1934

Oze "Ozzie" Simmons

FANCY FOOTWORK
Halfback Oze “Ozzie” Simmons gave Hawkeye fans something to cheer about in a year when the team won only two contests. In one of those, a 20-7 victory over Northwestern, Simmons rushed for 304 yards and earned the nickname “the Ebony Eel.”

Sports fans compared Simmons to “Red” Grange, but “this slithery, rubbery, oozy flyer with his gyrating balance, cool, masterful mental poise, sleek, smooth, fluid weaving hips and the most perfect open-field pivot probably in the game today, can make his legs talk more languages than even Grange’s could when he was a sophomore.”

Simmons had a style all his own, “a dead stop bluff followed by a rapid hip bluff and flirt, topped off with a few mincing steps or a sideways leap, and a final streak to the goal line.”

In spite of repeated losses on the field, fans were coming back to the stadium, with 53,000 Homecomers present to watch Minnesota whip Iowa 48-12 on October 28. So many Iowa fans were having a good time that officials expressed concern about the “uncurbed drinking” that was fueling the merrymaking. Some 300 ushers were charged with controlling the situation.

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