World War II Chronicle: January 4, 1942
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Brig. Gen. Dion Williams (USMC, ret.) is featured on page seven. As a young first lieutenant during the Spanish-American War he raised the flag over the naval yard at Cavite, now in Japanese hands. Read more on page 35 of the February 1942 edition of ALL HANDS magazine…
One of just three men to survive the U-boat attack on the cargo ship Longtaker tells his story of 19 days in a life raft in the Northern Atlantic (see page 15)… Summary of the war’s 121st week on page 28… Page 29 highlights how horse cavalry is adapting to modern warfare… Sports section begins on page 36
The College football season is over, and a great many athletes will leave the gridiron for the battlefield. Today’s sports section announces that head coaches are also suiting back up for wartime service. We have already mentioned Minnesota’s Bernie Bierman, who has orders to report to Quantico, Va. on Jan. 15th. Bierman, a major in the Marine Corps Reserve, wrapped up his second consecutive national championship, going undefeated in 1940 and 1941.
Minnesota hasn’t lost a game since falling to the Iowa Hawkeyes in the next-to-last game of the 1939 season. George Hauser, a teammate of Bierman’s during their playing days, takes the Golden Gophers’ reins in 1942 and their first loss is to Iowa Pre-Flight, led by none other than Maj. Bierman.
Bierman coached the East team in the 1942 East-West All-Star Game. Coaching the West is Lawrence “Biff” Jones, a retired Army major who just received orders to report to Baton Rouge. Jones played for the United States Military Academy before serving as a field artillery officer with the American Expeditionary Force. He returned to coach West Point from 1926-1930, and upon re-entering service, will become the academy’s athletic director.
Also mentioned is Boston University’s Leroy B. “Pat” Hanley, another Marine veteran of the first World War. Hanley will coach football for the Marines stateside and in the Pacific.
Yesterday the Navy announced that the aircraft carrier USS Wasp was sunk back in September. Accounts of the flattop’s destruction are found on several pages in today’s paper… Sports section begins on page 20, and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Mort Cooper has been named National League MVP…
Capt. Elliott Roosevelt is pictured on page 94 after graduating navigator school late last year at Kelly Field, Texas. Roosevelt’s son David is born today — see the front page — and the proud father is currently stationed at Muroc Army Airfield (modern-day Edwards Air Force Base). Elliott is currently carrying out anti-submarine patrols, but is about to receive top-secret orders. Speaking of Muroc, Lt. Col. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold established the base ten years ago back when he was the commanding officer of the 1st Bombardment Wing.
Floyd of Rosedale
Back to the Iowa Hawkeyes and Minnesota Golden Gophers: this college football rivalry goes back to 1891. When the Hawkeyes upset Minnesota in 1939 it marked just the fourth time they won in 33 meetings. Modern fans know the two teams play for the “Floyd of Rosedale” — a large bronze statue of a pig. But why?
The Gophers were particularly rough with Iowa halfback Ozzie Simmons in the 1934 contest.1 This was not the only time Simmons was singled out for punishment; future president Ronald Reagan was broadcasting a game between Iowa and Illinois when he said that the Hawkeyes approached the Fighting Illini huddle and threatened to run them out of the stadium if they didn’t cut it out. Hawkeye fans were pretty upset at how Minnesota treated Simmons and a feud simmered between the neighboring states. When Iowa’s governor publicly announced that Iowans wouldn’t sit on their hands should Minnesota players rough up their black All-American again, Minnesota governor Floyd Olson disarmed the potential conflict by saying that his counterpart was just trolling the fans and wasn’t serious.
Olson suggested that the winner of the game should receive a prize pig from the loser. Iowa fans and Minnesota players alike displayed fine sportsmanship as Minnesota beat Iowa 13-6. Fort Dodge, Iowa’s Rosedale Farms sent a hog named Floyd2“Floyd” was named after Minnesota’s governor.2 to the victorious Gophers, and that is the story of the Floyd of Rosedale rivalry game.
Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 4 January 1942. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1942-01-04/ed-1/