Memorial Stadium Dedication Game From " Gold Glory"
One of my prize possessions is "Gold Glory," 1972, Richard Rainbolt, Ralph Turtinen Publishing Company. From Chapter 4, "And Then Came Bronko," pages 45-49...the years were 1923 and 1924...
"Minnesota had not been devoid of wins or stellar performers in the early years of the roaring '20s. Bill Spaulding, who had played at Wabash College and coached at Kalamazoo Normal, succeeded Dr. Williams in 1922, and fashioned a break-even record of 3-3-1 that year. Then, a year later, the Gophers had a brush with the conference championship on a 5-1-1 record.
An import from Kalamazoo, where Spaulding had coached, was the brunt of the Gophers' attack on the near title team of 1923. His name was Earl Martineau, who, despite running frequently without the benefit of good interference, ran his way into Walter Camp's All-America lineup that season. The Frenchman, who was toughened up by serving two years in the Marines during the war, was an elusive runner with that rare ability to pull free of tacklers when it seemed he most surely should go down. In addition, he was an accurate passer, a strong kicker, and a defensive standout. Martineau captained the 1923 Gophers, whose only setbacks were a scoreless tie with Wisconsin and a 10-0 loss to Michigan.
The season was filled with drama and tragedy. In the opening game, a 20-17 win over Ames, Jack Trice, Ames' great Negro tackle, was injured. Though the injury did not seem serioius at the time, Trice died the following day. Martineau, as he had been all the previous season, was the hero in a 12-12 win over the Haskell Indians, scoring one touchdown in spite of playing with his hand in a cast.
On November 17 of 1923, Minnesota played its last game ever on Northrop Field, defeating a much heavier Iowa team 20-7. Martineau scored two of the three Gopher touchdowns and passed to Ray Eklund for the other.
Minnesota's hopes for a conference title were dashed on the final Saturday of the season when Michigan scored its 10-0 victory in a game at Ann Arbor. This the Wolverines managed even though they netted just 66 yards in rushing.
Martineau was gone 1924, and his loss hurt. After the first six games of the season, the Gophers showed two wins, two losses, and two ties, and had the unhappy prospect of meeting Illinois in their seventh game. This was a historic event, in that Minnesota officials, obviously recognizing the drawing attraction of the famed Red Grange, had scheduled the official dedication of their new 55,000-seat Memorial Stadium the day Illionois and its Galloping Ghost were to show the Gophers how to play football.
Just a month earlier in Champaign the Illini had dedicated their own Memorial Stadium in a game against powerful Michigan. When that day was over, Grange had wrought such havoc that his performance was, and still is, described as one of the most brilliant individual efforts in the annals of football.
All the ghost did on that day was run for four touchdowns within the span of 12 minutes of the first period, the only times he carried the ball. Some who saw the remarkable feat say that no one laid a hand on him. Grange took the opening kickoff and floated through Michigan on a 95-yard run. After the Wolverines had kicked off a second time, Grange sprinted 67 yards for the second touchdown. The third, of 56 yards, followed a Michigan punt. The fourth was not nearly as impressive as the others, it being a run of only 44 yards.
Then Coach Bob Zuppke took the ghost out of the game until the third period. Grange ran for 12 yards for his fifth touchdown and passed 18 yards for another in the second half. Thereafter, Grange became known as the Galloping Ghost. Illinois arrived on that November 15 of 1924 with a string of 14 consecutive victories and some experience at dedicating football stadiums. The Gophers, on the other hand, had to block a punt the previous week to scratch out a 7-7 tie with little Ames.
So it was Illinois and Grange, about whom millions of words had been written, versus Minnesota and a halfback named Clarence Schutte, from Hecla, South Dakota, about whom little was heard from before or after that Saturday in November.
After the opening kickoff, Grange passed the Illini into scoring position, then circled end to cap the 70-yard drive. It might have been the start of another Illinois ghost story, but the Gophers found on a given day even a ghost has some human qualities, being prone to err. In the second period Illinois started another drive, but this time a Grange pass went astray and was intercepted by Gopher Fullback Carl Lidberg on his own 40. He ran it back 31 yards. Malcolm Graham then gained 27 yards on a double pass, and Schutte, the little-known halfback, ran around end, breaking tackles en route to the end zone and the tying touchdown.
Just before half-time, Schutte broke free again, on a 31-yard touchdown run. He scored a third time on a short plunge in the second half, after setting up the touchdown with a 34-yard dash that Grange stopped on the three-yard line.
Grange was not to repeat his Michigan performance of a month previous, being hauled down for several large losses and getting off no long runs. In the third period he was shaken up by a vicious tackle, and left the game with a shoulder injury several plays later. He would not return. Minnesota won 20-7. Illinois would not play Minnesota again for 17 years. As for the halfback named Schutte, he had gained more yardage than the entire Illinois team, carrying the ball 32 times for 282 yards. Illinois settled for 109, less than half of Schutte's personal total. Minnesota had played the game with just 12 men, the only substitute being Mark Mathews for injured Chet Gay at guard. The other iron men that day were, in addition to those two and Schutte, Lidberg and Graham, Roger Wheeler, Louis Gross, Con Cooper, George Abramson, Captain Ted Cox, Fred Just and Herman Ascher.
Not even that astonishing upset was enough to save Coach Bill Spaulding, who the Regents had decided to cut adrift at the conclusion of the 1924 season."
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This account does not tell us about the FIRST game at Memorial Stadium...but certainly the DEDICATION Game was something worth seeing.
Great history for a great football program. History is being made again on Saturday...
SKI U MAH! Go Gophers! Beat the Falcons!
