One of the big stories in this very weird year in sports is the Iowa State Cyclones football team. As I was watching a bit of the Cyclones win over Texas last weekend, I was one of those viewers who was informed that Iowa State has a very, very good chance of winning the Big 12 Conference this season.

I’m excited for the Cyclones who have always been one of my favorites (I have many favorites in college football). But something else I learned this fall. If Iowa State does go on to win the conference championship, it will be the first time a Cyclone team has won a conference title since 1912. Yes, 1912. Stopping to do the math, that is 108 years ago. I didn’t believe my ears so I took time to look it up. Yes, 1912. The Cyclones have won two conference titles in their history--the first in 1911 and the last in 1912. Back in those years, Iowa State was a member of the Missouri Valley Intercolliate Athletic Association. In 1911, the Cyclones were 6-1-1 overall with a conference mark of 2-0-1. Nebraska also finished 2-0-1 in the conference and the two teams shared the championship. The conference standings after Iowa State and Nebraska were Kansas, 1-1-1; Washington University (St. Louis) 0-0-2; Missouri, 0-2-2; and Drake 0-2-1.

In 1911, Iowa State opened with Minnesota and suffered its only loss, 5-0. After that came a 25-0 victory over Coe, a 6-3 win over Missouri; a 21-6 win over Grinnell; a 6-6 tie with Nebraska; a 15-0 win over Cornell (Iowa); a 9-0 win over Iowa of the Big 10 and a 6-0 victory over Drake.

The 1912 championship again was a shared one with Nebraska. Both teams finished with a 2-0-0 record in the MVIAA. Nebraska was 8-1 overall and Iowa State was 6-2. The other teams in the conference were Drake 2-2 in the league and 5-3 overall; Missouri 2-3 and 5-3; Kansas 1-2 and 4-4 and Washington 0-2 and 4-4. In 1912, Iowa State again lost to Minnesota (again by the strange score of 5-0), defeated Simpson 24-7, defeated Missouri 29-0; defeated Grinnell 31-7; defeated Morningside 16-3; defeated Cornell 21-0; lost to Iowa 20-7; and defeated Drake 23-3.

Coach of the two Iowa State conference championship team was Clyde Williams who was an All-American at Iowa in 1903. He started at quarterback for Iowa four seasons and never lost a game. Iowa’s record in games Williams started at quarterback were 23-0- 3. He earned 11 letters in his years at Iowa, four in football, four in baseball and three in track. Williams went to Iowa State first as an assistant coach and then as head football coach. He was the school’s first basketball coach serving in the years 1908 to 1911 and was baseball coach and athletic director from 1914 to 1919.

As an aside, when the Big 12 had two Divisions, North and South, the Cyclones did win the Big 12 North in 2004 under Coach Dan McCarney. The Cyclones lost in the Big 12 Championship Game to the Oklahoma Sooners coached by Bob Stoops. My Dad went to college

My Dad went to college in Iowa, a school known in those years as Western Union College, located in LeMars. He played on the Western Union football team and because of his Iowa years, he had a soft spot in his heart for Iowa State. He was a major, major Oklahoma Sooners fan, but he liked Oklahoma A&M, especially in basketball, where the Aggies, as he called the team from Stillwater, were pretty good. Living in Kansas for as long as he did, he also tended to root for Kansas teams when they weren’t playing Oklahoma teams. He also was known to root on occasion for Iowa State. Looking over the 1912 Iowa State schedule, it showed that the Cyclones played Morningside. Dad talked about the time that his football team played Morningside, which was a big school compared to Western Union. The Morningside-Western Union game wasn’t close. In Dad’s terminology, Morningside mopped up the field. By the way, Dad played football in 1920 and 1921.

I was watching an Iowa State game earlier this season and learned about the school stadium’s namesake--Jack Trice. I had heard of Jack Trice Stadium for years, but I never had a clue about who Jack Trice had been. What I learned is that Trice was the first African-American athlete on the Ames campus. He died in 1923 at the age of 21 from injuries received in a game with Minnesota.

Looking him up, he was the son of a former Buffalo Soldier, Green Trice. When he was 16 his mother sent him to Cleveland to live with an uncle. She did that so that he could play football with East Tech. Six of the members of the East Tech football team went along with their coach, Sam Willaman, to Iowa State. At Iowa State, he participated in track and was a tackle on the football team. His major was animal husbandry, which he chose so that he could help African-American farmers upon graduation. The game against Minnesota was only his second college game. On the night before the game, he wrote the following words on hotel stationery (he was staying in a racially segregated hotel): “My thoughts just before

“My thoughts just before the first real college game of my life: The honor of my race, family & self is at stake. Everyone is expecting me to do big things. I will! My whole body and soul are to be thrown recklessly about the field tomorrow. Every time the ball is snapped, I will be trying to do more than my part. On all defensive plays I must break t through the opponents’ line and stop the play in their territory. Beware of mass interference. Fight low, with your eyes open and toward the play. Watch out for crossbucks and reverse end runs. Be on your toes every minutes if you expect to make good. Jack.” During the second play of

During the second play of the next day’s game, Trice’s collarbone was broken. He insisted he was all right and returned to the game. In the third quarter he attempted to tackle a Minnesota ball carrier and ended up on his back the victim of a roll block (now illegal). He was trampled by three Minnesota players. He claimed to be fine, but could not stand and was removed from the game. He was taken to a Minneapolis hospital and was declared fit for travel and went with his teammates back to Ames. Two days after the game he died from hemorrhaged lungs and internal bleeding.

There was a lot of conjecture about the play of Minnesota in that game. Some felt as if Trice had been targeted from the beginning because of his race. All classes at Iowa State were dismissed for a day and more than 4,000 persons attended his funeral on the Iowa State campus. Because of his death, Iowa State refused to schedule Minnesota for 66 years. The two schools competed again for the first time in 1989.

In 1974, Iowa State’s student body government voted unanimously to name the school’s new football stadium after Trice.

I enjoyed delving into a bit of Iowa State Cyclones history. By the way, there is at least one recent connection between Iowa State and Ponca City. Po-Hi standout football player Rashawn “Bubba” Parker played at Iowa State from 2006 to 2010. He was co-captain of the Cyclones in 2010 and had 116 career tackles and eight sacks from his defensive end position. As a Ponca City Wildcat, he was named firstteam All-State by the Daily Oklahoma in 2005 making 105 tackles and leading Class 6A defensive players with 18 sacks.