INTERCOLLEGIATE FOOTBALL RESEARCHERS ASSOCIATION ™ The College Football Historian ™ Expanding the knowledge and information on college football’s unique past—today! ISSN: 1526-233x May 8, 2010 Vol. 3 No. 4 circa: Jan. 2008 Tex Noel, Editor ([email protected]) http://www.secsportsfan.com/college-football-association.html [2009 Summer Issue of NCAA Champion, thrown into the game That rival used by permission of the author and IFRA hands may never touch; A rubber member, David Pickle] bounding, blasting soul Whose destination is the goal – Red Grange NUMBERS of Illinois!” THAT FORMED Even now, 85 years later, the LEGENDS College Football Hall of Fame biography for the Galloping Ghost By David Pickle says, “For the day, he carries the ball 21 times for 402 yards.” It was perhaps the most glorious day in college football history. On But it didn’t happen that way, at October 18, 1924, beneath a blue- least not exactly. gray sky in New York City’s Polo Grounds, Notre Dame defeated Grange did have a tremendous day, Army and propelled sportswriter and he did account for six Grantland Rice into immortality touchdowns and amass 402 yards, with his description of the Irish’s much of it in the first 12 minutes. “Four Horsemen” backfield. He did not, however, rush for 402 yards as many contemporary At the same moment, about 800 reports suggested. miles to the west, Illinois halfback Red Grange was building his own Instead, re-creations of the game legend. On that day, at the indicate that he ran for 212 yards, dedication of Memorial Stadium, he passed for 64 and added 126 more accounted for six touchdowns on kickoff returns. against Michigan and netted 402 yards, inspiring Rice to new For as long as football has existed, rhetorical heights: “A streak of fire, so have statistics. But in those early a breath of flame Eluding all who days, there was no agreement over reach and clutch; A gray ghost how numbers were to be compiled. The College Football Historian-2- statistics. Editors for The Associated Press and United Press regarded him almost reverently. The college game was established in He possessed an engaging 1869, but almost no reliable records personality, with one prominent precede 1937. anomaly. “He was eccentric in the sense that he would work nights,” That is the year when a slightly built said longtime associate Jack young man from Tennessee filled a Waters. “He would show up in the void and gave college sports a load day at about 11 or noon, and we’d of promotional rocket fuel. leave at 6 or whatever, and he’d just be getting started. Then you’d come Homer F. Cooke Jr. invented in the next morning, and he’d leave national college sports statistics. something on your desk to be typed, The most liberal description of and you could tell he was doing this Cooke’s height was 5-foot-6, and his at like 2 or 3 o’clock in the weight appeared to be around 120 morning.” pounds. Former NCAA statistician Steve Associates later recalled how he Boda recalls Cooke fondly but said wore custom-tailored suits and bore he was a “very difficult boss” who a striking resemblance to actor seldom missed an opportunity to Leslie Howard, best known as extract extra work from his minions. Ashley Wilkes in “Gone With the “One (October) night we were down Wind.” He always drove Cadillacs there about midnight or 1 o’clock and was a successful stock trader and he said, ‘It’s daylight saving who talked daily with his broker. time,’ and he got another hour out of us.” He smoked menthol cigarettes, drank abundant amounts of coffee Cooke’s business acumen led to a and was always aware of the bottom comfortable life, although by no line. Former NCAA statistical means an opulent one. He died analyst Jim Van Valkenburg wrote quietly in Tucson in 1988, that many associates regarded him sufficiently removed from the NCAA as a prime candidate for the that his passing was not noted at longtime Reader’s Digest series “My the national office in Mission, Most Unforgettable Character.” Kansas. Cooke is little known these days, This tiny man, however, cast a huge but he was highly regarded among shadow. Because of him, the news media during the 1940s, Association has and it has had them 1950s and 1960s. He was profiled in for most of a century. detail in a 1948 article in the now- defunct Sportsfolio magazine, and in “He figured out that he was on the 1958, Sports Illustrated quoted him cusp of things,” said Waters, who extensively in an article about began his relationship with the The College Football Historian-3- persuaded the semi-pro Northwest Football League to try keeping Association in 1949 as a statistician statistics. And within a season or for Cooke’s National Collegiate two, we had the bugs pretty well Athletic Bureau. eliminated. Launching the program “Here we were in the 1930s and for college football nationally was a radio was telling people that there natural sequel.” was a guy out of Fort Worth, Texas, named (Sammy) Baugh and he was In 1937, typing on the letterhead of able to throw the ball like crazy. his own amateur team, the Silver Barons, Cooke wrote to the nation’s So everybody started thinking, ‘Is he top colleges, asking them to send the best? Is his team the best?’ him statistical roundups for the “So Homer said, ‘I’ll compile all of next season. that and issue it to the AP and the UP’ so the world would know if Sportsfolio reported that only 25 Baugh was better than somebody publicists said they could supply else. He was able to recognize that Cooke with even part of what he radio was creating the market for wanted, but he was not statistics, and he jumped right on discouraged. By then, he had gained top of it and rode it.” the support of Joe Petritz, the influential publicity director at Notre At the time, Cooke was working a Dame, and Fielding Yost, the couple of newspaper jobs, having Michigan coach and chair of the recently sold his interest of a NCAA Football Rules Committee. newspaper in Enumclaw, Cooke made the request again, and Washington, where he also owned by the end of the season he had a part of an amateur football team. verifiable set of statistics for 78 schools from coast to coast. Shortly before, he had dropped out of the pre-law curriculum at the By then, Cooke also had a company: University of Washington. A fling at the American Football Statistical the paint business had failed. Bureau. Given his methodical ways, he likely would have succeeded at either the Four years later, the 1941 Official law or painting houses. Football Guide, by then published by A.S. Barnes of New York, Fortunately for college sports, included “The National Leaders,” however, Cooke found his niche. with credit given to the AFSB. In a 1987 letter to Van Valkenburg, Two years after that, the 1943 Guide he wrote: “I was increasingly featured Cooke’s first statistical frustrated by the absence of any analysis (“Flames of War Singe definition for the always-boasted Record Pages”). “For a half dozen greatness of players for visiting years,” said an editor’s note, “the teams. So (around 1935) I American Football Statistical The College Football Historian-4- Bureau has served collegiate football as its national ‘clearing house’ of official facts and figures. This year, the organization has “The ‘modern era,’ insofar as college become identified more accurately football statistics are concerned, as the National Collegiate Athletic began with the season of 1937,” Bureau because it now serves Cooke wrote. “All season records basketball and other intercollegiate today are compiled by mechanical sports as the official service bureau cumulators, game-by-game as the of the NCAA.” season progresses. Prior to 1937, records were dependent entirely That book also featured one page of upon post-season survey and “Modern All-Time Records for a therefore subject to little or no Single Season,” which included a cross-check and audit of significant notation: Cooke’s authenticity and accuracy.” audacious declaration that credible statistics began only six years End of Part 1 of 2 earlier, with his own system. * * * Another IFRA Member is recognized… Georgia Tech leads the way with a whopping 222-0 romp over CONGRATS to John Hirm…he was Cumberland back in 1916. awarded the 2010 Excellence in the Field of Historic Research and I’ve never had and probably will Writing...for his book, "Aggies to never experience a game with such a Rams: The History of Football at lop-sided score. Colorado State University", by The Fort Collins Historical Society. For small college teams, particularly in the ranks of HBCU (Historically * * * Black Colleges & Universities) schools, there lies a very similar BIG BLUE Skies history of crushing victories worth noting. By Reggie Thomas I’ve followed HBCU football for It amazes me how some college years, even more so through my four football scores over the years have years as a student at Florida A&M such a wide margin of victory. Many University in the early 1990's. of these schools go down in the record books as having powerhouse There’s nothing like a good game offenses, and on the contrary, the where both teams compete till the losing team’s history paints a more end—and with the rhythm of the dismal result. bands battling, the chanting of the The College Football Historian-5- that presents a blow-out, the energy and spirit is not as sweet.