1951 Central Michigan Chippewas football team

1951 Central Michigan Chippewas football
ConferenceInterstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Record5–3 (4–2 IIAC)
Head coach
Home stadiumAlumni Field
1951 Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Northern Illinois State 6 0 0 9 0 0
Western Illinois 4 1 1 7 1 1
Central Michigan 4 2 0 5 3 0
Eastern Illinois 2 2 2 4 2 2
Michigan State Normal 2 4 0 4 5 0
Illinois State Normal 1 4 1 3 5 1
Southern Illinois 0 6 0 0 9 0
  • $ – Conference champion

The 1951 Central Michigan Chippewas football team represented Central Michigan College of Education, renamed Central Michigan University in 1959, in the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) during the 1951 college football season. In their first season under head coach Kenneth Kelly, the Chippewas compiled a 5–3 record (4–2 against IIAC opponents) and outscored all opponents by a total of 231 to 158.

Six Central Michigan players (quarterback Andy McDonald, halfback Dave Clark, guard Loren Dietrich, halfback Dick Flewelling, tackle Jim Schultz, and guard Tom Weede) received first-team honors on the All-IIAC team.

Coach Kelly was hired by Central Michigan in March 1951. A native of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, Kelly was a Central Michigan alumnus who had won a school record 13 varsity letters in football, basketball, tennis, and baseball. He had been the athletic director and head football and basketball coach at Saginaw Arthur Hill High School for nine years.