INTERCOLLEGIATE FOOTBALL RESEARCHERS ASSOCIATION ™ The College Football Historian ™ Expanding the knowledge and information on college football’s unique past—today! ISSN: 1526-233x [December 2010 Vol. 3 No. 11] circa: Jan. 2008 Tex Noel, Editor ( [email protected] ) (Website) http://www.secsportsfan.com/college-football-association.html All content is protected by copyright© by the author. Merry Christmas to all…and may the forforththththcomingcoming year be your best year overover!!!! Montana State and St. Joseph’s Ind. would be the two teams eventually selected; they would play-to a 0-0 tie November 7, 1956 championship football bowl game for Dec. 22 at Little Rock, Ark. (The Daily Courier , Connellsville, Penn.) The game originally was set for Dec. 8. Besides setting the date back, the Little Rock, Ark. To Be Site NAIA announced that the game of Bowl For Small Colleges would be nationally broadcast and telecast. KANSAS CITY, Mo. (UP) — The National Association of A NAIA official said that 19 schools Intercollegiate Athletics has have outstanding records so far this rescheduled its first small college The College Football Historian- 2- basketball play and condemn postseason games in football? season and was in the running Younger Organization along with some others. The NAIA is a younger dedicated to giving smaller schools the same The 19 schools included Pittsburg competition on a national scale as (Kan.) State, Kansas Wesleyan and provided for the larger schools by Missouri Valley of Marshall, the NCAA. Missouri. An Incentive to all Other teams listed by the NAIA …and now football has been added. included Youngstown (Ohio) College; Naturally, the Little Rock game will Morris Harvey, Charlestown, Va. decide nothing except which is and Westminster, New Wilmington, better of the two teams, but the Pa. chance of competing in such a game is an incentive to all member Research from IFRA member Richard schools. Topp, on the next story was found and made an ideal complement to Al Duer, Executive Secretary of the the previous one. NAIA, was explaining the choice of Little Rock as the site of first game (The Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee, and giving the idea of the problem of Wis.) selecting the teams. Aluminum Bowl Up For Grabs Little Rock has a beautiful war memorial stadium seating 38,000 he Twenty NAIA Football Teams Vie for said. We are assured of the back New Post Season Game there and the interest of the community. The game maybe lost in By Whitney Martin a huge metropolitan area. New York (AP)…The plan of the We’re calling it the Aluminum Bowl National Association of as two big aluminum plants are Intercollegiate Athletics to stage a located there. football bowl game between two of Incidentally, the game will be its members Dec. 22 at Little Rock, televised by CBS. Ark., might be frowns by critics of bowl games in general. “Not counting the games of last week, which might have reduced the The National Collegiate Athletic number of 20 of the 30 teams association (sic) (NCAA) sponsors unbeaten and untied teams in the postseason basketball, nation and are members of the tournaments, as does the NAIA. NAIA.” Why is it ok to have postseason The College Football Historian- 3- By James David Dickson Ann Arbor.com and IFRA List of Possible Opponents member (used by permission) “The list includes well regard schools such as Hillsdale (Michigan) Since 1935, the Michigan-Ohio unbeaten in 37 games; Central State football game has been a Michigan, Westminster staple at the end of the Wolverines' (Pennsylvania), New Haven State, regular season schedule, with only Morningside College of Iowa, three exceptions: 1942, 1986 and Missouri Valley of Marshall, Mo.; 1998. West Texas State, Lenior Rhyne, San Diego State, Montana State, The 1986 and 1998 exceptions are Lewis and Clark and Kansas easy enough to explain. Both games Wesleyan. were against the University of Hawaii, a team it only makes sense “I imagine the list of unbeaten and to play at the end of the regular untied teams will be trimmed to 10 season in Hawaii. or 12 by the end of the season, although a defeat doesn’t eliminate Playing Hawaii in Ann Arbor would a team from consideration, defeat the purpose of playing such particularly if it’s a large school. an exotic opponent. But playing Hawaii in Honolulu to start the “Each section will decide on its best season isn't the best preparation for representative, and then it’s up to a teams like Notre Dame and Penn committee of four to make the final State. selection, “he added. But the story of the 1942 season Personally, “we believe the NAIA is finale against Iowa is more filling a need in giving the smaller complicated. As with every aspect of schools an opportunity to attain a American life at the time, World War national athletic prestige.” II played a pivotal role in shaping the Big Ten schedule in 1942. * * * After the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on This week in Ann Arbor Dec. 7, 1941, Big Ten commissioner history: John L. Griffith put his energy into ensuring big time college football would continue even as America Michigan vs. Ohio State: entered the bloodiest conflict in 1942 and "The Game" history. that wasn't On Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the Pearl Harbor attack, Griffith wrote a letter to Big Ten athletic directors The College Football Historian- 4- Michigan's regular season schedule since 1935 - with three exceptions. noting his "intent...to indicate that As Crisler said to a reporter at the the schools and colleges of America time, "Since (Pearl Harbor) the term stand...ready and eager to adapt 'physical fitness' has taken on new their athletic and physical meaning for civilians and soldiers educational programs to the best alike. Army and Navy authorities ends of national defense." have reported that many recruits This was a time when the Big Ten have been so soft and undeveloped was still the dominant conference. physically that completion of basic Griffith was concerned the war training has been seriously delayed might curtail college football, so he by necessary physical conditioning launched a public relations processes." campaign that tied it to the war There was one last concession, and effort directly. this one affected "The Game" Initially, the Big Ten offered to directly: Two games were added to donate the profits of the 1942 the 1942 schedule, with the extras season to the Army-Navy Relief played against service teams like the Fund. The government declined the Iowa Seahawks and the Great Lakes proposal, preferring instead that war Bluejackets — both of whom bonds be sold at raffles during Michigan faced in 1942, going 1-1. halftime. When it came to moving U-M vs. The Big Ten schools then initiated OSU from the end of the regular physical hardening programs, season schedule, the limited requiring physical training for all discussion focused on logistics, not able-bodied men on campus. how it would affect the tradition. Michigan's program, which required In a March 9, 1942, memo to 4.5 hours a week of training — Crisler, commissioner Griffith wrote: divided into 3 sections of 90 "Have had to further experiment minutes apiece — was headed by with schedules. Would you want to football coach and first-year athletic play your Iowa game Nov. 28 and director Fritz Crisler. play the Iowa City naval unit Oct. Michigan football has long picked 10?" Crisler wrote back the next day up the slack for non-revenue sports. and agreed. During World War II, football also The Game that Wasn't: Big Ten paid for the physical hardening commissioner John Griffith program, which prepared hundreds shoehorns two games into of Michigan men to serve their Michigan's 1942 schedule, including country in war. an Iowa game the week after Ohio The Michigan-Ohio State game has State. been a staple at the end of The College Football Historian- 5- According to the Ann Arbor News, had the 1942 season ended after That the Ohio State game fell on eight games like a normal season, Nov. 21, a week before Iowa was Michigan would have rode out with shoehorned into the schedule, never a 32-20 victory over Notre Dame, a came up. Griffith's chief concern game so emotional that Al "Ox" wasn't preserving the still-new Wistert's teammates carried the tradition of the Michigan-Ohio State tackle off the field after his season finale — it was about dominating performance. ensuring the show would go on. He Beat-up and unable to rally for a knew one season off could easily second straight rivalry game, become several, depending on how Michigan fell 21-7 to the Ohio State long the war raged. Buckeyes in week nine, leaving no But Michigan's extended schedule chance for a Big Ten title. didn't work out for the best. While fans and sportswriters weren't "Normally, this would be the end of thrilled to come back for a game our season," Lund recalled Crisler against the Iowa Hawkeyes, Fritz telling the team, as they hung their Crisler exhorted his players to finish heads after the tough loss. "But this the season with character. year we've got another game — let's take advantage of it." Don Lund was a fullback on that 1942 team. The Wolverines did, dominating the the series, and the unlikely paths Hawkeyes in a 28-14 victory to earn both Georgia and Florida took to a ninth place finish nationally. Jacksonville that season. Via a combination of narrative and Ohio State, under the tutelage of the oral history, readers can experience legendary Paul Brown, went on to that day and game again through win the first of its seven national the eyes of coaches and players from championships.