Dick Hanley, a protege of Pop Warner, began his Northwestern
coaching career with a dozen lettermen from his predecessor's
conference champion team, including team captain Vic Gustafson.
His 1927 season started with a pair of "easy" victories (over
South Dakota and Utah). The team's third game, however, was
a 19-13 victory over Ohio -- the first time in history that
Northwestern beat the Buckeyes. Walter Paulison detailed the
game as follows:
This was a battle all the way, with Lewis playing
the greatest game of his career to swing the tide in Northwestern's
favor. Lewis scored the first touchdown, but Ohio came back
to wrest the lead away on a tally by Grim and successful conversion.
Holmer stormed 50 yards for a touchdown, but Ohio matched it,
and then, with the clock showing only a minute remaining, Lewis
climaxed a drive of 50 yards by plunging over. The kick for
point made the final score 19 to 13.
Northwestern faltered over the next few games, though, losing
to Illinois (who would go on to take the conference title),
Missouri, Purdue, and Indiana. The season ended with a 12-0
win over Iowa.
The 1928 and '29 seasons were both wining ones (5-3 and 6-3
overall), but Hanley's real success began in 1930, when his
team tied Michigan to become Big Ten Co-Champions. Again, from
Paulison:
Few teams more richly deserve the accolade of gratness
than Hanley's 1930 eleven, which swept through a five-game Conference
schedule undefeated to tie Michigan for the championship. The
measure of this greatness is found in the 168 points scored
by the Wildcats to their opponents' 22. It was a team of experience,
size, power, deception, and a sharp pass attack.
The 1930 team ended their season against Notre Dame, for a
national title. From Paulison, once again:
The meeting was to go down in history as one of the
most furiously contested fames in football annals, a game whose
closeness and intensity is not recorded in the bare figures
of the final score, which was 14 to 0 in favor of the Irish.
For 53 minutes it was a tense scoreless struggle, with the tide
surging first one way, then the other.
In the early moments, with [Laffayette "Reb"] Russel
leading the assault with furious drives into the line, the
Wildcats battered their way to the four-yard line. But as
Russel tore his way into the line again, he fumbled, and Notre
Dame recovered. Soon the Northwestern drive was in motion
again, after Clark had interrupted a pass by Carideo and returned
five yards into Notre Dame territory.Once more it was Russel
who took up the cudgels, ripping the Irish line until the
ball was within a yard or so of the goal. Then the Wildcats
changed their strategy and gave the ball to Bruder. But Hank's
luck still was bad, and the ball popped out of his grasp.
Once again Notre Dame recovered.
The fire went out of Northwestern's offense then, but the
defense remained stubborn until, with seven minutes ot play
remaining, Marchy Schwartz broke loose over his right tackle
for 27 yards and a touchdown. Later Carideo intercepted a
desperate Northwestern pass and ran back to the NU 10-yard
line. From there Dan Hanley pounded over. The victory was
Notre Dame's, but the individual honors that day belonged
to Russell, whose line-plunging against a foe of championship
class was the talk of the nation.
Coach Hanley's fifth year team was captained by future All-American
tackle Dal Marvil. Their team opened the season with a 19-7
victory over Nebraska (whom the Northwestern team had not faced
since 1902.) The next game, against Notre Dame, was played at
Soldier Field in front of 75,000 spectators -- it ended in a
scoreless draw.
The team went on to beat U.C.L.A., Ohio State, and Illinois.
It's next challenge was against Minnesota, who kicked off the
game by scoring two quick touchdowns and establishing a 14-0
lead. The Wildcats scored a touchdown just before the end of
the half, but their fans did not seem satisfied. Marvil later
said:
We were booed by our rooting section when we left
the field at half time. I can't recall that ever happening before
or since.
In the second half, however, the Wildcats stormed back, sending
the Gophers back to Minnesota with a 32-14 loss. This would
normally have secured a title for the team -- season play had
ended, and Northwestern was the only unbeated team in the Big
Ten. The Conference, however, made an effort to help the countless
citizens struck by the Depression by organizing a round of post-season
charity games, the results of which would count in the final
standings.
Northwestern was put against Purdue, who had a 4-1 conference
record. Before the game, however, a strange accident put the
team on edge. Paulison writes:
The game was scheduled for Soldiers' Field, and, consequently,
the Wildcat squad spend the night before the game at a South
Side hotel. In the early evening an elevator containing several
regular players, including Capt. Marvil, fell. Luckily no one
was badly hurt, although all were shaken up. The next afternoon
the team lacked its usual dash. Even so, it had battled the
Boilermakers on scoreless terms for 50 minutes. Then Fred Hecker
intercepted a Wildcat pass and ran 40 yards to the Purple 30-yard
line. Three plays netted 11 yards, then Jim Purvis broke loose
for a touchdown that put a 7 to 0 blot on the previously spotless
record of one of N.U.'s truly greatest teams.
That was the last great team Hanley was to produce for Northwestern,
for, unhappily, the tide of misfortune began to run against
the Purple, which won two games in '32, only one the following
year, and then two again in '34.
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