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A Trip Down Memory Lane

November 6, 1954

When Forest Evashevski came to Iowa the Hawkeyes were in the midst of a fourteen year streak of non-winning Big Ten seasons.

After Eddie Anderson and Nile Kinnick led the 1939 Ironmen to a 4-1-1 conference season, the Hawks fell into a slump that would see them finish .500 or worse in league play from 1940 through 1953.

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But salvation was just around the corner, as Evy’s boys would snap that streak in 1954 posting a 4-3 Big Ten record.

Iowa started the season off in great fashion beating Michigan State 14-10. The Spartans were the defending Rose Bowl champions and the loss to Iowa was only their second in 35 games.

Non-conference foe Montana was no match for the Hawks, who won going away, 48-6.

Next up were Michigan and Ohio State. The Hawks lost a heartbreaker in Ann Arbor blowing a 13-0 lead as the Wolverines eked out a 14-13 win.

It was on to Columbus the following week where Iowa fought hard but fell to the eventual national champions 20-14.

The Hawkeyes finally caught a break the next week as they hit the road for the third straight week. But this week the destination was Bloomington, Indiana, home of the Hoosiers. Iowa came away with 27-14 win and a semblance of momentum. The Hawks stood at 2-2 in the Big Ten with the next two games at home against Wisconsin and Purdue.

The Wisconsin game was a close one, but Iowa prevailed 13-7. The Hawks now stood at 3-2 in the conference with two league games left to play, Purdue in Iowa City and Minnesota on the road.

The 1954 Purdue Boilermakers were led by a pair of future NFL greats. End Lamar Lundy would go on to fame as part of the Los Angeles Rams Fearsome Foursome. Quarterback Len Dawson would reach even greater heights as he led the Kansas City Chiefs to a Super Bowl win over the Purple People Eaters of Minnesota.

While both players were headed to professional stardom, they were only sophomores this day and they would prove no match for Iowa and their Stuebenville Trio of end Frank Gilliam, halfback Eddie Vincent and lineman extraordinaire, Calvin Jones.

It was a day of big plays by the Iowa offense and special teams.

QB Jerry Reichow stepped back to take a Boilermaker punt, took a couple steps towards the sideline before handing the ball off to Earl Smith on the reverse. Smith used some tremendous Iowa blocking to speed 68 yards for a touchdown.

Later in the first half Purdue had Iowa in a tough situation. Iowa had the ball at its own four and was looking to avoid a safety. Reichow and the backs rolled option right. When Purdue’s defense sped into pursuit, Reichow took advantage of their eagerness and handed the ball to speedy Eddie Vincent on a reverse. Guard Cal Jones pulled and destroyed his man and Vincent was off to the races, a 96 yard touchdown run!

Iowa would continue to roll over Purdue that day, accumulating 368 yards rushing. The game was over at half with Iowa leading 25-0. Purdue would rally with two touchdowns and the game would end with the Hawks on top 25-14. More importantly the Hawkeyes raised their conference mark to 4-2, ensuring Iowa of a winning Big Ten season.

Iowa would lose its last two games (Minnesota 20-22 and Notre Dame 18-34), but the season was a winning one 5-4 (4-3).

Vincent would end up leading the league in rushing with 566 yards and an astounding 6.9 average. Calvin Jones would go on to win first team all-American and all-Big Ten honors.

Let's take a look at the starting lineups from the 1954 Purdue at Iowa game, followed by our weekly photo feature.

Iowa starting lineup.

LE - Frank Gilliam 6-2, 170

LT - Rodger Swedberg 6-1, 217

LG - John Hall 6-1, 217

C - Warren Lawson 6-1, 206

RG - Calvin Jones 6-0, 233

RT - Cameron Cummins 6-1, 229

RE - James Freeman 6-4, 234

QB - Jerry Reichow 6-2, 196

LHB - Earl Smith 5-11, 171

RHB - Eddie Vincent 5-11, 173

FB - Binkey Broeder 5-8, 187

Purdue starting lineup

LE - Lamar Lundy 6-7, 213

LT - Dick Murley 6-0, 230

LG - Tom Bettis 6-0, 219

C - John Allen 6-2, 201

RG - Charles Andres 5-8, 179

RT - Joe Krupa 6-0, 237

RE - Leonard Zyzda 6-4, 200

QB - Len Dawson 6-0, 178

LHB - James Whitmer 6-1, 184

RHB - Ed Zembal 5-8, 171

FB - Phil Ehrman 5-9, 181

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