University of Minnesota Alumni Association : Letters

I just read the letter from Mr. Arriola in the July–August issue criticizing the magazine for its recent cover story on grape growing.

I thought the article was an excellent choice. With the widespread cultivation of grapes for wine production and table fruit, I thought that the role of the University in this sector of agricultural research was quite relevant and of interest to a wide audience.

Mr. Arriola asks that the magazine address “important social, political, or economic issues” instead. Frankly, I get quite enough of those types of stories in all the other media channels from my daily newspapers to magazines to broadcast journalism. Please keep Minnesota for stories of interest about what is going on at the University of Minnesota these days, especially for those many alumni who do not live in the Twin Cities or greater Minnesota and, hence, do not receive any ongoing news about the University in their local media.

I found the article on student health in the July–August issue to be very interesting, with one exception. I was surprised and disappointed to read the caption below the photograph of the student receiving allergy testing by a “technician.” One can tell by the hat the “technician” is wearing that she is indeed a nurse.

The School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota was established in 1909 and has the distinction of being the first continuing nursing program on the University campus. The School of Nursing also has the distinction of being the largest graduate program at the University. It is this type of inaccuracy that prevents public understanding of the role nurses play in modern health care. I would appreciate a future article on the contributions of nursing to the University of Minnesota and the global community.

Have you ever considered renaming your magazine Minnesota/Global Warming? It seems that every single issue is devoted to the idea of global warming, blames Bush, and allows no room for debate on the issues. A little, and I mean little, amount of research on the subject (Minnesota is a research University, right?) told me a few things not mentioned in your articles:

• The cost for America to comply with the Kyoto provisions have been estimated as high as $440 billion annually, would cost millions of jobs, and punish families to the tune of $2,700 a year.

• The United States got the worst of the deal when Clinton signed the Kyoto treaty: other countries were assigned lower reductions or completely exempted.

• Satellite and weather balloon data show none of the warming found by land-based thermometers.

I look forward to the November–December magazine, which no doubt will mention how Christmas (excuse me, “holiday season”) will be ruined by global warming.

In the spirit of the Dr. F. John Lewis family members’ historic pride, I just wanted to point out a slight error in your “Minnesota Miracles” column [September–October]. In the third sentence, you wrote, “the University pioneered open-heart surgery nearly 50 years ago.”

The operation that Dr. Lewis performed—54 years ago, on September 2, 1952—represented the world’s first successful entry into, and lasting repair, of the human heart (and that patient, then just 5 years old, is alive and well today). Other pioneering open-heart surgery milestones at the University of Minnesota also took place over 50 years ago, including Dr. C. Walton Lillehei’s cross-circulation series (which began on March 26, 1954, over 52 years ago) and Dr. Richard A. DeWall’s development of the bubble oxygenator (in 1955, over 51 years ago).

Mary Knatterud
Associate Professor and Senior Research Associate
Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota

I am very distressed that neither Dan Gislason nor the editors of Minnesota took the time to verify the correct spelling of “Filipino” (spelled as “Philippino”) in Gislason’s letter in the September–October issue [“War Diary”]. Not only is it a slap in the face to those of us who are of Filipino heritage, but it also shows ignorance on both your parts, something I don’t like seeing from the University of Minnesota or its grads.

Tim Brady’s story about the Gopher football program in the 1920s was interesting [“The Upset”], but an even more interesting piece of Gopher football surrounds the 1934 season: undoubtedly the most important and most illustrious season in Minnesota football history. Most important because it was the first time Minnesota achieved national recognition and acclamation by winning the first of three consecutive National Championships. Most illustrious because the 1934 team outscored its opponents 270–38 and so overwhelmed them that it was challenged only once with a closely contested game—with Pittsburgh.

It all started the year before Bernie Bierman’s second year as head coach at Minnesota. The 1933 team went undefeated and was co–Big Ten champion even though it had four tie games: 6–6 with Indiana, 7–7 with Purdue, 0–0 with Northwestern, and 0–0 with Michigan.

With most of the 1933 team returning, including all-Americans Pug Lund and Butch Larson, prospects for a championship the next year looked good. Consequently the 1934 season was eagerly anticipated but with some apprehension over an early season game scheduled with Pittsburgh, a powerhouse in the East.

As expected, the Pittsburgh Panthers proved to be the crucial game of the year. At the end of the third quarter, the Gophers trailed 7–0. In the fourth quarter, Larson recovered a fumble that lead to a touchdown for Minnesota. The score remained tied at 7 until the waning moments of the game when Coach Bierman sent in the following play which was not only decisive, but in retrospect is undoubtedly the most momentous single play in the history of Minnesota football.

Quarterback Glen Seidel took the snap from center. He handed off to fullback Stan Kostka, who was plunging toward the center of the line thereby pulling the Pittsburgh linebackers in to meet him. Suddenly Kostka stopped, turned around, and tossed the football to Lund at halfback. With right guard Bill Bevan and right halfback Julian Alfonse running interference, Lund started a sweeping run around right end, which drew the rest of the Pittsburgh defense over to stop him. Lund suddenly stopped and threw a pass back across the field to left end Bob Tenner who caught it just as he crossed the goal line.

That was the ball game: Minnesota 13, Pittsburgh 7. The 1934 team thereby survived the only real test it had that season. It devastated every other opponent (defeating North Dakota State 56–12, Nebraska 20–0, Iowa 48–12, Michigan 34–0, Indiana 30–0, Chicago 35–7, Wisconsin 34–0), became Big Ten Champion, and was unanimously recognized as the 1934 National Champion.

Minnesota was also undisputedly the National Champion in 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, and 1960. However, the 1934 team outscored and overwhelmed its opponents with a supremacy that is unmatched by any other National Championship team from Minnesota or elsewhere, and that includes Notre Dame, USC, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Miami, and any other team that has ever won a National Championship.

Moreover, the 1934 Minnesota team had three unanimous all-Americans: Lund at left halfback, Bevan at right guard, and Larson at right end. In addition, left end Tenner and fullback Kostka were both named to several all-American teams. No records can be found of any other football team ever having three all-Americans simultaneously, let alone five. Consequently, the 1934 Minnesota football team offers impressive credentials for being named the best college football team of all time.

Please write to: Letters to the Editor, Minnesota, McNamara Alumni Center, 200 Oak St. SE, Suite 200, Minneapolis, MN 55455. Or e-mail: fling003@umn.edu.