1950

Coach Leonard Raffensperger

January 28
After the Board in Control hesitated to respond to his request for tenure, Coach Eddie Anderson resigned his post at Iowa to return to Holy Cross. The coach who had led the Ironmen to such glorious heights in 1939 won exactly half of the 70 games he coached at Iowa.

Shortly afterwards, the Board in Control of Athletics named former Hawkeye lineman Leonard Raffensperger, an assistant coach at Iowa, to the head job.

November 4
Iowa marred a Gopher Homecoming by beating Minnesota at home for the first time since 1921. Final score: 13-0.

December 31
Challenged by Cedar Rapids Gazette writer Les Zacheis to come up with “a spirited, swinging state song,” Mason City native Meredith Willson—famous author and composer of The Music Man—wrote the “Iowa Fight Song.” It was introduced on the Tallulah Bankhead radio show on New Year’s Eve and made its debut before a college audience at the Iowa-Indiana basketball game on February 12, 1951.

An adopted son of the University of Iowa, Willson was named the first honorary life member of the UI Alumni Association.

Copyright © 2005, University of Iowa Alumni Association Team names, logos, and uniform designs are registered trademarks of the teams indicated. No logos, photographs, videos, or graphics on this site may be reproduced without written permission.