Forest Evashevski has passed away....he was 91.

Fishhead · 11-04-09, 09:18 AM

Iowa finished the 1958 regular season ranked #2 in the AP poll, behind 11–0 LSU, although that vote was taken before the bowl games. Iowa convincingly won the 1959 Rose Bowl, 38–12, setting or tying six Rose Bowl records.

The Football Writers Association of America, arguably the most prestigious organization at the time to vote on a national champion after the bowls were played, gave their national championship trophy, the Grantland Rice Award, to Iowa.

Fishhead · 11-04-09, 01:37 PM

By Pat Harty, IC PRESS CITIZEN

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz started his weekly news conference Tuesday by paying tribute to Evashevski, who died Friday at the age of 91 in Michigan.
I then caught up with Ferentz for a few minutes after his news conference to ask him what Evashevski's legacy meant to him.
I also was curious about the plan to honor Evashevski, and if it meant putting his initials or his nickname, Evy, on the players' helmets, beginning with Saturday's game against Northwestern at Kinnick Stadium.
"Yeah, I think we'll probably end up with a decal on the helmets," Ferentz said. "The family has given us permission. We wanted to get that first."
Ferentz also planned on educating his players about the legend of Evashevski and what Evashevski meant to the Iowa football program, to the University of Iowa and to the entire state.
"I'm going to cover that today," Ferentz said.
There is so much to cover, even though it happened in a relatively short period of time and before many of us were born.
Evashevski still has the distinction of being the only Iowa coach to win a Rose Bowl, not once, but twice, and each time by double digits.
You could make a strong case that Iowa's three-year stretch from 1956-58 when the Hawkeyes compiled a 24-3-2 record and won two Rose Bowls is the greatest three-year stretch in the program's history.
"I'm in awe first of all when you look at the records, the teams, what they did during his time," Ferentz said. "It's just unbelievable. And then, secondly, winning the Rose Bowl, convincingly a couple times.
"And I've talked to a lot of people around town. I've been here 20 years now, so it's always interesting for me to hear things about the way he was or some of the players that were here. Right on through, I've always been fascinated with that whole thing."
Ferentz considers Evashevski to be among the Big Three when it comes to the Iowa football program, joining former coach Hayden Fry and 1939 Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick.
"It's a short list when you think about Iowa football to me," Ferentz said.
Evashevski died almost a half century after he coached Iowa for the last time in the 1960 season finale. The man who had lifted Iowa to the top went out on top as the Hawkeyes blanked Notre Dame 28-0 in South Bend, Ind.
But I say this selfishly that Evashevski also went out too soon. He was only 42 when he quit coaching after nine seasons at Iowa to become the school's athletics director.
Evashevski was about the same age when he quit coaching that Ferentz was when he was hired as the Iowa coach.
Evashevski's decision altered the course of the Iowa football program for two decades.
To this day, many fans still wonder what would have happened to the Iowa football program if Evashevski hadn't quit coaching.
It seems likely that Iowa would have handled the transition from one-platoon football to two-platoon in the mid-1960s much smoother under Evashevski than it did in real life.
There is no way to back up that statement other than to say it's hard to picture Evashevski not succeeding at anything related to coaching football.
The man took a backseat to nobody, even Woody Hayes.
Evashevski was a man's man, at least that's how my mother described him. He was college football's version of John Wayne.
There are countless stories about how Evashevski ruled by intimidation and by fear, and how he and former star player Alex Karras didn't get along.
My research tells me that Evashevski had two primary goals: one was to win football games and the other was to turn his players into responsible adults and good citizens whether they liked it or not.
So it's OK to rule by fear and to lead by intimidation if you're leading people in the right direction.
His players feared Evashevski, not only because he was an authority figure, but also because he was tougher than them.
It takes somebody cut from a different mold to teach arm-to-arm combat to students in training. That was Evashevski's job in 1942 when he was enrolled at the Iowa Navy Pre-Flight School in Iowa City.
He also paved the way for Tom Harmon to win the Heisman Trophy at Michigan in 1940 by being his lead blocker on most plays.
Harmon won most of the awards, but Evashevski was the team captain at Michigan and by most accounts the most dynamic personality on the team.
The fact that Evashevski alienated some people while serving as the Iowa athletics director in the 1960s and that he ultimately got fired from the job shouldn't taint what he accomplished as a coach.
Evashevski was more than just a tough guy coach, though. He was a gifted speaker, an incredible all-around athlete and a genius when it came to devising plays and strategies to win games.
He was the kind of person who took over a room upon entering without even trying.
Ferentz saw that first hand when Evashevski spoke to the Iowa football team the day before the Michigan game in 2001.
"It was impressive," Ferentz said.
There also was a gentler side to Evashevski, a side where he was a devoted husband and the father of five sons and two daughters.
Evashevski's wife, Ruth, and all of his children were at his bedside when he passed away.
I always knew the day would come when Evashevski would go from being a living legend to a legend.
The fact that Evashevski died during a season in which the Iowa football team is having unprecedented success makes you think, because his legacy stands for unprecedented success.