I have a couple older uncles that always talk about him and his playing career. His story always caught my attention due to his incredible life story. If you know his story you will know that playing football back then was a lot different then playing football today. Karras is one of my favorite former Hawkeyes to read about even though he was in constant conflict with one of my favorite coaches to read about Forest Evashevski. While Karras may have been the greatest Iowa defensive player to ever play for the Hawks I can't believe all the crap he got away with while at Iowa. From throwing a shoe at Evashevski, to getting into several physical and verbal altercations with him, to quitting the team twice and being allowed back on after all of those moments. I don't think Kirk would have put up with any of that. And its funny too because if you read what former players have siad about Evy it's that he is a no tolerance guy. It's funny when you read about a guy like Willies getting the boot (which he likely deserved) and then you read about Karras and Evashevski's relationaship and all the drama but yet somehow those two brought about one of the greatest era's of Hawkeye Football.
Alex Karras
- Thread starter Auger
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Anybody that looks at Hawkeye history can look at that period and say that was one of the most exciting times and also one that now you pull your hair out due to what could have been. Evy gets a lot of credit for building up Iowa to a level where they were nationally covered and thought of as one of the elites in college football. However many also forget Evy was a control freak and after he dropped coaching to become Iowas AD he cut the football budget down to nothing and put all kinds of recruiting rules and restrictions on Burns and his staff. This killed Iowa football and Iowa went on a 20 year run in the doghouse. Many older Iowa fans believe if Evy would have stayed on as coach or been allowed to do both for another 5 years and then turned things over to Burns and gave Burns the same freedoms Iowa could be a Michigan type program today. Instead Burns would never be given a chance after Evy's football budget and rule changes and Iowa Football dropped back down to the bottom and Burns went on to have an outstanding coaching career in the NFL.
Was this because Evy wanted to look better by comparison to a struggling Burns? How else to explain? If so, pretty dissapointing and shallow, needless to say.
Everything i've read from the stories from that time period seem to indicate Evy wasn't as ready to give up coaching as he stated and was hoping he would be asked to come back as coach and still stay on as AD. Burns is one of the few NFL asst coaches to ever be put up for the Hall of Fame the dude could coach Evy just pulled the rug out from under him and left him with very little budget and very little tools. Many old timers like some of my family remember a lot of this and speak often of what could have been if Evy stayed on and kept Iowa a top 10-15 program through the 60's and then have Bump Elliott come in as the AD when he did. Iowa could have been one of the toast teams in america for decades. As much as I love Evy as coach and reading about those days Evy as AD destroyed Iowa football for over 2 decades.
I've heard stories that Burns was awful. That he was a heavy drinker and that of all things he liked drinking with the players. That he had no control. Perhaps some others can elaborate. But I've heard that a few times.
Evy as AD was the biggest disaster in Iowa Hawkeyes sports history. The next was the tragic loss of Bucky O'Conner.
I recall a story Karras told to Johnny Carson about his class load. Karras allegedly was told to take an art class where he got an "A" for carrying the heavy clay for the sculptures to use. One day, he said, he arrived later than usual and there, in the middle of the class, was a beautiful coed posing nude. Carson asked Alex what he did. "I sat down and started making a sculpture," he laughed.
Actually shit hit the fan with Evy when he had a power struggle with football coach Ray Nagel in 1970. That's when Nagel fired OL line coach Gary Grouwinkel for his allegiance towards Evashevski instead of with him. Many then say Evy went to the Big 10 and together they put a 90-day off campus recruiting ban on Nagel for recruiting violations. Shortly after that star QB Larry Lawrence and 1st string RB Tom Smith quit the team and transferred to Miami, FL. About 2 weeks later Lawrence's roommate, Randy Winegard, presented the Iowa Board in control of Athletics with a written statement charging that Evy was involved in a conspiracy to have Nagel fired and Evy would take over as coach. Winegard's statement was that Lawrence was to gather player support to have Nagel fired and replaced by Evy. In the end both Evy and Nagel where fired. Iowa did change it's mind and offered Nagel his job back but by that time he had had enough and declined the offer. At least Bump was hired as AD although his 1st hire as his new football coach was Bob Commings. That sucked
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Who knows what Iowa Football might have sustained had Evy remained coach another five years. I'd like to think Iowa was well-positioned to match or exceed what Nebraska became, but the college football world was changing. The demise of single platoon football after the '64 season would have made things much more difficult, since more good players were now required in order to field both offensive and defensive teams. I also believe Evy's lack of player accountability on the academic side would have eventually crash landed (let's just say some of the stars of yesteryear probably shouldn't have seen the field, from what I've been told). Even so, Evy was a brilliant offensive coach who knew how to win. He wanted his players to have fun and enjoy playing the game, and I believe they did.
Blazing Saddles is one of my favorite comedies and Mongo was one of the funniest characters.
Some folks from my hometown "hid" Alex Karras away during his recruitment to Iowa, when I was a youngster (see link). Toby Shine (left in pic below) is an avid Hawkeye fan and supporter to this day, and I caddied for Frank Hart on occasion at the Northwest Amateur in Spencer (Mr. Hart passed away awhile back - super nice guy he was). Anyway, pretty interesting story, and it worked - Alex Karras was a Hawkeye! Enjoy.
http://www.spencerdailyreporter.com/story/1903537.html
I've read that one reason Evy retired from coaching was because he didn't think he could recruit enough top talent to compete in two-platoon football. Evy was a complicated personality who brought Iowa football national acclaim as head coach, only to destroy the program and stain his legacy by what he did--and didn't do--as AD.
And the Alex Karras stories are mostly true, which adds fuel to the assertion that facts can be stranger than fiction.
And the Alex Karras stories are mostly true, which adds fuel to the assertion that facts can be stranger than fiction.
Heard about that summer Karras spent fishing where no other school (OSU) could find him. Neighbor growing up was a teammate of Karras at Iowa.Some folks from my hometown "hid" Alex Karras away during his recruitment to Iowa, when I was a youngster (see link). Toby Shine (left in pic below) is an avid Hawkeye fan and supporter to this day, and I caddied for Frank Hart on occasion at the Northwest Amateur in Spencer (Mr. Hart passed away awhile back - super nice guy he was). Anyway, pretty interesting story, and it worked - Alex Karras was a Hawkeye! Enjoy.
http://www.spencerdailyreporter.com/story/1903537.html
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Yes Gene Wilder graduated from Iowa in 1955. So Alex would have been there that year. Alex was a sophomore in 1955
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Evy wanted to coach and also be athletic director. But the powers that be the state board of regents would not let him. Regents had a lot of power back then. Also evy did not get along with his athletic director Paul brechler
according to my grandfather who had a lot of inside connections back then. Brechler made it hard on evy to coach. And he was the one that ruined Hawkeye football. And we put his name on the press box. Instead of Hayden Fry. Lol
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Yes there was a crapload of stuff to deal with when Elliott took over the AD. Evy was not a good AD in any way, shape or form. Just awful. He led Iowa to some of its biggest glories on the field, but he was also largely responsible for the 2 decades of futility after that. Really amazing what Bump and Hayden did in bringing the football program back from the dead.
