 1921. He moved with his family to Longview, Texas, in 1932. He was a member of Longview High School's championship football team in 1937.

College Career

He played college football for the Texas Longhorns football team from 1939 to 1941. In 1940, he made the All-Southwest Conference 2nd team.
The next year, he was one of the so-called "Immortal 13" who upset Texas A&M 7-0. That team went 8-1-1, spent two weeks ranked #1 and finished 4th in the AP, the first Longhorn team to finish ranked. Several computer ranking systems later declared the team "National Champions" but Texas has never claimed that title. In November the team, including Daniel, was on the cover of Life Magazine. That year he made the All-Southwest Conference 1st team and he was selected by the International News Service, the Sporting News, and the Central Press Association as a first-team guard on the [1941 College Football All-America Team|1941 All-America football team]. He was the first ever, 1st team All-American from the University of Texas.
After his senior year, he played in the 1942 East–West Shrine Bowl for college all-stars.
In 1970, he was inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Honor.

Military

Daniel was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals in the 6th round of the 1942 NFL draft but instead enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps in February 1942 during World War II. He went to flight school at Randolph Field; Basic Flight School in Pine Bluff, Arkansas; and advanced flight training at Kelly Field in San Antonio. He was awarded his pilot's wing and commissioned as a Lieutenant.
On February 13, 1943, he piloted a Vultee BT-13 Valiant trainer aircraft out of Greenville, Texas and along with his co-pilot disappeared. After a 5-day search the aircraft, and his remains, were found 10 miles north of New Braunfels, Texas.
A road at Camp Fannin outside of Tyler was renamed in his honor a few months later, but the road and name did not remain after the camp was closed.