Memorable Moments: Celebrating 100 years since the Greatest Aggies Team

Fans will debate which was the greatest team of the Sonny Lubick era. Was it the 1994 Rams which nearly went undefeated in the regular season? Was it the 1997 Rams who dominated the conference and the Missouri Tigers in the Holiday Bowl? Football in the pre-WWII era is rarely as debated due to time and a lack of knowing the players and landscape of Aggies football 100 years ago.

In 1925, coach Harry Hughes fielded what was likely the greatest team of the Pre-WWII football era at Colorado State. Although Hughes once was quoted as saying his 1927 team was better, when you look at the record, the challenges and dominance of the 1925 Colorado Agricultural College Aggies, it may come clear THIS was Hughes' greatest team.

The season started off with more than 125 men trying out for football, a school record to that date. Hughes addressed his men in September drills saying, "If any of you men are out here to work just hard enough to get the Hawaii trip, you might as well turn in your [football] suits. I want no more stars who rest on their oars. The men who get that trip next December will be men who have trained and given their best during the season. I will help the man who is willing to learn, but I have no time for one who wants to 'just get by'."

Hughes had scheduled a December 12^th game against Hawaii in Honolulu to cap off the 1925 season, whether it was a successful one or not. However, Hughes wanted to win another championship, his team was poised to play well in 1925 with returning lettermen like Julius "Hans" Wagner, Sam Clammer, Walt "Bus" Ball, Ham Brown and star halfback/quarterback Kenny Hyde. Newcomers, Fay "Tex" Rankin and Rollie Caldwell rounded out a slate of talented players. Hughes was quoted in the newspapers saying, "It is the teamwork and not the stars that win championships. You can figure the Aggies 25 percent stronger right now than we were last year."

Hughes needed a solid team for what would be the toughest schedule to date in school history. The Aggies were set to play 10 games, including the Hawaii game after the regular season. Eight of the 10 games were against conference foes, all tough teams at a time when the game of football was at its height in the Rocky Mountain region.

The season opened at Colorado Field on Oct. 3 against Regis College as a sort of warm-up game before 5,000 fans packed into the stadium. Hughes played every man he could in preparation for the conference season, the next eight games would determine who would win the RMAC championship.

After beating BYU in Fort Collins the next week, the first test of the season came in Denver against the DU team. A wet and sloppy field greeted both schools, but the Aggies came out on top, beating DU 17-0 to start the year 3-0. The closest game of the season took place the following week at Washburn Field in Colorado Springs. In a ragged game, the Tigers got off to an early lead when Rankin fumbled the ball early, leading to a CC field goal. By the last minutes of the game, CAC remained down 3-0 until Rankin blocked a Tigers punt, picked up the ball and ran it back for a touchdown, sealing their fourth victory of the season.

The Aggies then traveled to Logan to beat Utah State 13-0 and then back home to Colorado Field where they walloped the Colorado Teachers 43-18. The Aggies were playing their best football in the middle of the season and were the only undefeated team in the conference. While CU had been the odds-on favorite to win the conference, they lost their opener to Nebraska Teachers College (Chadron State today) and of all teams, Wyoming had been the only other undefeated team, until Nov. 7 when it lost to Utah State.

That set up a rematch of the 1923 conference championship game when CU came to Fort Collins to take on the Aggies on homecoming day. Before a completely packed Colorado Field crowd, Hyde, Wagner and Ball dominated the team from Boulder with a 12-0 win. A melee ensued after the game with CU fans mixing it up on the field with Aggies fans. In that melee, a Longmont High School student, cheering for CU, stole the Aggies school flag flying at Colorado Field. The flag was returned to CSU in 2014 and is seen at homecoming every year since, with players running onto the field carrying the now 100-year-old flag with pride.

With the toughest part of the schedule behind them, the Aggies went on to beat Mines in Golden by a 41-10 score and shut out Wyoming in Fort Collins 40-0. The Aggies had completed a 9-0 run on the season, the first time in school history a team had won nine games and the only year in CSU history in which the team has started its season with nine consecutive wins.

In those victories, the Aggies outscored their opponents 228-38. Compare that to the 1915 season when the Aggies went 7-0 to win the conference and in some fans eyes, national championship. The 1925 Aggies averaged 25.3 points per game to the 1915 team that averaged 34.7 per game. However, on defense the 1925 squad held their opponents to 4.2 points per game verses the 1915 team that allowed 4.42 points per game.

The 1925 Aggies were a dominant team and won Hughes' fifth conference championship in 11 seasons. The regular season game against Wyoming ended on Nov. 26 and the team immediately packed their bags for Hawaii. On Sunday, Nov. 29, fans in Fort Collins waved goodbye to the Aggies from the C&S depot, now occupied by the Rodizio Grill in Old Town.

The team traveled by train to San Francisco where they awaited a ship to take them to Honolulu. On the train ride to San Francisco, Rankin became ill while in Utah but was allowed to continue to California. Hughes took his player to the hospital where he was diagnosed with diphtheria and forced to stay behind in San Francisco.

The trip got worse as the SS Manoa, a steamship taking the Aggies to Hawaii, hit rough seas, making nearly every player, and Hughes himself, seasick for the remainder of the journey. John Hyde, son of Kenny Hyde said in a 2008 interview that his father told him he never got over his seasickness while in Hawaii. Hughes and local businessman, Sparks Alford, along with Mrs. Hughes and their son Bill were the only people to accommodate the team, there were no coaches or other staff on the trip.

The Aggies arrived in Honolulu a day late, sick to their stomachs and without one of their top players. With only 16 men to play the game, it left only five in reserves, four after Wagner was injured in the game. The 95-degree heat, sick stomachs and two weeks without a solid practice (they did some practicing on the ship running plays on the decks when the seas were not as rough) the Aggies lost to Hawaii 41-0.

Nevertheless, the 1925 season marked milestones unmatched by any Aggies or Rams team to date. It was one of only two seasons the Aggies or Rams have not lost a conference game (1915 being the other) and the first of only two seasons to win eight conference games with 1997 the only other season. The 1925 season also marked another first in CSU football, the first time any player from CSU to be named to an All-American team. Kenny Hyde was named to the third team as a quarterback, just two spots behind the legendary Red Grange.

Now, 100 years later we look back on this team as the greatest in pre-WWII history. Had they not played in Hawaii, this team could have been undefeated and carried on the longest win streak in school history, for now it is the second longest behind 1915. As we enjoy Ag Day, this is a good day to remember a time when football was a very different sport, but the goal remains the same 100 years later.

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