Though Red Grange’s departure from the University of Illinois in 1925 marked the end of a legendary period, it did not signal the end of roaring success for Coach Bob Zuppke in the decade of the 1920s.
Though schools like Cornell, Princeton, and Yale still wielded considerably successful programs, the power in collegiate football was beginning to shift westward to Notre Dame, Michigan, and the Pacific coast.
In 1926, now minus Grange, Zuppke fielded a solid team, posting a 6-2 record that included narrow losses to Michigan and Ohio State.
A year later, Coach Zup’s 1927 squad not only rebounded with a perfect 5-0 Big Ten record, it rallied to a 7-0-1 mark and claimed the mythical national championship. Fighting Illini individual stars included two All-America linemen, center Bob Reitsch and guard Russ Crane. The season included five shutout victories, including respective 14-0 and 13-0 victories against their rivals from Ann Arbor and Columbus.
In 1928, the Illini had similar success, rolling to a 7-1 overall record and a repeat conference title. Its only loss was a narrow 3-0 verdict at Michigan. Frosty Peters and Doug Mills had terrific success running the ball behind Crane and fellow all-star lineman Butch Nowack.
Another fine campaign followed in 1929 (6-1-1), but Zuppke’s magic waned over the following four seasons, slipping to a cumulative record of 15-18-1. The Illini rebounded in 1934 due to a highly diverse offense that included players like quarterback Jack Beynon and halfback Les Lindberg. Illinois’ 7-1 record included a 7-6 victory over Michigan and a Wolverine star named Gerald Ford who eventually became America’s president.
Football doldrums returned to Memorial Stadium for the rest of Zuppke’s coaching career. Illinois’ few bright moments included a 16-7 triumph in November of 1939 over second-ranked Michigan and its Heisman Trophy-winning halfback, Tom Harmon.
When Doug Mills was named Illinois’ full-time athletics director in 1941, Zup offered his resignation. Mills quickly chose former Illini player and Zuppke assistant Ray Eliot to head the program in 1942 at an annual salary of $6,000.
“Ray is a very good and logical choice,” said Zuppke. “He is an enthusiastic student of the game and popular with the boys. I never lost faith in him during those dark days.”
However, America was now embroiled in world war against Germany and Japan, so many of the state’s brightest prospects were called to wear military uniforms rather than football pads. Budding stars Tony Butkovich and Alex Agase, who starred for the ’42 Illini, were among those departees. Altogether, in 1943, Eliot lost 25 players to military induction between the start of fall practice and late October. Subsequently, Eliot’s first four Illini teams from 1942-45 achieved a meager record of 16-21-2.
“In those days,” Eliot said, “we didn’t work just on football; we worked on building the attributes of sportsmanship, self-denial, self-discipline, humility, pride, and dedication.”
Eliot was left with choosing among athletes who were noticeably small in stature. In 1944, he unveiled a diminutive, five-foot-something tailback from Chicago’s Phillips High School named Claude Young. “Buddy”, as he would be popularly known, was an instant success in his very first game, gaining 113 yards on only four carries from scrimmage.
In 1945, when Japan surrendered to end the war, veterans who had fought in far-flung places like Bataan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa returned to American campuses in droves.
“We must have had 300 guys out for the team at the start of the 1946 season,” recalled Agase. “You can imagine the scene. Some players were 17 years old, and others, like myself, were as old as 24.”
Eliot and his staff took full advantage of the talent, winning the last five games of the ’46 regular season. A sixth game in the streak was a Jan. 1 date in the Rose Bowl against UCLA. Illinois’ inclusion in the game was met with great criticism from the West Coast press.
“The more they wrote about how we didn’t deserve to be playing in the Rose Bowl and the more they built up this ‘great’ UCLA team, the madder we got,” said Eliot.
After one of those California practices, Eliot passed around the clippings that his staff had collected.
“One had a quote from UCLA’s line coach about how the man playing across from Agase was going to make Alex look sick,” Eliot said. “I remember seeing Alex’s face getting redder with every word he read. He threw the clipping down and yelled, ‘All right, it’s time we went to work.’”
Sixty minutes of nearly total domination resulted on New Year’s Day as Buddy Young, Paul Patterson, Ruck Steger, Perry Moss, and their Illini teammates ran circles around the hometown Bruins, securing a 45-14 victory.
