Hawkeyes For Life

By Steve Roe

Hawkeyes for Life shares the passion of devoted University of Iowa sports fans. From watching Nile Kinnick lead the renowned Ironmen in 1939 to following the Hawkeyes to Florida bowl games in recent years, the book takes readers inside Hawkeye Nation, getting to know fans and how they have shown their strong support for the Black and Gold. It also visits with former members of the Hawkeye marching band, cheerleaders, and those who have dressed the part of Herky.

Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sports Publishing
• Release date: Dec 12, 2011
• ISBN: 9781613215869

Book preview

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BUMP ELLIOTT & HAYDEN RY

CHALMEIS BUMP ELLIOTT was named director of athletics at the University of Iowa in June of 1970. As a coach and administrator who had spent a large portion of his career in the Big Ten Conference, Elliott knew Iowa could have success in athletics. He also knew there was work to be done.

Bump had formerly been an assistant football coach at Iowa, joining the Hawkeye program when Forest Evashevski was hired in 1952. Elliott was on the Iowa staff for five seasons, including 1956 when the Hawkeyes won the Big Ten title and defeated Oregon State in the 1957 Rose Bowl.

We had really enjoyed Iowa during my five years as an assistant coach, says Bump of him and his wife, Barbara. "Two of our three children were born here. We had just great memories. Iowa won the Big Ten and went to the Rose Bowl my last year here. We had a great coaching staff, and I had a lot of fun.

The last year I was at Iowa as an assistant, the fans were really good to Evy and the coaching staff, continues Bump. The Rose Bowl experience couldn’t have been better. We had a wonderful feeling towards the program and the people of Iowa when we left. Even though I was raised in Bloomington, Illinois, my father had graduated from Muscatine High School. He was a member of a state championship basketball team at Muscatine.

Bump competed in several sports while growing up and enjoyed an outstanding athletic career as an undergraduate. He played his first two seasons as a Marine trainee at Purdue. When he left the service, he resumed his athletic career at Michigan.

Bump first competed against Iowa in 1944 as a Boilermaker, earning a 26-7 win in what was then named Iowa Stadium. We had a pretty good team with a lot of players who were in the service, recalls Bump. In the process of that season, I was pulled out of school and sent to Parris Island, South Carolina. I missed the last six games of the season.

Bump was out of athletics until he was released from the service in August 1946. When I was released from the service I went to Michigan, explains Bump. My brother, Pete, was already there, so I said that would be fine with me. I had met Barb while at Purdue, but she had already graduated by the time I got back, so there wasn’t a reason to go back to Purdue, necessarily. I didn’t know what I wanted to study, but it wasn’t engineering.

Bump did not see action for the Wolverines in the first game of the season; but in the second game, a 14-7 win over Iowa in Ann Arbor, he made his Michigan debut as a defensive back.

Later on I started on both offense and defense, but not at first, remembers Bump. I remember we beat Iowa in a real tough game. I know I have met several of the guys I played against. We didn’t play Iowa in 1947 when I was a senior.

Michigan won the Big Ten title in 1947, earning a spot in the 1948 Rose Bowl. We claimed to be national champions, recalls Bump. "The Associated Press had Notre Dame first and Michigan second. They re-voted after the season, because Notre Dame couldn’t go to a bowl game. After we beat USC 49-0, at least one of the polls voted Michigan as national champion.

I played on a team at Purdue in 1943 that was undefeated and untied, says Bump. We won the Big Ten championship and were voted number one by some, but Notre Dame was also voted number one. Then I turned around and had the same thing happen while at Michigan. I played on two undefeated teams but didn’t win the national title, with Notre Dame winning it both times.

As a player at Michigan, Elliott earned All-America honors and was named the most valuable player in the Big Ten Conference in 1947. He led the conference in scoring with 54 points, and he led Michigan in receiving. The Wolverines posted a perfect 10-0 record, and Bump was drafted by the Detroit Lions.

Elliott was preparing to participate in the College All-Star Game in Chicago that summer when his playing career came to an end. We were practicing for the all-star game against the Chicago Cardinals, says Bump. "We had a scrimmage six days before the game, and I got injured and wasn’t able to play.

"Arch Ward, the sports editor of the Chicago Tribune, was a great Notre Dame supporter, says Bump. He selected Frank Leahy of Notre Dame as the coach of the team, and then he had Leahy pick 11 or 12 Notre Dame players for the all-star team and nine Michigan players. So they split up the all-star team, which had 66 players, for a scrimmage. In the Tribune that morning, they billed the scrimmage as Notre Dame vs. Michigan. They had all 11 of their starters, we had nine from Michigan. I twisted my knee during that scrimmage and couldn’t play in the game. I made the decision I wasn’t going to try to play in the NFL."

He returned to Ann Arbor for the fall and was a graduate assistant at Michigan in 1948—the year the Wolverines won the national title. He earned his first job as a full-time assistant coach at Oregon State the following spring, which marked the official beginning of his coaching career. Elliott was with Oregon State for three seasons before he joined the Iowa staff prior to the start of the 1952 season.

Bump served as the backfield coach at Oregon State for three years. The coaching staff at that time consisted of the head coach and four assistants, says Bump. "All of us coached both offense and defense. My brother, Pete, was on the staff for the first two years I was there. He left to go to Oklahoma before my final year there.’

When Evashevski replaced Dr. Eddie Anderson as Iowas head coach prior to the 1952 season, he hired Bump as a member of his coaching staff. Iowa posted three winning seasons and an overall mark of 24-20-2 in the five years Elliott was a Hawkeye assistant, including the championship year in 1956.

I had the opportunity to go to Michigan, where I had played for two seasons, explains Bump. "I was the backfield coach for two years. Then Bernie Oosterbaan retired, and I became the head coach. I had no promise to be the head coach, it just happened.’

Bump was an assistant coach at Michigan in 1957 and 1958. He was named Michigan’s head football coach before the 1959 season. He was the Wolverine head coach for 10 seasons, posting an overall record of 51-42-2. He led the Maize and Blue to the 1964 Big Ten title and a win in the 1965 Rose Bowl. Michigan ended that season ranked fourth in the nation after winning the Big Ten for the first time in 15 years.

Bump led Michigan to an 8-2 record in 1968, which marked his final season as a head coach before turning his career focus to athletic administration. We had a good team in ‘68, he recalls. "We lost our first game of the year to California and then won eight straight before playing Ohio State for the Big Ten title. They beat us pretty good and went on to win the national title.

Over Thanksgiving that year, Barb and I got to talking about coaching and so forth, says Bump. "The previous year, Fritz Crisler had retired as the Michigan athletic director, and Don Canham had taken over. I was a candidate for the job at that time, but he had more experience. He was also named head of the physical education and recreation department in addition to being athletic director.

As the change in athletic director took place, they also created a position for an associate athletic director, but that spot went unfilled as the 1968-69 academic year began, adds Bump. With all those responsibilities, someone would have to help out. After the 1968 season, I knew that job had still not been filled. I asked Canham, if I were interested, could I be a candidate. He said, ‘Sure, the job would be yours, except we have to find the right coach to take over football.’ There wasn’t any pressure on football, as we had been 8-2 the previous season.

Bump traveled with Canham on an alumni function to New York and further discussed the possibility of making the move. I told him that Barb and I had talked about it, and I would like to take the job as associate director, continues Bump. He said, ‘If we can get the right football coach, it’s done.’ I literally retired from coaching at that time.

The list of candidates to replace Bump as Michigan’s football coach was impressive. Among the candidates were Joe Paterno and Frank Broyles. Bo Schembechler, a former assistant coach under Woody Hayes at Ohio State and the current head coach at Miami, Ohio, was selected to fill the position, enabling Bump to begin his career in athletic administration.

A big part of my responsibilities were in development, says Bump. Michigan had never raised money under Crisler; there was no fundraising in place. Don made it a point that that was to be my number-one responsibility. I started the Victor’s Club and went from there. I was in charge of some other things as well.

In the spring of 1970, Bump was a candidate for the position of athletic director at Oregon. I had just returned home from interviewing for the position at Oregon when the Iowa job opened, says Bump. "I was contacted to see if I was interested, and I said