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University of Minnesota Athletics
Classic Rewrite - Bronko Nagurski
9/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
This feature story appeared in Minnesota's official game program on October 27, 1979. Bronko Nagurski's number was retired at halftime.
For the second time in the University of Minnesota's long and glorious intercollegiate football history, a jersey number will be retired ... a number never to be worn again by a Gopher gridder after this season.
On June 27, 1977, in a ceremony at Faribault, Minnesota, #54, the jersey worn by Minnesota's only Heisman Trophy winner, Bruce Smith (1939-40-41), was placed in permanent retirement.
Today at halftime, appropriate ceremonies conducted by Paul Giel, director of men's intercollegiate athletics, will be held to retire a second jersey number.
The number? ... 72. Who wore #72? Perhaps the greatest individual athlete who ever donned the maroon and gold of Minnesota ... Bronislav "Bronko" Nagurski.
Unfortunately due to illness, the Bronk cannot be with us this afternoon, so accepting on behalf of his father will be Bronko Nagurski, Jr.
Anyone who has ever shown the slightest interest in the great collegiate game can't help but have come across the name "Bronko". He is still the greatest living legend the game has ever known.
Evidence of this comes from volumes of copy written about his exploits. To this day, the International Falls, Minnesota resident is the only man to have been elected to two positions on the same All-America team.
In 1929, his senior year at Minnesota, the Bronk was voted to the first team at both tackle and fullback. In addition, he was named to some All-America teams as an end.
When it came time to name the all-time greatest football team ever at a special gathering in New York City on September 13, 1969, famed All-America fullback Ernie Nevers from Stanford possibly said it best:
"I haven't seen all of the college greats of the last 50 years, but I defy anyone to name a player who was a better all-around performer than Bronko Nagurski of Minnesota.
"Any time a man can play tackle, end and fullback and be as outstanding as Bronko was, I can't see for one second how anyone can vote for anyone else."
Maybe the man called the dean of all sportswriters of any age, Grantland Rice, had even a keener look at the power, might and skills of this legendary man from the northwoods of Minnesota. In September of 1947, Rice wrote from the Polo Grounds in New York City:
"Several must be given serious consideration when you fell in rather moonstruck mood of picking the best all-time college football player. Who are the leaders belonging to the slim list that might be called 'challengers of the best.'
"In my book there is only one when it comes to the best all-around player ... Bronko Nagurski of Minnesota (1927-28-29).
"First of all Nagurski was a great tackle - one of the best ever. He was an all-America. Then the Bronk became a brilliant end. Also all-America. Later he was one of the most devastating fullbacks the gridiron has ever seen. Also and all-America.
"As Steve Owen of the New York Giants once said: 'Nagurski is the only football player that ever lived who ran his own interference. And don't forget the Bronk could pass, too.'
"In my opinion," Rice continued, "the final answer seems to lie in this question: Who would you pick to win a football game - eleven Jim Thorpes - eleven Glen Davises - eleven Ernie Nevers - eleven Red Granges - or eleven Bronko Nagurskis?
"I honestly don't think there would be any contest. The eleven Nagurskis would be a mop-up. It would be something close to murder and massacre. For the Bronk would start at any position on the field - with 228 pounds of authority to back him up."
Already a permanent resident of the College Football Hall of Fame, and several other national Hall of Fame institutions, the Bronk today resides outside International Falls on the shores of Rainy Lake near the mouth of the Rainy River which marks the Canadian-American border. Ontario, Canada, his birthplace, is visible across the lake.
Crippling arthritis forced him to sell his gasoline business several years ago and, for the most part, keeps him confined. But his spirit and massive body, the same one that carried him to international athletic fame at both Minnesota and with the NFL Chicago Bears remains, is topped by the keen royal blue eyes that once peered out those Gopher and Bear football helmets.
Bronko is a content family man. When asked recently if he could pick one way to be remembered, the Bronk pondered a moment and then said: "As a good husband and a good father." He and his lovely wife, Eileen, have been married 43 years and reared six children. Add in nine grandchildren and you could have a football team. "No, most of them are girls," the Bronk roared.
Minnesota was blessed with three great years when Bronko was in the lineup. In 1927-28-29, the Gopher teams were 18-4-2. The four losses, two to Iowa (6-7, 7-9), one to Michigan (6-7) and one to Northwestern (9-10) came by the total of five points.
The final two games of the 1929 season tell the true story of what Bronko Nagurski was made of. In the Iowa game, Bronko suffered two broken vertebra, but remained in the game, and then played the season final wearing a cumbersome back brace. Against Wisconsin, he carried the ball almost the length of the field on scoring drives and hit for both touchdowns as the Gophers edged Wisconsin 13-12.
Greatest is an often-used term in athletics. This time there is no mistake that it is the very best term possible to describe the exploits of a living legend. Indeed ... Bronko Nagurski ... a legend in his own time!
