1931 Eureka Red Devils football team

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1931 Eureka Red Devils football
ConferenceIllinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Record3–4–1 (2–4–1 IIAC)
Head coach
CaptainBud Cole
Home stadiumMcKenzie Field
Seasons
← 1930
1932 →
1931 Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Monmouth (IL) $ 5 – 0 – 1 9 – 0 – 1
Millikin 4 – 1 – 0 6 – 3 – 0
Bradley 4 – 1 – 0 5 – 3 – 0
Augustana (IL) 3 – 1 – 2 5 – 2 – 2
St. Viator 5 – 2 – 0 5 – 2 – 0
Southern Illinois 4 – 2 – 0 7 – 2 – 0
North Central 4 – 2 – 0 5 – 2 – 0
Northern Illinois State 4 – 2 – 0 5 – 3 – 0
Carthage 3 – 3 – 1 4 – 4 – 1
Elmhurst 3 – 3 – 0 4 – 4 – 0
Knox (IL) 2 – 2 – 1 3 – 5 – 1
Illinois Wesleyan 3 – 3 – 0 3 – 5 – 0
McKendree 2 – 3 – 1 4 – 4 – 1
Eastern Illinois 2 – 3 – 0 3 – 4 – 0
Mount Morris 1 – 2 – 1 4 – 4 – 1
Eureka 2 – 4 – 1 3 – 4 – 1
Shurtleff 2 – 4 – 1 3 – 4 – 1
Western Illinois 2 – 4 – 0 2 – 6 – 0
Illinois College 1 – 4 – 2 2 – 5 – 2
Illinois State Normal 1 – 6 – 1 1 – 6 – 1
Lake Forest 0 – 2 – 2 0 – 2 – 4
Wheaton (IL) 0 – 3 – 0 3 – 5 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion

The 1931 Eureka Red Devils football team was an American football team that represented Eureka College in the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) during the 1931 college football season. In its 11th season under head coach Ralph McKinzie, the team compiled a 3–4–1 record, 2–4–1 against conference opponents.[1]

Quarterback Enos Miller "Bud" Cole was the team captain.[2]

Schedule[edit]

DateOpponentSiteResultSource
October 3Culver–Stockton*
W 42–14[3]
October 10Western Illinois
  • McKinzie Field
  • Eureka, IL
W 13–6[4]
October 17at Elmhurst
L 0–4[5]
October 23at Illinois StateNormal, ILW 12–0[6]
October 31Illinois Wesleyandagger
  • McKinzie Field
  • Eureka, IL
L 0–19[7]
November 7at CarthageCarthage, ILL 7–12[8]
November 14Mount Morris
  • McKinzie Field
  • Eureka, IL
T 0–0[9]
November 21at Illinois CollegeJacksonville, ILL 0–12[10]
  • *Non-conference game
  • daggerHomecoming

Roster[edit]

Ronald Reagan at Eureka
  • Livengood - quarterback
  • Wilson - halfback
  • Enos Miller "Bud" Cole - quarterback, halfback, and captain
  • Johann - fullback
  • Baker - back
  • Fletcher Shobe - halfback
  • Olson/Olsen - halfback, quarterback, fullback
  • Livey - halfback
  • Baker - halfback
  • Franklin Burghardt - center
  • Ronald Reagan - guard
  • Wilfred A. "Tubby" Muller - guard[11]
  • Slater - guard
  • James L. Conlee - tackle
  • Ray Holmes - tackle
  • Jim Rattan - tackle
  • Henry Sand - end
  • Dixon - end
  • Elmer E. "Knute" Fischer - end[12]
  • Smith - end

Ronald Reagan[edit]

Ronald Reagan, who later served as the 40th President of the United States, was a member of the team. Coach McKinzie recalled Reagan as "just a fellow who wanted to play football but didn't have too much talent."[13] Reagan became a starter at the guard position as a junior in 1930 and remained a starter as a senior in 1931. McKinzie added: "He had determination, oh yes. He was a team player, very definitely."[13]

In his biography of Reagan, Edmund Morris wrote that "he remained a slow, half-blind, yet fanatically dedicated player through the end of his last season. He prayed before every game, then walked onto the grid scared enough to piss himself His bladder eased as soon as play began, and for the next hour he would hurl himself at bigger bodies without flinching."[14]

Reagan also served as captain and coach of the school's swim team during his senior year.

Reagan-Burghardt relationship[edit]

Franklin Burghardt was an African-American who was the team's starting center. While playing a road game against Elmhurst College, a hotel refused to allow Burghardt and the team's other black player, Jim Rattan, to stay. The coach was angry and decided that the whole team would sleep on the bus. Reagan, Burghardt later recalled, worried that this would cause the team's performance to suffer and thus humiliate the black players and harm their morale, and suggested instead that the coach tell the team that the hotel did not have enough rooms.[15][16] Coach McKinzie gave him fare for a taxi for Reagan, Bughardt, and Rattan to Dixon, Illinois, to stay with his parents, Jack and Nelle Reagan, who welcomed them "like Amos 'n' Andy."[17]

In Reagan's 1986 autobiography, Where's the Rest of Me?, he told a story about a racist player on an opposing team who was "filled with hatred and prejudice" and "played dirty" while targeting Burghardt. Though Burghardt was injured, he refused to play dirty and astounded the other team with his strength and skill. At the end of the game, the defeated player turned around to shake Burghardt's hand, telling him he was the greatest human being he had ever met. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1986, President Reagan shared the same story at a school in Washington, D.C.[18] Reagan and Burghardt remained friends, many decades later.[19][20]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "2013 Eureka College Football Media Guide". 2013. p. 79. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  2. ^ "Red Devils Hope to Spill Carthage Saturday Afternoon". The Daily Pantagraph. November 6, 1931. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Eureka College Wins First Game of Season". Woodford County Journal. October 8, 1931. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Eureka College Defeats Macomb". Waterford County Journal. October 15, 1931. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Eureka College Notes". Woodford County Journal. October 22, 1931. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Eureka Defeats Normal". Woodford County Journal. October 29, 1931. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Many Come Back For Homecoming: Illinois Wesleyan Defeats Eureka Before a Thousand Football Fans". Waterford County Journal. November 5, 1931. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Carthage Noses Out Eureka College, 12-7". The Sunday Pantagraph. November 8, 1931. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Mt. Morris Battles Eureka to 0-0 Tie". The Sunday Pantagraph. November 15, 1931. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Blueboys End Season With Win Over Eureka". The Jacksonville Daily Journal. November 22, 1931. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Wilfred A. Muller". The Pantagraph. August 8, 2001. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Elmer Fischer obituary". The Rock Island Dispatch-Argus. December 1, 2000.
  13. ^ a b "R.W. Reagan, '32, to speak to Class of '82". Chicago Tribune. May 9, 1982. pp. III-1, III-12 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan. Modern Library. 1999. p. 89. ISBN 0375756450.
  15. ^ "A personal anecdote in defense of Ronald Reagan". The Star-Democrat. Easton, Maryland. November 30, 2010. p. 4.
  16. ^ Bob Spitz (2018). Reagan: An American Journey. Penguin Books. pp. 112–113. ISBN 9780143110590.
  17. ^ Edmund Morris, Dutch, p. 89.
  18. ^ "Reagan lauds King in speech at black school". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pennsylvania. January 16, 1986. p. 3. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  19. ^ Allen, Henry (May 10, 1981). "Reagan, black college pal have kept in touch". The Washington Post.
  20. ^ "Reagan and Race". August 2019.
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