Countdown to 2019 IUFB Kickoff: 33 Days (IU Football 1933-1950)
/
Written by Amanda Pavelka
2019 Countdown- #33
1933-1950
Overview
The era of Indiana football from 1934-1950 was a stable, record-breaking era and ended up being one of the most memorable times in program history. Coming off the 1933 season, where the Hoosiers went 1-5-2 under head Coach Billy Hayes, yet another change of coaching staff was called for. There is no sugarcoating it— Indiana football desperately needed someone to come in and pick them up from near-ground zero. It was none other than Texas-born Bo McMillin that came in and threw the Hoosiers on his shoulders, and carried them through several firsts, until he eventually was offered and accepted to coach in the NFL. In a season of transition at IU, McMillin’s Hoosiers ended 3-3-2, pocketing the highlighted 17-6 victory over Purdue to steal the Old Oaken Bucket back from the Boilers in Lafayette. McMillin guided the Hoosiers on the stairs to progress, ending 1935 with a 4-3-1 and topping that in 1936 with a 5-2-1 season that would end with Indiana’s first player being drafted to the NFL. Ettore Antonini was an end drafted to the Chicago Cardinals in the sixth round as the 51st pick. Indiana’s one first and only No. 1 overall NFL draft pick was drafted following the 1937 season where the Hoosiers went 5-3, along with three other Hoosiers. Homegrown Hoosier “Corby” Corbett Davis was chosen first by the Cleveland Browns, where he played fullback for four years before enlisting in the military in 1942. The Hoosiers earned their first ranking in the AP poll in 1937 as well, as they claimed the No.17 position after shutting out No.8 Ohio State 10-0 in an away matchup.
With the loss of four players to the NFL, the 1938 team suffered through a 1-6-1 season. The Hoosiers ended the decade about the same way they entered with a 2-4-2 record in 1939. McMillin and the Hoosiers went 3-5 in 1940 and 2-6 in 1941, but had an impressive 1942 season, as they went 7-3, shutting out their opponents in all but one victory by an average of 33 points a game. After going 4-4-2 in 1943, the 1944 squad picked up momentum to bring IU back in the national ranks with their 7-3 season. In 1945, McMillin set a record that still remains at IU, having lead the Hoosiers to a totally lossless season—9-0-1. Indiana remained elite in the 1947 season with a 6-3 record. McMillin’s 14th season as head coach at Indiana was bittersweet as the team ended 5-3-1 and his legendary coaching career at Indiana came to an end. McMillin went on to coach the Detroit Lions and was replaced by Clyde Smith. The exit of McMillin began marked the downfall of the IU football program in the mid-20th century. Smith struggled as a head coach in the Big Nine conference, and failed to get Indiana more than three wins in any of his four seasons.
Best Coach- Bo McMillin
A native of Texas, McMillin was a three-time All-American quarterback at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. McMillin was known for leading the Centre Praying Colonels to famously upset the Harvard Crimson 6-0 at Harvard Stadium in 1921. It was McMillin’s 35-yard run into the end zone that handed Harvard their first loss in five years. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a member of the inaugural 1951 class. McMillin was best known for his total transformation of the IU football program, for giving them their first and only lossless season to date (1945), for pocketing their first Big Ten (then Nine) Conference Championship the same year, and leading the Hoosiers to their highest AP poll ranking (No. 4) in 1945 as well. He was named AFCA Coach of the Year in 1945 as well. McMillin helped develop Indiana’s first and only No. 1 overall NFL draft pick, Corby Davis, who was drafted to the Cleveland Browns in 1938. McMillan went 63-48-11 in his 14 years as head coach at Indiana. He went on to coach in the professional league and was hired by the Detroit Lions in 1948. He left Detroit for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1951. McMillin suffered following a freak accident on a fishing trip and passed away on March 31st, 1952 in Bloomington, Indiana at 57 years of age.
Best Team- 1945
Obviously, as the team who still holds the best record in the history of the IU football program, the 1945 squad wins best team. That peak 9-0-1 season would bring IU to the highest AP ranking to this day, only tied with the 1967 Rose Bowl team’s No. 4 national stance. Indiana’s only flaw on a near-perfect season was a 7-7 tie with Northwestern. Left halfback George Taliaferro would be the first African-American football player to lead the Big Ten in rushing with 719 yards on his freshman season to outright earn the first Big Nine Championship in the history of IU football. Fullback Pete Pihos and left end Bob Ravesberg would earn first-team All-American honors, along with second-team All-American Taliaferro. Right end Ted Kluszewski, Pihos and Taliaferro were first-team All-Big Ten and the latter two were eventually inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1966 and 1981. Eleven of the 25 lettering athletes on the 1945 IU football squad went on to play in the NFL, and Kluszewski went on to play 15 seasons as a four-time All-Star and two-time World Series Champion in the MLB.
Best Player- Peter Pihos
Hailing from Chicago, Pete Pihos came to Bloomington to play football from 1942-43, and 1945-47 with a year of army duty in between. Under Coach McMillin, Pihos led the Hoosiers to crack national offensive records in 1943. After dedicating a year to the service, Pihos bounced back, leading IU in scoring in their best season to date. As the arguable biggest contributor to Indiana’s first Big Ten Championship, and winningest record to date (9-0-1), Pihos was picked up by the Philadelphia Eagles as the No. 41, fifth round draft pick. Pihos was a three-time first-team All-American, two-time first-team All-Big Ten and two-time second-team All-Big Ten honoree. He was the first Indiana football player to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1966.
Pihos had the NFL career of his dreams, and ended his career with 373 receptions, 5,619 receiving yards and 61 receiving touchdowns. earning Super Bowl rings in 1948 and 1949 and was chosen for the Pro Bowl every year from 1950-1955. He was six-time first -team All-Pro, NFL receptions leader for three consecutive years (1953-55), NFL receiving yards leader in 1953 and 1955, and NFL receiving touchdowns leader in 1953. Amongst other NFL honors, Pihos earned a spot on the 1940s All-Decade Team, the Philadelphia Eagles 75th Anniversary Team, and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1970. Pihos remains on of the most talented and successful football players to ever don a cream and crimson football jersey.
Best Game- 49-0 shutout at No. 20 Minnesota in 1945
Indiana served over-50 point shutouts to six of their opponents between 1942 and 1944, but their most impressive shutout happened in Minneapolis where they blew the No. 20 Minnesota squad out of their own Memorial Stadium 49-0. November 10th, 1945 marked a key victory that would keep the Hoosiers’ undefeated record, with only a 7-7 tie game with Northwestern, for the rest of the 1945 season.
The Hoosier Huddle Countdown continues each day, so check back daily!