Johnny Majors has passed away

  • After Iowa State won the Big 12, a Cyclone made a wonderful offer to We Will that now increases our match. Now all gifts up to $400,000 between now and the Final 4 will be matched. Please consider giving at We Will Collective.
    This notice can be dismissed using the upper right corner X button.

Remo Gaggi

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2018
3,720
5,126
113
Man that makes me wish I was young enough to have seen a game at The Clyde.
I was in high school and went to some games when my big sister was a student. It was a wonderful atmosphere, especially for a testosterone filled teenager. I couldn't wait to get to Ames.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CyBobby

Cycsk

Year-round tailgater
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Aug 17, 2009
26,951
14,835
113
Was Johnny Majors the first head coach to leave Iowa State and win a national championship elsewhere? We have had others (Chizik, Sanderson, K.J. Kindler) in recent history, but was he the first?
 

Remo Gaggi

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2018
3,720
5,126
113
Was Johnny Majors the first head coach to leave Iowa State and win a national championship elsewhere? We have had others (Chizik, Sanderson, K.J. Kindler) in recent history, but was he the first?
He probably is. So we have that to hang our hat on. Take that, hoks!
 

ribsnwhiskey

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Feb 6, 2009
8,699
3,595
113
80246
RIP to a great ISU coach

c20f7909d9305e86c98633a94ffa0365.jpg

That is a great picture!
 

VeloClone

Well-Known Member
Jan 19, 2010
45,602
34,885
113
Brooklyn Park, MN
No, the first would be Pop Warner.
By the informative ratings of this post I am getting it looks like several people don't know about Pop Warner and Iowa State. Warner was the head coach of the Iowa State team that crushed Northwestern 36-0 in 1895 which resulted in the "Iowa Cyclone" headline about the game. Our team became known as the Cyclones from that headline. That was Warner's first year at Iowa State.

Warner won national championships at Pittsburgh in 1915, '16 and '18* and at Stanford in 1926.

*His 1917 Pittsburgh team went 10-0 but the national championship game was postponed due to U.S. participation in World War I until the following season and Georgia Tech was awarded the 1917 national championship. The next season when the two teams finally squared off, Pittsburgh eked out a 32-0 win over the "champions".
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: cyclones500

Cycsk

Year-round tailgater
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Aug 17, 2009
26,951
14,835
113
By the informative ratings of this post I am getting it looks like several people don't know about Pop Warner and Iowa State. Warner was the head coach of the Iowa State team that crushed Northwestern 36-0 in 1895 which resulted in the "Iowa Cyclone" headline about the game. Our team became known as the Cyclones from that headline. That was Warner's first year at Iowa State.

Warner won national championships at Pittsburgh in 1915, '16 and '18* and at Stanford in 1926.

*His 1917 Pittsburgh team went 10-0 but the national championship game was postponed due to U.S. participation in World War I until the following season and Georgia Tech was awarded the 1917 national championship. The next season when the two teams finally squared off, Pittsburgh eked out a 32-0 win over the "champions".


Interesting that both Warner and Majors won at Pitt. And if either had been at Pitt when Matt Campbell was there, he probably would have stayed!
 

Cycsk

Year-round tailgater
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Aug 17, 2009
26,951
14,835
113
Interesting bit in USA Today:

"I was intrigued by the rebuilding jobs he already had accomplished. He took Pittsburgh from college football’s doldrums to an unbeaten, national championship season in 1976. Before that, he worked wonders at Iowa State, little more than a Big Eight punching bag before Majors made it competitive. I didn’t have to ask many questions because Majors relished the topics. He seemed as proud of what he did at Iowa State as the football revival he pulled off at Pittsburgh. In 1971, the top three teams in the country were all from the Big Eight – No. 1 Nebraska, No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 Colorado. Those were the only three teams to beat Iowa State during the regular season."
 

CyBobby

Well-Known Member
Oct 18, 2006
7,561
2,129
113
Central Iowa
There are 3 people responsible for me being a Cyclone through and through. My Dad, Johnny Orr and Johnny Majors.

I am furiously looking for my hat he signed at the Peach Bowl. I can remember that trip like it was yesterday.

Rest in Peace Coach

You were at the Peach Bowl.....So was I and it was a great time in Atlanta....close to 25,000 Cyclones showed up for the game......in old Fulton County Stadium....
 

CyBobby

Well-Known Member
Oct 18, 2006
7,561
2,129
113
Central Iowa
Man that makes me wish I was young enough to have seen a game at The Clyde.

I saw some games at Clyde Williams Field...a guy I worked with told me that his father took care of the Grass Field at Clyde Williams and Veenker Golf Course.....We used to park in a neighbors back yard close to the Stadium and walk down to campustown and drink beer and eat pizza before the game.....I have been an ISU fan since Oct 1962 when I went to a football game in Lincoln NE....It was all american Dave Hoppmann ISU versus the great Bob Brown NU...the PA kept saying ....Hoppmann tackled by Brown.....Oh it was great to be young.....My family all went to Iowa State...Go Cyclones
 

JM4CY

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Aug 23, 2012
33,367
64,277
113
America
I saw some games at Clyde Williams Field...a guy I worked with told me that his father took care of the Grass Field at Clyde Williams and Veenker Golf Course.....We used to park in a neighbors back yard close to the Stadium and walk down to campustown and drink beer and eat pizza before the game.....I have been an ISU fan since Oct 1962 when I went to a football game in Lincoln NE....It was all american Dave Hoppmann ISU versus the great Bob Brown NU...the PA kept saying ....Hoppmann tackled by Brown.....Oh it was great to be young.....My family all went to Iowa State...Go Cyclones
I really appreciate posts like this
 
  • Like
Reactions: CyBobby

Remo Gaggi

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2018
3,720
5,126
113
I saw some games at Clyde Williams Field...a guy I worked with told me that his father took care of the Grass Field at Clyde Williams and Veenker Golf Course.....We used to park in a neighbors back yard close to the Stadium and walk down to campustown and drink beer and eat pizza before the game.....I have been an ISU fan since Oct 1962 when I went to a football game in Lincoln NE....It was all american Dave Hoppmann ISU versus the great Bob Brown NU...the PA kept saying ....Hoppmann tackled by Brown.....Oh it was great to be young.....My family all went to Iowa State...Go Cyclones
I would have loved to see Dave Hoppmann play. He was one of the best players in the country.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CyBobby

CyBobby

Well-Known Member
Oct 18, 2006
7,561
2,129
113
Central Iowa
I would have loved to see Dave Hoppmann play. He was one of the best players in the country.

On Nebraska's tv 30 minute replay show on sunday, Coach Bob Devaney said that if he could recruit five players like Dave Hoppmann that he could win a big eight championship.....
 

Go2Guy

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2006
8,859
1,043
113
Houston, TX
The New York Times obituary mentions Harvey Lee Yaurey used the stage name Lee Majors in honor of Johnny Majors. (I knew the name Lee Majors, but didn't know what he was in---he was apparently in Six Million Dollar Man and The Fall Guy.)
l

Dude, he married Farrah Fawcett! nuff said :)
 

LowOverhead

Active Member
Jun 15, 2015
129
95
28
Was SE Iowa
Our chance encounter with Coach Majors was quite brief. We were with a cluster of strangers, wet and cold, straggling out of the rain trenched stadium, the Liberty Bowl. We were just about out of the fenced area to head down Tiger Lane when a golf cart rolled up with Johnny and his driver. They stopped and we all had a brief discussion regarding the game. Nice of him to take the time.