BleedGopher
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per Joe:
The soft-spoken young man from Faribault, Minn., who had become a football star for the Golden Gophers, boarded the train Dec. 7, 1941, heading for more glory.
Bruce Smith had won the Heisman Trophy as a halfback and captain who overcame a serious knee injury, willing his team to a national championship. His plan was to pick up the Eversharp Award in Chicago before heading to New York for the Heisman ceremony.
But that first day of his trip, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, changing everything.
America had been on the verge of entering World War II, with Adolf Hitler conquering Europe. Sports offered an escape from the gloomy front-page headlines. Joe DiMaggio had his 56-game hitting streak, Ted Williams batted .406, Whirlaway won horse racing’s Triple Crown, and in Minnesota, Bernie Bierman’s Gophers had just won a second consecutive national title.
But the 21-year-old Smith knew, intuitively, there was no escaping this news. Riding that eastbound train, he rewrote his Heisman acceptance speech with words that still resonate 75 years later.
“I think America will owe a great debt to the game of football when we finish this thing off,” Smith said Dec. 9. “If 6 million American youngsters like myself are able to take it and come back for more … and fight hard for the honor of our schools, then likewise the same skills can be depended on when we have to fight like blazes to defend our country.”
http://www.startribune.com/bruce-sm...-and-american-spirits-75-years-ago/404527966/
Go Gophers!!
The soft-spoken young man from Faribault, Minn., who had become a football star for the Golden Gophers, boarded the train Dec. 7, 1941, heading for more glory.
Bruce Smith had won the Heisman Trophy as a halfback and captain who overcame a serious knee injury, willing his team to a national championship. His plan was to pick up the Eversharp Award in Chicago before heading to New York for the Heisman ceremony.
But that first day of his trip, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, changing everything.
America had been on the verge of entering World War II, with Adolf Hitler conquering Europe. Sports offered an escape from the gloomy front-page headlines. Joe DiMaggio had his 56-game hitting streak, Ted Williams batted .406, Whirlaway won horse racing’s Triple Crown, and in Minnesota, Bernie Bierman’s Gophers had just won a second consecutive national title.
But the 21-year-old Smith knew, intuitively, there was no escaping this news. Riding that eastbound train, he rewrote his Heisman acceptance speech with words that still resonate 75 years later.
“I think America will owe a great debt to the game of football when we finish this thing off,” Smith said Dec. 9. “If 6 million American youngsters like myself are able to take it and come back for more … and fight hard for the honor of our schools, then likewise the same skills can be depended on when we have to fight like blazes to defend our country.”
http://www.startribune.com/bruce-sm...-and-american-spirits-75-years-ago/404527966/
Go Gophers!!