Huskie Football: the First Century
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HuskieHuskie Football:Football: TheThe FirstFirst CenturyCentury Northern Illinois TE Bob Stark (83) makes catch in Huskie Stadium dedication game vs Illinois State (11-6-65) 115 HuskieHuskie Football:Football: TheThe FirstFirst CenturyCentury words. At least author Mark Twain, after as one of the players were they able to field a “...We feel safe in predicting that so long witnessing the Yale-Princeton game in 1900, team,” wrote Earl W. Hayter in his book, as foot-ball is conducted in the businesslike way said: “It beats croquet...” Education in Transition—The History of that it was during the first year of our school, it Little did coach Keith know what he Northern Illinois University. will continue to be the principal game of the started. In the 103 memory-filled seasons “The football season was half gone when Northern Illinois State Normal School.” since (except for 1917, 1918, and 1919 when the idea occurred to that ingenious man, Mr. The Norther yearbook (1900) Northern Illinois did not field a team due to Keith, that the NISNS might get up and World War I), the Cardinal and Black molded a support a team,” The Norther reported in the rich tradition in football. Sixty-three of those spring of 1900. With the 5-foot-9, 136-pound The 104th Season. The Northern Illinois Huskie campaigns wound up .500 or better. Keith at quarterback, Northern Illinois with a University Football Centennial. The First Since 1899, there have been 472 Northern roster of 14 “men and boys” (the vintage Century. The Way We Were. The New Illinois victories to celebrate, 423 defeats to team picture on this page only features 13 Millennium. The Second Century. agonize, and 51 ties to frustrate. players) defeated DeKalb High School, 16-0, Such an amazing juxtaposition—the There has been a National Championship in its gridiron debut on November 10, 1899. Huskie past and future. A linear timeline does (1963), seven bowl teams (1946, 1947, 1962, Victory No. 1. The first of many. not do justice to all the accomplishments, the 1963, 1965, 1983, and 2004), four unbeaten- Two years later, Keith’s fledging Huskies many team and individual milestones, or the untied seasons (1904, 1944, 1951, and 1963), recorded their first intercollegiate success. joy and despair connected with Northern eight conference championships (1938, 1944, On November 2, 1901, Northern Illinois Illinois football. Or the parallel development 1946, 1951, 1963, 1964, 1965, and 1983), and blanked North Central College of Naperville, of a major-college athletics program from three division titles (2001, 2002, and 2004). 10-0, in DeKalb. James I. Frederick—listed as such humble origins that mirrored the There have been Huskies in pro football since the starting left tackle—ran for a 75-yard phenomenal growth of a Normal School into the 1930s, All-Pro performers (six), Super touchdown vs. NCC. Halfback Sanford Givens a full-fledged state university. Bowl champions (one), Heisman Trophy vote- scored the other TD on a “smash through the Do you think pioneer Northern Illinois State getters (four), national individual statistical line.” In those days, TDs—when the point Normal School player-coach-team manager champions (16), All-America selections (76), after kick was missed—were worth only five John L. Keith or the Huskies’ first team and Academic All-America picks (12). Not points. Season-wise, Northern Illinois would captain Victor Kays could envision the bad as legacies go. finish 6-1 overall and outscore the opposi- Cardinal and Black’s current role as one of the Northern Illinois took its first football steps tion, 108-18. 119 National Collegiate Athletic Association in 1899. Keith, a professor of pedagogy By 1902, championship fever struck in Division 1-A gridiron programs? If trans- (teaching), was exposed to the game on the DeKalb. The Norther called it “...defending ported by a time machine from 1899 to 2005, East coast as a graduate student at Harvard The Castle”—in reference to the original how far would Kays’ jaw drop upon seeing and coached that sport and basketball at campus building, Altgeld Hall. Keith’s the modern 28,000-seat Huskie Stadium on Illinois State Normal School prior to his arrival Northern Illinois eleven produced a 5-1-1 West campus? Could Keith comprehend the in DeKalb. Since NISNS enrolled only 25 male record “...and Eastern (Illinois) Normal monumental leap in competition from the students “...football was the most difficult challenged his team for the championship,” early games against high schools, local town (sport to start)...and only with Professor Keith Hayter described. “With the largest crowd in teams, or nearby three seasons on hand, academies to the Big Northern defeated Ten, the Big 12, the Charleston (10-0 on Southeastern Confer- November 15) and ence, the Atlantic Coast declared itself the Conference, etc.? Could ‘champion Normal team anyone from those early of the State.’” days visualize NIU’s Circa 1903, another 37th season as a major- new chapter opened in college and games the Northern Illinois against such national football story. NISNS powers as Nebraska, moved to its new home Florida, Michigan, Iowa, for the next 60 football Miami (FL), and Ohio seasons—the rustic State? Or high profile 400-seat Glidden Field Huskie appearances on on East campus next to national television? the Kishwaukee River Football. Back then, where the Art and no one could spell the Music buildings are now new word. In the quote located. from The Norther Obviously, yearbook, it is hyphen- hundreds of student- ated. On the flier athletes and many reprinted on the coaches contributed to opposite page, it’s two The first Northern Illinois football team (1899) the Huskie success 116 HuskieHuskie Football:Football: TheThe FirstFirst CenturyCentury story. The fourth-winningest taskmaster in downer came when NIU’s governing body, only the third Division 1-A institution in the the Northern Illinois football legacy turned the State Teachers College Board, turned state and joined a (then) select group of 118 out to be the popular Willard W. Wirtz. Not down a bid to the Florida-based Tangerine nationwide. only did Wirtz produce a 33-17-9 won-lost- Bowl since it would extend the season seven In major-college year No. 4, Northern tied record during 1910-16, his son (also weeks. Illinois posted a 7-4-0 season with four Willard W.) would later succeed Arthur Another lineman—an All-Little 19 tackle triumphs in its final five games—including a Goldberg as the Secretary of Labor in the named Howard Fletcher—from Evans’ 1938 28-7 triumph over defending MAC champion John F. Kennedy administration in 1961. league champs followed in “Chick’s” foot- Kent State with superstar linebacker Jack In three seasons (1920-22), Lambert and a 30-7 road Paul Harrison coached victory at Toledo—for coach Northern Illinois to 3-5-0, 1900 Line-Up Jerry Ippoliti. 3-5-0, and 5-4-1 campaigns. While the highlight of His claim to Huskie fame? Northern Illinois State NIU’s first tenure in the According to The Norther, Normal School Mid-Am (1975-85) would be Harrison beat all the National Pos. Player (Hgt., Wgt.) The Championship Season in Football League teams LE Richard DeYoung (5-9, 138) 1983, one cannot ignore the currently training in Wiscon- LT David Madden (5-11, 165) individual brilliance of sin by several decades. In LG Lloyd Stetzler (5-6, 140) fullback Mark Kellar (NCAA 1922, he took the Cardinal CEugene Phillips (6-2, 170) 1-A rushing champ in 1973) and Black to Lake Geneva for RG Edward Malone (5-4, 158) and split end Dave Petzke a week of calisthenics, heavy RT Ray Mofet (6-1, 170) (NCAA 1-A receiving champ work, practice, chalk talks, RE Edgar Hipple (5-11, 168) in 1978), both future Huskie hikes, sunburn, swimming, QB John Keith (5-9, 136) Hall of Famers and All- FB Victor Kays (6-0, 140) letter writing, and newspaper LHB Sanford Givens (5-9, 155) Century Team selections. reading. RHB Henry Hausen (5-7, 170) Under head coach Bill Ever heard the advertising Mallory, Northern Illinois slogan for M&Ms? “Melts in cracked the Top 40 in 1983— your mouth, not in your hands.” Sound steps 18 seasons later as Huskie head coach. finishing No. 30 in the final AP poll, winning familiar? That Madison Avenue classic was From 1956 until 1968, “Fletch” produced a the MAC, and going 10-2-0—including a created by ex-Huskie football captain, NIU 74-48-1 record and became Northern Illinois’ season-opening 37-34 triumph at Kansas, the Athletics Hall of Famer, and All-Little 19 second winningest coach. Fletcher lived by school’s first success against the Big 12. Conference offensive guard John McNamara the pass and the Dutch Meyer Spread or Mallory’s Huskies topped Cal State-Fullerton, (1927-31). McNamara served as the president “Shotgun” formation, won three IIAC crowns 20-13, in California Bowl III, live on ESPN and of M&M Mars, Inc., invented M&M peanut (1963, 1964, and 1965), and captured the the Mizlou networks. This Hall of Fame team candies, and was also the chairman of the College Division National Championship would ultimately boast seven NFL draft board for Uncle Ben’s Rice. (1963). choices and 19 professional players. During During his upperclassman years, “Fletch’s” fabled Hall of Fame team finished the final 15 games of the Mallory regime, the McNamara’s coach was George “Chick” 10-0-0 behind the phenomenal passing of Huskies won 13 of them. Evans—probably the chief architect of Little All-America quarterback George Bork Later in the decade, Jerry Pettibone’s Northern Illinois football.