1959

January 1
Evashevski, who had been bedridden with the flu, was so drained that he could offer few words of encouragement to his team, though the unstoppable Hawkeyes hardly needed them. Asked later why Iowa won the game, Evy said, “I just put 13 pounds of air in the football and said ‘sic ‘em.’”

Fullback John Nocera recalled that it was more than hot air that led to the win. “We played a beautiful game, but I was bushed,” Nocera said. “I lost 17 pounds during the game. I remember I got into bed after the game and didn’t get out until the next morning.”

Scoring five of six touchdowns with a running attack, Iowa beat the Bears, 38-12. Jeter was chosen the game’s most outstanding player, accumulating 194 yards on nine carries, including an 81-yard race for a touchdown.

Writing for The Los Angeles Times, Dick Hyland said “It was a beautiful day, a colorful, exciting game in the Rose Bowl. Few, however could call it a contest.

“Picture if you will a Fred Astaire dancing on a stage with a rival wearing fishing boots.”

The football Writers Association of America gave Iowa the Grantland Rice Award, symbolically awarded to the top team in the country, and Randy Duncan became the sixth Hawkeye to be honored as the most valuable player in the Big Ten with the Chicago Tribune Silver Football award.

1959
Some players credited a feud between Coach Evashevski and Athletic Director Paul Brechler as the distraction that kept the Hawkeyes from being as good as they might have been. Iowa had a 5-4 record at season’s end.

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