Yesterday everyone concentrated on the #1 ranked Ohio vs the #2 ranked Michigan college football game. And let me tell you, it was a great game. Ohio ended up winning it by a mear 3 points, 42 to 39. But the excitement here in Minnesota was equalled for football fans when the Gophers took on the Iowa Hawkeyes to win a 2006 bowl bid, for the 5th straight year, and to bring home the Floyd of Rosedale trophy with a 34 to 24 victory.
The winner of the annual Iowa-Minnesota football game is entitled to keep a trophy known as Floyd of Rosedale until next year's contest.
The year was 1935, and emotions were running hot heading into the Iowa-Minnesota game. Bernie Bierman’s Gophers were 5-0, and Ossie Solem’s Hawkeyes were 4-0-1. Iowa had recently been suspended from the Big Ten Conference for one month due to allegations of illegal recruiting, a suspension that had been ardently supported by a Minnesota representative. To make matters worse, Iowa fans still remembered the Iowa-Minnesota contest from 1934, when Iowa's star player, Ozzie Simmons, had to leave the game due to injuries. Simmons was also one of the few black football players of that era. Whether it was due to his talent or his race, many Iowa fans felt Simmons was unfairly targeted by the Minnesota players in the 1934 game.
Before the 1935 Iowa-Minnesota contest in Iowa City, Minnesota head coach Bernie Bierman received a flood of threatening letters from Iowa fans. He requested and received special police protection for the team when it detrained in Iowa a couple days before the contest.
As the game drew closer, the situation deteriorated. Rumors flew. One was that fans were organizing to storm the field if Ozzie Simmons was roughed up. The day before the game, Iowa Governor Clyde Herring seemed to funnel all the state's unhappiness into one statement, and in the process he appeared to legitimize the rumors.
"Those Minnesotans will find 10 other top-notch football players besides "Oze" Simmons against them this year," said Herring. "Moreover, if the officials stand for any rough tactics like Minnesota used last year, I'm sure the crowd won't."
The news quickly reached Minnesota. Coach Bierman threatened to break off athletic relations. Minnesota Attorney General Harry Peterson practically accused the Iowa governor of thuggery.
"Your remark that the crowd at the Iowa-Minnesota game will not stand for any rough tactics is calculated to incite a riot," said Peterson. "It is a breach of your duty as governor, and evidences an unsportsmanlike, cowardly and contemptible frame of mind."
At this point, the only politician in the bunch wearing a smile entered the dispute. Minnesota Governor Floyd Olson knew he had to lighten the mood. He sent a telegram to Governor Herring on game-day morning.
Minnesota Governor Floyd Olson and Iowa Governor Clyde Herring with the original Floyd of Rosedale.
"Minnesota folks are excited about your statement about the Iowa crowd lynching the Minnesota football team. I have assured them that you are a law abiding gentleman only trying to get our goat. The Minnesota team will tackle clean but hard. Clyde, if you seriously think Iowa has any chance to win, I will bet you a Minnesota prize hog against an Iowa prize hog. You are getting odds because Minnesota raises better hogs than Iowa."
The Iowa governor accepted, and what became known as the Floyd of Rosedale prize was born. Herring apparently followed Olson's cue. He joked it would be hard to find a prize hog in Minnesota, since they all were so "scrawny."
Word of the bet reached Iowa City as the crowd gathered at the stadium. Things calmed down and the game was untroubled. Minnesota won 13-6, and Iowa star Ozzie Simmons played an injury-free game. Afterwards, the Minnesota players went out of their way to compliment Simmons, and Simmons praised the Gophers for their clean, hard-fought play.
Governor Herring obtained an award-winning prize pig which had been donated by Allen Loomis, the owner of Rosedale Farms near Fort Dodge, Iowa. Dubbed Floyd after Minnesota Governor Olson, the pig was the brother of Blue Boy from the movie State Fair.
A few days later, Governor Herring collected "Floyd of Rosedale" and personally walked him into Governor Olson’s carpeted office. About the same time, news surfaced that an Iowa fan had sworn out a warrant charging Herring with gambling. Olson good-naturedly offered asylum, but Herring declined. “I might have to go home and write out a pardon for myself,” Herring joked.
Governor Olson later offered Floyd up as the grand prize in a state-wide essay-writing contest, which was won by 14-year old Robert Jones. Jones later sold the hog to the University of Minnesota. A year later, the University sold Floyd to J.B. Gjerdrum, a breeder who lived near Mabel, Minn., on the Iowa-Minnesota border, for “about $50” according to Gjerdrum. Sadly, in a death most unbefitting a figure of such stature, Floyd passed on to that great pigpen in the sky. As Gjerdrum noted, “We had him about a year. There was hog cholera around...One day he just leaned up against a straw pile and died.”
The spirit of good sportsmanship embodied by Floyd lives on in the form of a 15 1/2-inch high, 21-inch long bronze statue of the prize hog. The sculpture was commissioned by Governor Olson and created by Charles Brioschi, a St. Paul artist.
Every year, since 1935, these two border-state rivals have fought for the right to pen the bronze pig in their own trophy case. During that span, Minnesota has won Floyd 38 times, Iowa has won 31, and there have been two ties. As of 2005, Floyd resides in Iowa City, where he has been for the past 4 years.
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