The 1938 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1938. The nine selectors recognized by the NCAA as "official" for the 1938 season are (1) Collier's Weekly, as selected by Grantland Rice, (2) the Associated Press, (3) the United Press, (4) the All-America Board, (5) the International News Service (INS), (6) Liberty magazine, (7) the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), (8) Newsweek, and (9) the Sporting News.
Four players were unanimous All-Americans on all of the major All-American teams: TCU quarterback (and 1938 Heisman Trophy winner) Davey O'Brien, Pittsburgh fullback Marshall Goldberg, Michigan guard Ralph Heikkinen and Notre Dame tackle Ed Beinor.
For the year 1938, the NCAA recognizes nine published All-American teams as "official" designations for purposes of its consensus determinations. The following chart identifies the NCAA-recognized consensus All-Americans and displays which first-team designations they received.
Jerome H. Holland, Cornell (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP-1; NEA-2; NW; SN; ID-1)Bowden Wyatt, Tennessee (AAB; AP-2; CO-1; NEA-2; NYS-1)Waddy Young, Oklahoma (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP-1; CP-1; CO-1; NEA-1; NYS-1; WC-1; INS; LIB; NW; ID-1; DT; PW)Earl Brown, Notre Dame (AAB; AP-2; NEA-2; WC-1; LIB; ID-2; DT)Bill Daddio, Pittsburgh (UP-1; SN)John Wysocki, Villanova (UP-1; CP-1; NEA-1; ID-2; PW)Howard Weiss, Wisconsin (NEA-2 [fullback]; INS; ID-1 [halfback])John Shirk, Oklahoma (NEA-3)Ed Beinor, Notre Dame (AAB; AP-1; UP-1; CP-1; CO-1; NEA-1; NYS-1; WC-1; INS; LIB; NW; SN; ID-1; DT); PWAlvord Wolff, Santa Clara (AP-1; UP-1; NEA-1; INS; NW; SN; ID-2; PW)William McKeever, Cornell (CO-1; DT)A. Sidney Roth, Cornell (AP-2 [center]; CO-1, (NYS-1) [guard])I. B. Hale, TCU (AP-2; NEA-2; LIB; ID-1)Bo Russell, Auburn (AP-2)Bob Voigts, Northwestern (AAB; WC-1)Delaney, Holy Cross (NEA-3; NYS-1)Steve Maronic, North Carolina (NEA-2; CP-1)Eddie Gatto, LSU (ID-2)Joe Boyd, Texas A&M (NEA-3)Ralph Heikkinen, Michigan (AAB; AP-1; UP-1; CP-1; CO-1; NEA-1; NYS-1; WC-1; INS; LIB; NW; SN; ID-2; DT; PW)Ed Bock, Iowa State (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP-1; NEA-1; LIB; ID-2)Bob Suffridge, Tennessee (UP-1; NEA-2)Frank Twedell, Minnesota (AP-2; NEA-2; INS; SN; ID-1; PW)Harry Smith, USC (AAB; NEA-3; WC-1; NW; DT)Gus Zitrides, Dartmouth (CP-1; ID-1)Matt Landry, Rice (NEA-3)Ki Aldrich, TCU (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP-1; UP-1; CO-1; NEA-2; NYS-1; NW; SN; ID-2; DT)Dan Hill, Duke (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB; AP-2; CP-1; NEA-1; WC-1; INS; LIB; PW)John Ryland, UCLA (AP-3)Charles Brock, Nebraska (NEA-3; ID-1)Davey O'Brien, TCU (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB; AP-1; UP-1; CP-1; CO-1; NEA-1; NYS-1; WC-1; INS; LIB; NW; SN; ID-2; DT; PW)Sid Luckman, Columbia (AP-2; SN)George Cafego, Tennessee (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP-2; CP-1; NEA-1; LIB; ID-1; DT; PW)Grenny Lansdell, USC (NEA-2)Everett Kischer, Iowa State (NEA-3)Bob MacLeod, Dartmouth (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB; AP-3; CO-1; NEA-1; NYS-1; WC-1; INS; LIB; NW; ID-2; PW)Vic Bottari, California (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB; AP-2; CP-1; CO-1; NEA-2; WC-1; NW; SN; ID-1; DT)Parker Hall, Ole Miss (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP-1; UP-1; NYS-1)John Pingel, Michigan State (College Football Hall of Fame) (AP-1; NEA-2; INS; DT)Eric Tipton, Duke (UP-1)Billy Patterson, Baylor (AP-2)Merl Condit, Carnegie Tech (ID-2)Bill Osmanski, Holy Cross (ID-2)Hugh McCullough, Oklahoma (NEA-3)Paul Christman, Missouri (NEA-3)Marshall Goldberg, Pittsburgh (College Football Hall of Fame) (AAB; AP-1; UP-1; CP-1; CO-1; NEA-1; NYS-1; WC-1; INS; LIB; NW; SN; ID-1; PW)John McLaughry, Brown (NEA-3)Bold = Consensus All-American
-1 – First-team selection-2 – Second-team selection-3 – Third-team selectionAAB = All-America BoardAP = Associated PressCO = Collier's Weekly, selected by Grantland RiceINS = International News ServiceLIB = Liberty magazineNEA = NEA Sports SyndicateNW = NewsweekSN = Sporting NewsUP = United PressCP = Central Press Association, selected by the captains of more than 50 football teams across the countryDT = Detroit Times by J.R. GnauID = Irving DixNYS = New York SunWC = Walter Camp Football FoundationAR = Albert RichardPW = Paul Williamson