Bob Voigts was only 31 when he took the reins of the Northwestern
football team, bringing a host of other ex-players with him
to fill assistant positions. Voigts' first-year team was stacked
with talent, but stumbled through a 3-6 season, including huge
losses to Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The most interesting
game of their year turned out to be a one-point loss to Ohio
State, in which last minute penalties threw away what should
have been a solid win. The story was documented by Howard Roberts
and published in a book called The Big Nine:
With a minute and 47 seconds to go, Northwestern was
leading, 6-0, on Frank Aschenbrenner's touchdown in the first
minute of the fourth quarter, and had stopped the Buckeyes on
the Wildcat one-yard line.
Jim Farrar, on the first play after the ball changed hands,
sneaked to the five. Northwestern was put back to the one-yard
line for taking too much time, then Ohio was penalized five
for offside. On the next play Northwestern was offside and
back went the ball to the one-yard line. There were 55 seconds
left when the Wildcats were offside once more, but this time
the penalty was declined. That cost Northwestern a down. Farrar,
on another quarterback sneak, went to the eight-yard line
where, with fourth down and 43 second to go, Ohio called time.
When play was resumed Tom Worthington punted to Bob Demmel
on the Wildcat 24. A pass, Pandel Savic to Demmel, was complete
on the 13. Savic passed again and Worthington intercepted.
At this point the band marched onto the field, thinking the
game was over. But no! A Northwestern player, being replaced
by a substitute, had not reached the sideline before the ball
was snapped, so Northwestern had too many players on the field.
That called for a five yard penalty.
Thirteen seconds remained and the ball was on the eight-yard
line. Ollie Cline was stopped on a plunge but again Northwestern
was offside and the ball was placed three yards from the goal.
Then Savic passed to Jim Clark in the end zone for a touchdown
and a 6-6 tie.
Ohio's place-kicking specialist, Emil Moldea, was called
from the bench and, with Savic holding, swung his foot. Don
Stonesifer, Wildcat end, blocked the kick, but for the umpteenth
time Northwestern was offside and Moldea got a chance to try
again. This time his kick was perfect. Ohio had won, 7-6.
Voigts' first season certainly was not impressive, so little
was expected from the 1948 team. The team, however, gained a
distinction which only one other Northwestern squad has even
come close to equalling -- they won the Rose Bowl.
The team's key players included Art Murakowski (fullback) and
Frank Aschenbrenner (halfback), who accomplished a good deal
of the team's scoring; Ed Tunnicliff and Tom Worthington (halfbacks),
Don Burson (quarterback), and captain Alex Sarkisian (center).
Their 8-2 season, by game:
Northwestern 19 -- UCLA 0. Burson passes to Zuravleff
for one touchdown, Murakowski scores on a run, and Perricone
run over 50 yards for another touchdown.
Northwestern 21 -- Purdue 0. Touchdowns by Burson, Tunnicliff,
and Worthington. The Wildcats' defense shuts Purdue down so
thoroughly that they cannot complete a single pass.
Northwestern 19 -- Minnesota 16. Minnesota goes to a 16-0
lead in the first 10 minutes, all of their points coming from
Wildcat fumbles. Northwestern brings the score to 19-16 before
halftime, and the second half is scoreless.
Northwestern 0 -- Michigan 28
Northwestern 48 -- Syracuse 0
Northwestern 21 -- Ohio State 7
Northwestern 16 -- Wisconsin 7
Northwestern 7 -- Notre Dame 12. For the first time in the
1948 season, Notre Dame temporarily trails an opponent.
Northwestern 20 -- Illinois 7. The game on which Northwestern's
Rose Bowl hopes are pinned. The Wildcats score three touchdowns
in the game's first half; Aschenbrenner runs 22 yards for
one, Burson passes 23 for another, and "PeeWee" Day recovers
a fumble, which Chuck Hagmann carries 65 yards to score.
Northwestern's campus went wild even before the official Rose
Bowl invitation came. From the Chicago Herald American:
Evanston's dignity was tossed for a heavy loss as
8,000 Northwestern students swarmed into Fountain Square, tied
traffic in knots and took over.
Jumping the gun on the 11 a.m. appointment of the Wildcats
as the Big Nine's Rose Bowl football representatives, the
undergrads gave no thought to classes.
They came downtown in a mighty, boisterous parade, afoot
and by car, many carrying odds and ends from the recent homecoming
celebration.
They sang, cheered, and cavorted. It was all spontaneous,
which increased the fun. Charles Wright, head of the student
governing board, had ordered pickets to insure that nobody
went to classes.
But the pickets weren't needed. Faculty members got wind
of the plans and classrooms were closed for the day.
From the Daily Northwestern:
Conservative Northwestern literally stood on its head
in a 24-hour Rose Bowl celebration.
The festivities were marked by parades, a student "strike," pep rallies, a dance, open houses, no classes and excursions
to West Campus.
"It was the biggest thing that has ever happened to Northwestern," said Rusty Hoefle, junior pep commissioner ...
Groups serenaded the South Quads at intervals throughout
Sunday night and before dawn yesterday morning.
Even President Franklyn B. Snyder was guest at a midnight
serenade, during which a "no school" sign was tacked on his
front door.
When a cloudy morning broke on campus yesterday, it saw about
1,000 pledges blockading all campus entrances with signs telling
everyone "No School ... California, Here We Come! ..."
More than 3,000 students paraded through Evanston behind
the band. Nearly 500 more boarded "L" trains and invaded the
Loop where they conducted a snake dance through Marshall Field's.
The most dramatic circumstance of the 1949 Rose Bowl, however,
was the coaching matchup -- Bob Voigts was up against Lynn "Pappy" Waldorf, who had left Northwestern only 2 years earlier, and
who had coached Voigts himself to All-American honors in 1938.
The game was played in front of 92,000 spectators on New Year's
Day, 1949. Several minutes into the first quarter, Frank Aschenbrenner
ran 73 yards for Northwestern's first touchdown -- the longest
ever (at that point) in Rose Bowl history. At the kickoff, however,
California fullback Jackie Jensen ran 63 yards for a touchdown.
Northwestern drove the ball back to the 2-yard line, from which
Art Murakowski forced his way into the endzone, fumbling as
he entered. Officials ruled that he had the ball in his possession
as he crossed the goal line, but the call gave California fans
something to gripe about after the loss. The point-after was
missed, and the score at halftime was 13-7.
Jensen was injured early in the second half, making Northwestern's
lead seem even more solid. California still managed to mount
a 56-yard drive for a second touchdown, tying the game -- a
successful kick put them up by one point.
California continued its attack, driving deeper and deeper
into Wildcat territory. After a few successful defenses and
exchanged punts, the Wildcats found themselves on their own
12-yard line, with under 3 minutes remaining in the game. Aschenbrenner
passed to Stonesifer on the 30, the only pass completed by the
Wildcats in the game. Perricone ran for 14 yards, and a five
yard California penality took the Wildcats even deeper into
Bear territory. Then Tunnicliff, on a trick play that had him
taking the ball directly from Sarkisian, ran 45 yards for the
winning touchdown. The Bears mounted a last-minute passing drive,
but an interception by "PeeWee" Day put an end to their hopes.
Paulison wrote:
Moments later the goal posts came tumbling down as
frenzied Northwestern students began to celebrate what Leo Fischer,
sports editor of the Chicago Herald American, termed, "The most
thrilling victory in Wildcat history."
Sarkisian later told the following story of his coach and the
post-game celebration:
After the Rose Bowl victory the photographers asked
Coach to pose with me holding the football used in the game.
I was still in my wet, soiled uniform and I told the coach not
to put his arm around me as it would soil his suit. He looked
at me and said, 'I can always get a new suit but I'll never
get another football team like this one.'"
The following season was a difficult one for the Wildcats,
as most of their graduation losses were key men -- the highlight
of their 4-5 season was a win over Michigan, which ended a Wolverine
winning streak which had been running since 1946. At the end
of the year (after a 9-7 upset at Illinois), the majority of
the Rose Bowl team graduated, leaving the Wildcats short on
experience.
The 1950 team did not do as badly as expected, however -- they
went 6-3 overall, 3-3 in their conference. Don Stonesifer became
the team's captain; Dick Flowers took Burson's quarterback position,
and Chuck Hagmann, an end on the 48 team, returned after a year's
absence, becoming the team's MVP.
The last four seasons of Voigts' career saw a gradual disintegration
of the team. The 1951 Wildcats went 5-4, a respectable winning
record; the following year, they fell to 2-6-1; in 1953, they
went 3-6 without winning a single conference game; and during
Voigts' last year, they fell to 2-7.
Voigts resigned in 1955, after his failure to produce wins
began to draw criticism from various quarters. From the Daily
Northwestern:
Bob Voigts, whose coaching fortunes reached a peak
with his 1949 Rose Bowl victory and have declined steadily since,
resigned yesterday after eight years as Northwestern's head
football coach.
The resignation came as a surprise to the student body ...
some sources say that Voigts quit because of pressure by the
N-Men's group and other alumni ...
In his resignation, Voigts said:
"There has been criticism of my coaching at Northwestern,
and for the good of the university I have handed in my resignation
effective immediately. I have enjoyed my work at Northwestern
and regret leaving the fine group of boys on the squad. I
appreciate the splendid cooperation given me by the athletic
alumni and my staff."
The 1955 team, coached by Lou Saban, performed miserably, going
0-8-1 overall.
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