I rarely post on here but can't resist this. Earle Bruce was the head football coach at my high school, Sandusky High in Ohio, early 1960s. One of my fondest memories is when Earle was refereeing an intramural basketball game and hit me with a technical for mouthing off to him after a questionable call. Hey, Earle Bruce tee'd me up once!
Former ISU Coach Earle Bruce Has Died
- Thread starter ISU85
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Nice post! Beyond bringing back great great memories of ISU glory days and the DMR Big Peach section, I particularly enjoyed the headline of 'Hawks Drop 16th In Row to Purdue'.
RIP coach. Once a Cyclone, always a Cyclone.
I guess I've never heard that he had a Massillon connection as well.
From that LA Times article that was linked...
Bruce didn't get fired because of his coaching abilities. If there's one thing Bruce can do, it's win football games. As a high school coach, Bruce lost only 12 of 94 games. His teams at fabled Washington High in Massillon, Ohio, were 20-0.
I guess I've never heard that he had a Massillon connection as well.
From that LA Times article that was linked...
Bruce didn't get fired because of his coaching abilities. If there's one thing Bruce can do, it's win football games. As a high school coach, Bruce lost only 12 of 94 games. His teams at fabled Washington High in Massillon, Ohio, were 20-0.
There was a time when he also stuck it up Haydens Frys ass in 1985 to knock off the number 1 Iowa Hawkeyes.
Was talking about Earle with a buddy of mine yesterday and he reminded me of this gem. Earle and Jim Zabel at their finest.
I loved watching that show when I was a kid. How did those coaches have the time to go to Des Moines and tape a show each week during FB season? Truly a different time!
If Bruce had stayed at ISU there's a real possibility his legacy at ISU would be more similar to what Hayden Fry did at Iowa and Fry isn't as much of a big fish in a small pond since ISU was so bad in the 80's. One of Fry's most important things was keeping a thumb on ISU to help the brand.
I agree. And maybe several Big 8/Big 12 championships and a bowled in stadium years ago. The possibilities.
I remember that front page because it was reprinted in The Bomb that school year (my older sister's first year at ISU). And I still recall that subhead "5-way tie" for Big 8 lead ... I think all five were 4-2 with a game remaining (Iowa State, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma State).
And as we've noted many times, it's mind-boggling today that ISU didn't get a bowl bid, even being so close to reaching the Orange Bowl.
I don't remember exactly how tiebreaking would've work at that time -- I'm sure plenty of CF'ers can clarify. If ISU had beaten OSU in finale to finish 5-2, and OU and CU won their final games (as actually occurred), that would've been 3 teams at 5-2, but Oklahoma and Colorado each beat us, so would they also need to lose in final week? (CU ended up getting Orange Bowl bid).
