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| Ward Field, across from the North Campus dormitories. |
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| Game action on Ward Field |
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| Rosebloom Field, ready for today's home opener |
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Pioneers Play at Rosenbloom for First Time in '14
The Pioneers return to play at Rosenbloom for the first time in 2014. In their 125 year history the Pioneers have played on two official home fields. The accounts of the first game against Iowa describe a field west of the present day Forum, on the College's South Campus.
The first official field though, was Ward Field, on Grinnell's North Campus. Ward Field would eventually be bordered on the West by Mac Field and the North Campus dormitories and on the South by Darby Gymnasium. Once the football team moved to their current location, Ward Field became the home to the men's soccer team at Grinnell, and is currently used for club and intramural sports.
In 1975 the Pioneers moved to their current location on the north side of 10th Avenue, Rosenbloom Field. Named in honor of Virginia Whitney Rosenbloom '36 and Abe Rosenbloom '34, Rosenbloom field is one of only two remaining natural playing surfaces in the Midwest Conference, and is without a doubt the finest. Abe Rosenbloom was a three year starter for the Pioneers during their days in the Missouri Valley Conference. He was named All-Conference in both 1932 and 1933. With no track surrounding the field, the seating is very close to the action, creating one of the more intimate atmospheres in the midwest.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Happy Birthday Nora Jane
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| Nora (right) and Frances, looking tough in their helmets. |
Nora is now in her first year of pre-school and growing as fast as you'd expect. She'll be a Grinnell Tiger and a Grinnell College Pioneer before you know it!
Friday, September 12, 2014
I Want To See Frenzy!!
The Pioneers will take the field tomorrow for their first game of the season, taking on conference foe Beloit College. It's been a long wait for our first game, and we are ready! The Pioneers will take the advice of an original Pioneer, Sam Pooley, "I don't want to see enthusiasm out there . . . I want to see frenzy!" From a coaches perspective, I hope that's a controlled frenzy, but our guys are so ready I certainly don't want to hold them back. Can't wait!
As was recently reported in the Des Moines Register Sam Pooley was a member of the original Pioneer team in 1889. Seventy years later, at the age of 90, Pooley returned to campus for a matchup against Carleton, and his request for frenzy was part of his pre-game speech to the team that day.
Keep following along with our season as we celebrate not only the 2014 season, but also a rich 125 year history of Pioneer Football.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
125 Years! Part 2
As we continue our season-long celebration of 125 years of football at Grinnell College, I'm re-printing a note originally written by the University of Iowa Alumni Association. It is a brief account of the 1889 game from their perspective:
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1889
September 26
Professor Sampson sponsored a meeting to organize Iowa’s first varsity team. He was unanimously
elected both captain and coach of the
first varsity eleven.
October
6
The following invitation appeared in the Vidette-Reporter, Iowa’s student newspaper: “The SUI
team hereby challenges any college or
other team in the state of Iowa to a game of football.”
Iowa College (now
Grinnell) was the only team to rise to the challenge, but they did so,
according
to a Grinnell paper, “with considerable fear and trembling!”
November
16
“HERE COME THE YELLOW CANARIES!” Iowa met Iowa College in Grinnell for the first championship football game to be played west of
the Mississippi. A boastful Iowa team, confident of victory, had dressed for the occasion.
Wearing canvas pants and SUI jackets with Old Gold ribbons on the
shoulders—uniforms that
team members had secured on credit from Max Mayer’s
Iowa City clothing store—the men were
greeted by shouts of “Here come the
Yellow Canaries!” and “Ain’t they sweet?”
The
Iowa College Pioneers showed no such uniformity in their dress that day. They
wore bicycling
trousers, bib overalls, gym jerseys, and even shorts, but the
ragtag team played aggressive football,
compiling 24 points against the
scoreless Hawkeyes.
Edwin
Sabin, 1900BA, who suited up to play Grinnell in 1889, later remembered the
game. “My own
immediate opponent was gentlemanly but firm,” he said. “We
butted heads and shoulders in fashion
amicable, with no damage done.”
But,
even then, football could be a rough game. Rule 13 of the 1889 handbook
ordered that “no
tripping, hacking, pushing, or retaining with the hands,
striking with the fists, or unnecessary roughness
shall be allowed.
Projecting nail and iron plates on shoes are prohibited.”
A
week after the Hawkeyes returned to Iowa City from their first
intercollegiate football game, the
Vidette-Reporter explained Iowa’s
loss this way: “The home players have an immense advantage
over their
opponents, for the encouraging shouts and hurrahs of friends must necessarily
inspire
them to an almost reckless audacity.
“Again,
our worthy Grinnell opponents were larger and heavier men, and played a
better team
game. Weight, activity, and headwork play an important part in a
football game.
“Furthermore,
there was some misunderstanding between the opposing teams as to the rules,
which worked against the SUI players.”
Iowa
students were loyal to their team!
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Wednesday, September 3, 2014
125 Years!
125 years ago this November 16, Grinnell (Iowa College at the time) played the University of Iowa in the first championship football game west of the Mississippi River. The Pioneers prevailed 24 - 0. Throughout the season we will be celebrating 125 years of Pioneer football with regular blog posts featuring some of the top games, moments, and players in our history.
To kick things off, we will feature an account of the game from Grinnell's perspective, and we'll follow that up later in the week with the University of Iowa's perspective. The following was excerpted from: On a Field in Grinnell: A Gridiron First, written by William Deminoff.
There were no bleachers, no bands, no hotdogs, or cheerleaders. The field was a patch of prairie with lines scratched on the turf. One team was dressed in spanking new white-canvas uniforms, the other in shirts and pants "of all shapes and colors."
Regardless of their appearance, the players were there to make history. The teams were both named Iowa - The State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa) and Iowa College (now Grinnell College) - and the record book shows that Grinnell won 24-0. Today, that would be David felling Goliath. But it wasn't the score that made this a special day; it was the fact that this was the first intercollegiate football game played west of the Mississippi River. The game took place November 16, 1889, and was played on a 330-by-160 foot field west of what is now the College Forum on the Grinnell campus. This was 20 years after Rutgers beat Princeton in the nation's first intercollegiate football game on November 6, 1869.
Both the 1869 and the 1889 game were precursors to American football as we know it today. Rutgers-Princeton was virtually a soccer match, while the Iowa-Grinnell contest had rugby features. It was, in fact, much more like the Harvard-McGill game of May 15, 1874 - the first intercollegiate rugby football match played in the United States. The 1889 contest resulted from a University of Iowa challenge to "any college or other team in the state to a game of football, American Association rules." The challenge was published in two Iowa newspapers in late October. Grinnell's Fred Van Gieson and Frank Everest, both of whom had played the game in a New Jersey prep school, accepted the challenge, quickly organized a Grinnell team, and scheduled a two-week series of practices.
When the Iowa team arrived on November 16 for the 2:30 pm start of the game, its personnel looked big to the Grinnell gridders - much bigger than the average 174 pounds that the local team hefted. Big or not, most of the players were officially enrolled students at their institutions, with the exception that a few of the Grinnellians would be "special students" - that is, taking courses but not aiming for a degree. If this was some sort of violation, it was balanced by the fact that Iowa's captain, Martin Sampson, was not a student at all - he was in fact a professor of English literature.
The rules of the day called for a game of one and one-half hours, "each side playing 45 minutes from each goal" with a 10 minute break between halves.
At the opening of the game, Grinnell got the ball and gained ground with a flying wedge. First used by Princeton against Pennsylvania in 1884, the formation hid the ball-carrier within a V as the entire wedge surged forward. Grinnell used a variation by passing from the V, and before long the local team was inside Iowa's 25 yard line. The first touchdown was scored by Otto Savage who, true to his name, fought his way through the Iowa line. The touchdown was worth four points. Van Gieson, who according to the rules could try a place-kick or a punt for two points, opted for a put but missed.
A contemporary account says that Iowa then "kicked the ball from center, but it was quickly rushed in their territory by (Grinnell), and a safety was soon scored." This yielded two more points, followed by rushes that brought the Grinnell team again inside their opponents 25 yard line. This time it was Harry Macomber's turn to take the ball in. The kick failed, but the score at the end of the half was Grinnell 10, Iowa 0.
In the second half, Van Gieson made a long yardage play after receiving an Iowa kick. A few plays later Theron Lyman took the ball in, and John Harvey kicked the two-pointer to make the score Grinnell 16, Iowa 0. Iowa matched Van Gieson's big play with one of its own, Martin Sampson carrying the ball for 25 yards. Sampson almost broke through, but a hard tackle by Grinnell's Herb Miller stopped the play, and Grinnell soon regained possession of the ball. A few plays later, Lyman pushed the ball into the end zone, and Grinnell was ahead by 20-0 (the try at two points again failed). Iowa couldn't bring teh ball downfield, and when the Grinnell took over, Van Gieson rushed into the end zone. Final score: Grinnell 24, Iowa 0.
To kick things off, we will feature an account of the game from Grinnell's perspective, and we'll follow that up later in the week with the University of Iowa's perspective. The following was excerpted from: On a Field in Grinnell: A Gridiron First, written by William Deminoff.
There were no bleachers, no bands, no hotdogs, or cheerleaders. The field was a patch of prairie with lines scratched on the turf. One team was dressed in spanking new white-canvas uniforms, the other in shirts and pants "of all shapes and colors."
Regardless of their appearance, the players were there to make history. The teams were both named Iowa - The State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa) and Iowa College (now Grinnell College) - and the record book shows that Grinnell won 24-0. Today, that would be David felling Goliath. But it wasn't the score that made this a special day; it was the fact that this was the first intercollegiate football game played west of the Mississippi River. The game took place November 16, 1889, and was played on a 330-by-160 foot field west of what is now the College Forum on the Grinnell campus. This was 20 years after Rutgers beat Princeton in the nation's first intercollegiate football game on November 6, 1869.
Both the 1869 and the 1889 game were precursors to American football as we know it today. Rutgers-Princeton was virtually a soccer match, while the Iowa-Grinnell contest had rugby features. It was, in fact, much more like the Harvard-McGill game of May 15, 1874 - the first intercollegiate rugby football match played in the United States. The 1889 contest resulted from a University of Iowa challenge to "any college or other team in the state to a game of football, American Association rules." The challenge was published in two Iowa newspapers in late October. Grinnell's Fred Van Gieson and Frank Everest, both of whom had played the game in a New Jersey prep school, accepted the challenge, quickly organized a Grinnell team, and scheduled a two-week series of practices.
When the Iowa team arrived on November 16 for the 2:30 pm start of the game, its personnel looked big to the Grinnell gridders - much bigger than the average 174 pounds that the local team hefted. Big or not, most of the players were officially enrolled students at their institutions, with the exception that a few of the Grinnellians would be "special students" - that is, taking courses but not aiming for a degree. If this was some sort of violation, it was balanced by the fact that Iowa's captain, Martin Sampson, was not a student at all - he was in fact a professor of English literature.
The rules of the day called for a game of one and one-half hours, "each side playing 45 minutes from each goal" with a 10 minute break between halves.
At the opening of the game, Grinnell got the ball and gained ground with a flying wedge. First used by Princeton against Pennsylvania in 1884, the formation hid the ball-carrier within a V as the entire wedge surged forward. Grinnell used a variation by passing from the V, and before long the local team was inside Iowa's 25 yard line. The first touchdown was scored by Otto Savage who, true to his name, fought his way through the Iowa line. The touchdown was worth four points. Van Gieson, who according to the rules could try a place-kick or a punt for two points, opted for a put but missed.
A contemporary account says that Iowa then "kicked the ball from center, but it was quickly rushed in their territory by (Grinnell), and a safety was soon scored." This yielded two more points, followed by rushes that brought the Grinnell team again inside their opponents 25 yard line. This time it was Harry Macomber's turn to take the ball in. The kick failed, but the score at the end of the half was Grinnell 10, Iowa 0.
In the second half, Van Gieson made a long yardage play after receiving an Iowa kick. A few plays later Theron Lyman took the ball in, and John Harvey kicked the two-pointer to make the score Grinnell 16, Iowa 0. Iowa matched Van Gieson's big play with one of its own, Martin Sampson carrying the ball for 25 yards. Sampson almost broke through, but a hard tackle by Grinnell's Herb Miller stopped the play, and Grinnell soon regained possession of the ball. A few plays later, Lyman pushed the ball into the end zone, and Grinnell was ahead by 20-0 (the try at two points again failed). Iowa couldn't bring teh ball downfield, and when the Grinnell took over, Van Gieson rushed into the end zone. Final score: Grinnell 24, Iowa 0.
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