Looking Back on Fame

10-2-89

Perspective:

It was a pretty good week for Cobber sports. The volleyball team looks like it may be building a tradition as a winner, and the football team won a crucial game at St. Thomas.

But, while the Cobber coaches were thoroughly caught up in the games of the moment, some of us were working on plans for homecoming, that innocent ritual of autumn in which nostalgic alumni are welcomed back to campus to exchange embellished stories, check on old sweethearts, and remind themselves that, all things considered, they are indeed aging with grace.

For many, there is an emerging tradition to add to the homecoming itinerary, the annual Hall of Fame banquet.

The fourth such event will take place this weekend, with seven new inductees being honored. For the athletic department, it has become a celebration of our roots, and a scheduled opportunity to measure our current priorities with those of earlier generations.

Listening to these older Cobber athletes talk of their time in the spotlight it is easy to imagine more laughter then than now. One suspects, perhaps hopes, that the sense of self importance with which we now pursue our seasons afflicted them as well. Time will let us see the full extent of humor in our present deeds, like they now roar with laughter over games and incidents most have long forgotten.

Walking back in time with some of these Cobber legends, one is struck by the lack of clutter in their memories.

No lingering regrets seem to haunt these people, even though all of them confronted the limits of their talent more than once. The people they played with and for and against were all "good guys", the slights of yesteryear erased from memory, or just forgiven.

Yes, those who will be inducted were all "winners" in their athletic endeavors, with every apparent reason to have enjoyed their time in sports. Talk to the "losers" of that same era, you suggest, and we'd probably find a lot of people with lingering bitterness over the defeat and humiliation they suffered.

Perhaps. But in talking to them, one is reminded of the likelihood that an upbeat outlook is a precondition of true success, not just a by-product.

Trying to understand and learn from the context in which these Hall of Famers thrived can be delightful in itself. Some, like Barry Bennett, class of '78 and recently retired from ten years in the NFL, have experienced their glory so recently that we can measure it by contemporary standards. His success in retaining both his humility and his faith is more stunning for having occurred when it did.

And because Dick Peterson, of Henning's "Peterson Twins," who averaged 25 points per game for the '69-70 Cobs, is a "modern" athlete, his basketball success with but one eye is all the more inspiring. But keep looking back further.

It takes a little stretching for some of us to imagine the athletic world faced by Joan Hult when she arrived at Concordia in 1958, a world with no intercollegiate sports for women. It is, almost, still too soon to be able to laugh freely at the stupid obstacles she had to overcome in starting Cobber women's sports.

Al Tweit ('58), having arrived in the seemingly more innocent era of the 50's, can challenge our modern seriousness with Jake Christiansen stories that are both hilarious and endearing. (Al was headed for the University of Minnesota on a football ride when Jake showed up at Al's farm in Glenwwod in August of '54.

Jake told Al that, since freshman football at the U of M didn't start until mid-September, Al should come and work out with Concordia until then. Al fell for both the ploy and Concordia.)

But we have to go back even further to really test our bearings as sports buffs. Like the early '30's.

Three of those who will be inducted into the Concordia Athletic Hall of Fame this Saturday, Frank Cleve, Earl Moran, and Pat Hilde, played a big part in Cobber claims to a tradition of excellence. Cleve came to Concordia in 1926 to coach at a school that had, basically, never won anything. And, with the help of Moran, Hilde and a few others, he brought the Cobbers their first conference titles; basketball in 1930-31 and football in the fall of '31.

Cleve inherited a football program that had gotten off to a false start right before World War I. One writer at the time described the inaugural season of 1916 as "rich in experience and defeats."

In 1921 the Cobbers made their first football foray into what is now the MIAC. The yearbook description of this misadventure could well be confused with current writing about certain less-than-successful Cobber teams.

"Carleton and St. Olaf were played. Both games were lost by rather disastrous scores. It was realized, however, that these teams were two of the strongest in Minnesota and the Concordia team was not disheartened."

Right.

By 1930, Cleve, who was always a good teacher, had learned the recruiting game. After his Cobbers won the 1930-31 basketball title with a win at St. Thomas, Cleve was praised by a local sports writer. "Under Cleve's guidance, the standard of athletics has continued to advance...until Cobber teams have been persistent threats to any title-aspiring aggregation."

Some of the terminology used by sports writers back then would be a little confusing to modern readers. Two years before the Cobs won that '30-31 basketball title they had been in contention late in the season. But, "Doped, as they were, to win, however, the Cobbers were nosed out by a point in the final minutes of play and the title passed on to St. Olaf."

The sports writing back then also tended to be a little more flowery than now. Here's what was written about Pat Hilde on his departure from Concordia. "A deadly shot at the hoop, his floor work as smooth as satin and elusive as an antelope, his picking of weaknesses in the opposing defense as uncanny as natural phenomena, Pat has come to be recognized as one of the greatest basketball players ever to grace Northwest courts."

But most descriptions of the people and events of that era hold up quite nicely over fifty-five years. When Cleve's best group of athletes was getting ready to graduate, the class of '34 "triumvirate" of Moran, Hilde and "Shorty" Malvey was honored by these sports writer's words. "And as for sportsmanship, we can truthfully say that we never saw Hilde, Moran or Malvey stoop to unfair tactics, become malicious or vicious, or prey on a bruised or battered or injured opponent. They were great enough to win by fair play and accept defeat gracefully. A finer tribute we can extend to no man."

Some concepts are timeless.

These pages are maintained by Jerry Pyle pyle@cord.edu. These articles are copyrighted © and may not be published or reproduced without the express permission of Jerry Pyle.

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