[NU Sports] Hanley History

[warneradams]

After a down weekend I thought some of you might enjoy this recollection of
NU's great 1930 and 31 teams from noted college football historian Ray
Schmidt:

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN

By Ray Schmidt

When Dick Hanley took over as head football coach at Northwestern in 1927,
after the Purple had shared the 1926 Big Ten championship, expectations
called for the start of a gridiron dynasty along the shores of Lake Michigan
just north of Chicago. Yet only disappointment followed during Hanley's
first three seasons, until his recruiting efforts finally paid off with an
outstanding team in 1930, followed by one of the most controversial seasons
in Big Ten history.

In 1930 Hanley combined an armada of talented running backs, a dangerous
passing attack, and a tough defense, and rolled through the Big Ten schedule
unbeaten for a share of the conference title with Michigan. In the final
game of the season, with the mythical national championship on the line,
Northwestern suffered a let-down in the mud of Dyche Stadium with eight
minutes to play and fell to Notre Dame by a score of 14-0. Down through the
years football historians have considered the 1930 Northwestern outfit to be
one of the greatest in Big Ten history.

As the 1931 season dawned Hanley was looking toward another shot at national
honors despite having lost two-thirds of his starters from the previous
year. Heading up the linemen were two outstanding tackles in Jack Riley and
Dallas Marvil, along with guard Jim Evans, while the backfield leaders were
again expected to be junior Ernie (Pug) Rentner and senior Fayette (Reb)
Russell. In 1930 Russell, a powerful line-blasting fullback, had received
considerable first team All-America mention. Claire Burcky of the NEA wire
service wrote that North western's line "is big and powerful and
experienced. The backs are fast and heavy and shifty."

Yet without question Northwestern's 1931 gridiron fortunes were going to
greatly hinge upon the, play of Rentner at tailback. Rentner, nicknamed the
"Flying Dutchman," had exploded on the 1930 football world as a dazzling
break-away runner with 9.8 second speed, was an excellent passer, and a
rugged defensive back. But while tackling fullback Jack Manders in the 1930
Minnesota game, Rentner suffered severely pinched nerves in his right arm
and was lost for the season. With his arm bound in a splint for weeks,
atrophy set in and for a time there was concern his football days might be
over. Determined to return, Rentner labored at his rehab but the injury had
left a slight limit to the movement of his right arm which would prove to
hamper the Purple's passing attack, a serious blow since Rentner had been
considered the best forward passer in the Big Ten in 1930.

Northwestern opened its 1931 season on October 3 against Nebraska at Dyche
Stadium before nearly 40,000 fans, and it didn't take Rentner long to show
he was ready. On just the fifth play from scrimmage George Potter flipped a
pass to Dick Fencl who lateralled to Pug, who proceeded to sprint 35 yards
into the end zone for the touchdown. A short time later Rentner slashed
through right tackle, reversed his field, and galloped 65 yards to another
touchdown. Still in the first quarter, halfback Ken Meenan intercepted a
Nebraska pass and rambled 28 yards to the TD that made it 19-0, and the
Purple then coasted the rest of the way for a 19-7 victory. Rentner had been
simply brilliant as he rushed for 174 yards on just 14 carries.

Instead of having to wait for the season finale to meet up with Notre Dame,
as they had the year before, the Purple faced off against the Fighting Irish
at Chicago's Soldier Field in the second game of 1931 Notre Dame had lost
most of its great team from 1930, but, led by halfback Marchy Schwartz, the
Irish had another strong outfit that had continued the school's winning
streak to 20 straight. But Soldier Field was quickly turned into a quagmire
by the persistently heavy rains that lasted all day, and the conditions made
any consistent offensive football virtually impossible. The two teams
combined for 19 fumbles - 15 recovered for turnovers - along with a combined
total offense figure of just 187 yards and nine first downs. Throughout the
rainy afternoon the game's outcome hinged on the punting duel between
Schwartz and Ollie Olson of Northwestern, and both players spent the day
booming towering punts through the pouring rain - Schwartz getting off one
kick of 71 yards while Olson had three punts longer than 50 yards.

Notre Dame recovered an early fumble and was looking for a quick score until
Rentner knocked away a pass to end the threat. Northwestern then dominated
much of the play in the first half and twice the Purple had the ball inside
the Notre Dame five yard line. In the second quarter Jack Riley recovered a
fumble and the Purple, behind the running of Olson and Rentner, pounded the
ball to the Irish four yard line before being held on fourth down and
inches. A few minutes later the Purple had the football at the Notre Dame
five, only to see this chance lost also when Schwartz knocked away a fourth
down pass.

The second half was a different game. Early in the third quarter halfback
George Melinkovich of the Irish sliced through left tackle and into the
clear, and only a great tackle by Potter saved the touchdown. Three times
Notre Dame had the football inside the Purple's 20 yard line, and the last
time came in the game's closing minutes after Ed (Moose) Krause blocked an
Olson punt and recovered the ball at the 19. But here the weary Northwestern
defensive line roused itself and took the ball back on downs at their 23
yard line. The gun soon sounded on the 0-0 tie, prompting Chicago Tribune
writer Harvey Woodruff to note that "any result other than a tie under the
dismal weather conditions and the equal efforts expended by two game elevens
would have been an injustice....What might have happened on a dry field
cannot be told."

Northwestern next played host to UCLA and with the Bruins' defense
concentrating on Rentner, Ken Meenan and Al Moore did much of the ball
carrying as the Purple piled up 375 yards of total offense (119 yards
passing in Rentner's best aerial game of the season). Meenan swept around
end for nine yards and the first TD of the day in the second quarter, and
then intercepted a UCLA pass in the third quarter that set up his eventual
one-yard TD plunge; Moore adding another tally to wrap up the routine 19-0
victory. Northwestern then lifted the lid on its 1931 Big Ten schedule on
October 24, as it took to the road to meet a very good Ohio State team that
was coming off a big win over Michigan. The two teams slugged their way
through a scoreless first half, with Northwestern being turned away by a
goal line stand at the Buckeyes' one yard line, while Rentner intercepted a
pass to break up a Buckeye threat. In the second half the Purple defense,
led by the brilliant play of Marvil and Riley, shut down the Ohio State
attack. Meanwhile, midway through the third quarter Rentner swept around
left end and dashed 50 yards to the game's first touchdown. Then as the
period came to a close, Rentner broke off a run of 15 yards to set up
Olson's 44-yard drop-kick field goal. Northwestern finished the day with a
10-0 victory after piling up 371 yards of total offense, paced by Rentner's
140 yards on 17 carries.

The Wildcats (as the Northwestern squad was now being commonly called by
newsmen) then returned home and soundly trounced Illinois by a score of 32-6
before 40,000. Northwestern exploded for four touchdowns in the first
quarter, including a 66-yard scoring gallop by Rentner in the game's opening
minute and an 83-yard kickoff return TD by Potter. The Wildcats coasted the
rest of the way while tallying 354 yards of total offense, but their Big Ten
and national title hopes received a serious jolt later in the first quarter
when Rentner's right thumb was fractured in four places. A specially built
drum-splint was fashioned after the game to allow him to
continue his ball carrying duties, but he was no longer a threat as a
forward passer.

On November 7 the Northwestern gridmen tried out their revamped attack
against a dangerous Minnesota team that featured a consensus All-America
guard named Clarence (Biggie) Munn, Any doubts that the Wildcat offense was
still operating in high gear were laid to rest as they hammered Minnesota by
a score of 32-14, despite spotting the Golden Gophers a two touchdown lead
in the second quarter. Olson and Rentner each scored two touchdowns, with
the Flying Dutchman dazzling the 42,000 fans as he registered his with a
95-yard kickoff return to open the third quarter, and then added another on
a 70-yard punt return in the fourth. With only dates against a pair of
struggling teams, Indiana and Iowa, remaining on the schedule, sportswriters
were declaring the Wildcats as sure things for the 1931 Big Ten crown.
Meanwhile, Rentner had become such a local celebrity by mid-November that
the Chicago newspapers were carrying photo and cartoon layouts of Pug's life
as a college hero, including signing autographs for coeds and working at his
job in a local cigar store.

But the Northwestern title express nearly was derailed the next weekend
before a sparse crowd at Dyche Stadium, as the Wildcats had to struggle
against Indiana. For nearly three quarters of play the underdog Hoosiers
played like the team that was closing in on a Big Ten title as they shut
down the Wildcats running game. Meanwhile, Indiana's offense pushed the
Wildcats around for much of the day with only four lost fumbles stopping the
Hoosiers. A touchdown at the start of the second quarter gave Indiana a 6-0
lead when Vie Dauer's extra point attempt hit one of the uprights.
Northwestern's big break came in the third quarter when Fencl recovered one
of the Hoosier fumbles just 21 yards from paydirt. It took five plays before
Reb Russell, in his first appearance since suffering a cracked bone in his
back in the season opener, blasted over right tackle for the final three
yards to the end zone. Paul Engebretsen added the extra point, and
Northwestern hung on to escape with a 7-6 victory. The Wildcats then went on
the road and knocked off Iowa 19-0 as Russell tallied a pair of touchdowns,
while Rentner rushed for 84 yards on 16 carries. This apparently wrapped up
the schedule for Northwestern with a 7-0-1 record, but Charles Bartlett of
the Chicago Tribune made no comment about the Wildcats having won the Big
Ten crown for 1931.

During the early 1930s there was considerable pressure upon university
officials to allow their football teams to play in post-season charity fund
raising games, and in 1931 the Big Ten Conference had decided early in the
fall to go along with the proposed exhibitions. Except they turned out not
to be exhibition games and this was the start of the Big Ten's long running
controversy. Although the sportswriters apparently all missed the news until
mid-November, on October 1 the Big Ten had announced that it was suspending
its rule banning post-season games for 1931 to allow the charity contests.
The plan was that the two teams with the highest winning percentages in the
conference would meet to "settle their right to the crown" - assuming that
one team had not already clinched the title. There would also be two other
Big Ten games to count in the standings, along with a scrimmage tournament
amongst the four bottom teams in the standings. Initially the announcement
didn't create much stir, but after Michigan and Purdue had both suffered
defeats while the Wildcats closed in on their apparent title, Coach Hanley
became infuriated that this extra game would count in the conference
standings.

But Dick Hanley was not the most popular football coach amongst his peers in
the Big Ten. Much of this went back to the mid-1920s when some - notably
Amos A. Stagg - became convinced that Northwestern had undertaken a program
of illegal recruiting and subsidizing of athletes, and Hanley's rumored
reputation at the Haskell Indian School did nothing to convince the
reformers otherwise. Before the last game on the regular season schedule,
George Salsinger, a Detroit sportswriter, called Hanley and told him that
Fielding Yost of Michigan was telling people that Northwestern was "afraid"
to play another game. John L. Griffith, Big Ten commissioner, wrote to
Professor Thomas French of Ohio State and complained that "the schedule was
made up solely with an eye to charity and now it will be impossible to
convince the public that politics did not enter into the making of the
schedule." Griffith added that if it had been left to Hartley, the Wildcats'
coach "would have picked a set-up" for the charity outing.

When the smoke cleared, Northwestern was alone on top of the Big Ten, with
Purdue and Michigan a game behind. Purdue was tabbed as the opponent for the
Wildcats on the basis of a better overall record On the West Coast, Rose
Bowl officials had selected Northwestern as the desired opponent for
Southern California on New Years Day and Wildcat officials had indicated
that they were willing to seek Big Ten permission to play. USC was even
sending its top scout to the Purdue game. Yet this was a dangerous Purdue
outfit that had plenty of top players, and while Hanley continued to
complain the Tribune noted that the Northwestern players "have accepted the
additional game with the same charitable feeling with which it was
scheduled."

With 35,000 fans shivering in Soldier Field on November 28, the two teams
battled back and forth in a well played game. In the second quarter Rentner
returned a punt 32 yards to the Purdue 21 yard line, and a pass interference
penalty followed to put the ball just two yards from paydirt. But a pair of
penalties and a fumble halted the threat. In the third quarter the Wildcats
were twice turned away inside Purdue's 20 yard line. Then, late in the
fourth period, Fred Hecker of the Boilermakers intercepted a pass and
returned it 45 yards to the Northwestern 31 Four plays later Jim Purvis
blasted around left end for an 11-yard touchdown run, and Purdue had knocked
off the Wildcats 7-0. Northwestern was forced to share the 1931 Big Ten
title with Purdue and Michigan (a 16-0 winner over Wisconsin), and Ohio
State would have made it a four-way tie except the Buckeyes fell to
Minnesota 19-7. In a silent Wildcat locker room, a dejected Hanley said that
his players had physically passed their peak and "weren't ready for this
game."

Northwestern finished the 1931 season with an overall record of 7-1-1 and a
#4 finish in the Dickinson Rankings (finalized before the Purdue game). For
the season Pug Rentner had racked up 1,528 all-purpose yards (648 rushing on
112 carries), and sportswriters such as Grantland Rice and Francis Powers
called him one of the greatest backs in Big Ten history. Rentner, Jack
Riley, and Dallas Marvil were all named consensus First Team All-Americans
for 1931, and Rentner (1979) and Riley (1988) were later inducted into the
College Football Hall of Fame. Yet the fact remains that the post-season
charity games should NOT have been declared as regular conference outings
after the season had already started (apparently done to boost the gate
receipts which proved to be disappointing to officials), and, in perhaps the
most controversial Big Ten football season ever, the Wildcats were robbed of
their first outright title in school history.