Special Collections Department
403 Parks Library
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-2140

RS 24/6/1
Iowa State University

Department of Athletics

Football
Subject Files, 1899-[ongoing]


Descriptive summary

creator:

Iowa State University. Department of Athletics. Football

title:

Subject Files

dates:

1899- [ongoing], undated

extent:

1.68 linear feet (4 document boxes)

collection number:

RS 24/6/1

repository:

University Archives, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University.

 

Administrative information

access:

Open for research

publication rights:

Consult Head, Special Collections Department

preferred citation:

Iowa State University Department of Athletics, Football Subject Files, RS 24/6/1, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library.

 

Historical note

Iowa State Agricultural College (Iowa State University) played its first organized game of football against State Center (1892) under coach and team captain Ira Brownlie. Football had been played at Iowa State since the 1870s, but only on an intramural level. In 1894, the team became part of an officially organized athletic association and competed with other colleges in the state of Iowa.

Iowa State football began playing on the west side of central campus, first behind Old Main (where Beardshear Hall is located), then north of Marston Hall (known as State Field). In 1914, "New" State Field was completed at the northeast corner of Sheldon and Lincoln Way. This location was later named Clyde Williams Field and served as the home of Cyclone football until 1974. Cyclone Stadium, later renamed Jack Trice Stadium, opened at the Iowa State Center (1975) and is the current home of the program.

The "Cyclone" nickname came from a game Iowa State played at Northwestern in 1895. Iowa State beat what was a well-regarded Wildcats team, 36-0 and the Chicago Tribune had a headline the next day that read "Struck By A Cyclone" in reference to a tornado that had devastated the Iowa town of Grinnell a year earlier. The Cyclone name has been associated with Iowa State ever since.

Early football legend and innovator, Glenn "Pop" Warner, coached Iowa State football, several weeks each year from 1895 through 1899. During his first two years with Iowa State, he simultaneously coached the University of Georgia's football team. Other prominent names from college football coaching history to have passed through Ames include former head coaches Johnny Majors (1968-1972) and Earle Bruce (1973-1978), and assistant coaches Jimmy Johnson (1968-1969), Jackie Sherrill (1968-1972), Pete Carroll (1978), and Mack Brown (1979-1981). Dan McCarney has the most wins of any coach in Iowa State history with 56.

In the Johnny Majors era, Iowa State went to its first bowl game, a 33-15 loss against Louisiana State University in the Sun Bowl (1971). The first Cyclone bowl win came at the Insight.com Bowl against Pittsburgh, 37-29 (2000). Iowa State has appeared in ten bowl games through the 2009 season, winning three (2000, 2004, and 2009).

Iowa State has had a history of post-season recognition for players and coaches. There have been four Heisman Trophy finalists: Dwight Nichols, 8th place (1959); George Amundson, 7th place (1972); and Troy Davis, 5th place (1995) and 2nd place (1996). Earle Bruce was selected Big 8 Coach of the Year (1976 and 1977) and Dan McCarney was voted Big 12 Coach of the Year (2001and 2004)

Through the 2009 season, Iowa State football has an overall win-loss-tie record of 488-580-46.

Coaches:

Ira C. Brownlie

1892

W.F. Finney

1893

Bert German

1894

Glenn "Pop" Warner

1895-1899

Joe Meyers

1899

C.E. Woodruff

1900

Edgar Clinton

1901

A.W. Ristine

1902-1906

Clyde Williams

1907-1912

Homer C. Hubbard

1913-1914

Charles Mayser

1915-1919

Norman C. Paine

1920

Maury Kent

1921

Sam. F. Willaman

1922-1925

Noel Workman

1926-1930

George Veenker

1931-1936

Jim Yeager

1937-1940

Ray Donels

1941-1942

Mike Michalske

1942-1946

Abe Stuber

1947-1953

Vince DiFrancesca

1954-1956

Jim Myers

1957

Clay Stapleton

1958-1967

Johnny Majors

1968-1972

Earle Bruce

1973-1978

Donnie Duncan

1979-1982

Jim Criner

1983-1986

Chuck Banker

1986 (interim)

Jim Walden

1987-1994

Dan McCarney

1995-2006

Gene Chizik

2007-2008

Paul Rhoads

2009- present

 

Collection description

The collection (1899- [ongoing], undated) contains a variety of general information about the Iowa State University football program. There are histories written by students that usually examine a specific year of football, newspaper articles on the history of the "Cyclone" nickname, football clinic programs, season prospectuses, year-by-year rosters, and yearly schedules. There is also information about past team reunions, ticket stubs, and two copies of a Frank Miller cartoon commemorating the Sun Bowl trip (1971).

 

Organization

The collection is organized alphabetically by subject.

 

Container list

Box

Folder

Title

Dates

1

1

Awards banquet

1997

1

2

Big 8 Football Roster Manual - booklet

1962

1

3

Captains of Iowa State football, 1892-1944

undated

1

4

Cyclone name origin - Des Moines Register 50th anniversary of the name article

1944-1949

1

5

Cyclone name origin - Iowa State Daily articles

1962-1992

1

6

Flip cards - game day rosters

1965-1978, undated

1

7

Football clinic - program books

1969-1979

1

8

Football clinic - program books

1980

1

9

Football at Iowa State: the Early Years - University Archives history

1993

1

10

Football in the Gay 90s - booklet

undated

5 1 Football manual 1930 ca.

1

11

Football recognition dinner, 1966 season

1967

1

12

Game vs. Toledo, 9/22/07 - Cyclones.com preview

2007

1

13

Historic references - correspondence, articles, information

1899-2008, undated

2

1

History - "Big Loss, UNI vs. ISU, 1992"

1994

2

2

History - "Coach Clay Stapleton and His Two All-Americans," 1960 & 1961 Iowa State football

1992

2

3

History - "Criner's Shiners," 1983 Cyclone football

1993

2

4

History - "Cyclone Strikes Again!," Iowa State vs. Nebraska football game, 1992

1994

2

5

History - "Cyclones, the Building Years," ISU football 1962-1964

1992

2

6

History - "Difficult Season: 1979 ISU Football"

1993

1 14 History - "Dirty Thirty: A New Tradition for a New University" 2011 circa

2

7

History - "End of a Clay Era," ISU football 1966-1967

1992

2

8

History - "End of an Era at Clyde Williams Field"

1994

2

9

History - "Football 1968 & 1969, the Beginning of an Era"

1992

2

10

History - "Football 1975"

1993

2

11

History - "Football 1985"

1993

2

12

History - "IAC Football Squad of 1895"

1994

2

13

History - Jim Criner

undated

2

14

History - "Modest Goals for ISU Coach, Players," 1987 football summary

1994

2

15

History - "New Beginning," summary of the 1973 ISU football season

1993

2

16

History - "Repeats and Peaches," ISU football 1977

1993

2

17

History - "Overview of Iowa State's 1972 Football Team"

1993

2

18

History - "Rise and Fall of the Cyclones," 1980 Iowa State University Cyclone football

1993

2

19

History - "Rollercoaster Ride to a 5-6 Season," 1970 Cyclone football

1993

2

20

History - "Season of Ups and Downs," 1972 football

1994

2

21

History - "Top of the Hill to Bottom of the Barrel," ISU football 1976

1993

2

22

History - "Unforgettable Year of Bruce," Iowa State football 1975

1993

2

23

History - "Unknown Heroes," ISU football 1965-1967

1992

2

24

History - "Well at Least They Beat Iowa," the 1982 Cyclone football team

1993

2

25

History - "Were Things Really Finer With Criner?," ISU football 1984

1993

2

26

History - "Whole New Beginning, or Is It?," Cyclone football 1975

1994

2

27

History - "Winners at Last...the Last Winners," ISU football 1989

1994

2

28

History - "Year of Fame," football 1978

1993

2

29

History - "Year of the Fun in the Sun Bowl," 1971 ISU football

1993

2

30

History - "1981 Football at a Glance"

1994

2

31

History - "1988 Cyclone Football"

1993

2

32

Holiday greeting cards

1972-1977

2

33

Humanitarian Bowl - media guide

2002

3

1

Insight.com Bowl - online articles

2000

3

2

Newsletters - football, athletic department in general

1969-1972

3

3

Parking permits for stadium lots

1982-1998

3

4

Postcards from athletic department

1990 ca.

Map case Posters 1971-2011

3

5

Preseason yearbook

1997

3

6

Prospectus

1975-2001

3

7

Prospectus

2003-2004

3

8

Prospectus

2005-2006

3

9

Questionnaire for prospective recruits

1971-1972, undated

3

10

Recruiting book

1989 circa

3

11

Recruiting book

1992 circa

3

12

Reminiscences regarding football games

1974, undated

3

13

Rosters (year by year)

1919-2009

4

1

Rosters (incomplete duplicate list of folder 3/13)

1919-2000

4

2

Schedules - pocket sized

1926-2012

4

3

Scouting report - Oklahoma State

1961

4

4

Souvenir cards

1916-1935

4

5

Sun Bowl cartoon by Frank Miller

1972 circa

4

6

Sun Bowl - 25th anniversary reunion books

1996

4

7

Team reunions

1934

4

8

Ticket and schedule information

1925-2009, undated

4

9

Ticket stubs from 1927

1927

4

10

Ticket stubs

1961-2008

4

11

Victorian Football League

1906