By Al Costello
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, Dec. 14, 1942; Page 11

One word, and one word only — pandemonium — can describe the Redskins' dressing room along about 4:18 p.m. yesterday as the newly crowned "football world champions" stormed their way to safety, away from the onrush of all-out, football-drunk admirers, who threatened more damage in their body-whacking congratulations than the Bears were able to dle out on hard turf that is Griffith Stadium.

The 'Skins came in yelling. They came in singing. They threw away their helmets with utter disregard as to where or at whom they flew. They sang. They danced. They pounded each other. And they told each other they knew they were going to win.

To put it briefly, they were happy.

"We beat their pants off. We beat their pants off," Ki Aldrich kept repeating and repeating like a broken record. And everybody who heard him grinned at his unnoticed skinned nose and yelled back, "Yea-a-a-ah!"

Everybody and most of their brothers were there. Moving picture cameramen were "set up" and ready, but even at that, they had a hard time rounding up the players, none of whom seemed to be able to stay put. But finally they did, and for the movie men they gathered around and watched Coach Ray Flaherty write "Redskins, 14; Bears, 6," on a miniature blackboard as the squad let off steam with a concerted cheer.

Ray allowed as how he was "proud of every one of you guys" and they roared at that.

Treat the Enemy Like the Bears
"Half of us are going into the service in a couple of weeks," Ray continued. "Hit the enemy just half as hard as you hit the Bears today. Dod that and this war won't take long to finish and we can get back here pretty quick."

And they let out another and louder roar at that.

Smebady asked Flaherty who played the best game. "Best game?" Ray asked almost indignantly, "Hell, every one of those guys played brilliant games. Nobody plated the best game except the Redskin team."

Eddie Justice came in carrying the ball and refused to part with it. He plans to have it autographed by the entire squad and will present it to Flaherty today at the "Victory Luncheon" at the Willard as a gift from the team.

Even the usually seldom speaking Sammy Baugh had his say. "Guess that kinda makes up for 'that thing' in 1940, don't it?" the "Slinger" half said and half asked.

Clyde (Bulldog) Turner, center, and George Musso, guard, of the Bears, came in and shook hands all around, just to show there were no hard feelings.

Steve Owen, coach of the Giants, praised the boys and announced he was glad to see the championship finally won by an Eastern team.

Jim Barber, Steve Andrako and Elmer Gantry, resplendent in their Naval uniforms, and Wayne Millner, assistant to Coach Frank Leahy at Notre Dame, all former Redskin stars, were on hand and were as happy as the players. Maybe happier, if anyone could be.

"Big Chief" Marshall came in late. He had to fight his way through the crush. He beamed like a child on Christmas morning. "They might have beat us 73-0, but we beat 'em twice out of three times when the chips were down," he gloated. He was happy, too. As was his right-hand man, J. Kingsbury Espey, his general manager.

Former Judge Edward Curran, now a United States attorney, came in. So did "Bucky" Haris, former manager of the Nats. Both claimed it was the greatest football game they had ever seen.

"We Willie" Wilkin was congratulated for keeping his captaincy record incatct. He has acted as captain 10 times and never lost a game. He was captain yesterday.

60-Minute Men
Baugh, Bob Masterson, Ki Aldrich and Ed Cifers were the 60-minute men and their backs, along with those of Bill Young, Clem Straika, Wilkin and Wilbur Moore's, were pounded blue.

Steve Slivinski, who was carried off the field, sported a mustache of adhesive tape with ah L-shaped cut lip that required stictches and was ordered to Emergency Hospital immediately. But he, too, was grinning.

Bob McChesney, as good a defensive end as there is in football, was a little perturbed about not getting in the game. But he took it good-naturedly when Flaherty consoled him with the explanation that Bob Masterson and Ed Cifers were playing the games of their lives and that it would have been risky to "fool around out there" when both were so hot. McChesney agreed.

Scribes Are Ribbed
All of the players good-naturedly jeered the sports writers who picked them to lose. They all wondered how the gamblers, who were giving anywhere from 15 to 22 points and laying as high as six and seven to one, felt at the result. "Turk" Edwards, line coach, and "Doc" Mauro, trainer, came in for congrats. Edwards' magnificent line, which he fashioned in one of the outstanding coaching jobs of the year, was generally credited for the victory. Even "Duchess", Edwards' boxer dog jumped and bounced for joy.

Charley Malone, who signed up this year in mid-season after a year of retirement, and who also did not get into the game, expressed himself this way:

"It's an honor to be even a bench warmer on this club. This is the greatest team of all time."

It seems as though the Redskins were a bit happy.