Former Head Hawk Evashevski Passes Away

IOWA CITY - Forest Evashevski, the only football coach in Iowa history to lead the Hawkeyes to a Rose Bowl victory, died late Friday night of liver cancer in Petoskey, Mich. He was 91.

Evashevski coached Iowa for nine seasons and led Iowa to three Big Ten championships and Rose Bowl wins after the 1956 and 1958 seasons. He finished his Iowa coaching tenure with a 52-27-4 record from 1952 through 1960 and coached nine first-team All-Americans. He served as the school's athletics director from 1961 through 1970 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999.

Evashevski was born Feb. 19, 1918, in Detroit and later married Ruth Brown, daughter of former Michigan Senator Prentiss Brown. They had seven children. Evashevski was remembered by former players and fans for his tough-guy persona, psychological methods and imaginative style of play.

Evashevski played football at Michigan under coach Fritz Crisler and alongside Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon. He joined the U.S. Navy during World War II and taught hand-to-hand combat at the Navy's preflight school in Iowa City.

“You certainly would know who the commander was,” longtime Cedar Rapids radio broadcaster Bob Brooks said. “There wasn't any doubt about that.”

Evashevski was known as a tough, disciplined coach who had his team well-prepared. Evashevski brought the Wing-T formation to prominence at Iowa and cowrote a book about the offensive set.

Among his greatest victories at Iowa was his first. Ohio State had beaten Iowa a combined 130-42 the two previous seasons. Despite a 0-4 record, Evashevski engineered one of the greatest upsets in Iowa history, beating the top-ranked Buckeyes, 8-0, in Iowa City.

“We put in a variance in our offense that was basically his concept and idea, which was a split offensive line and that would create blocking angles,” said Jerry Hilgenberg, a first-team Iowa All-American center and later an assistant coach under Evashevski. “We'd call by color in the huddle - I think that's what won the game - and we'd come up to the line of scrimmage and call three numbers and that live color that was used that was the play we'd run of the three at the line of scrimmage. We could call the play that would give us the most opportunity to gain yardage.”

Former Iowa assistant and later Iowa athletics director Bump Elliott said Ohio State coach Woody Hayes accused Evashevski of letting the grass grow too long at then-Iowa Stadium.

“Well, we played on it, too,” Hilgenberg said.

Evashevski called upon his team managers to display toughness as well. Cedar Rapids resident Bill Quinby, a former Evashevski manager and later an NFL official, recalled one game at Minnesota when an unruly, intoxicated fan sitting in the bleachers behind the Iowa bench charged after Evashevski while he was coaching.

Evashevski asked Quinby to take care of the fan. Quinby punched the fan in the stomach, and Evashevski went back to coaching. It became a humorous moment the two shared long afterward.

“He'd always come up and say, ‘Hey punchy, how are you?'” Quinby said.

In 1953, top-ranked Notre Dame tied Iowa, 14-14, scoring touchdowns with just seconds remaining in both halves. Notre Dame players faked injuries, causing the clock to stop and enabling the Fighting Irish to score touchdowns. Evashevski accused the Irish of cheating and was quoted in the book “75 Years With the Fighting Hawkeyes” as saying, “When the One Great Scorer comes to write against our name, He won't write whether we won or lost, but how come we got gypped at Notre Dame.”

Evashevski led Iowa to Rose Bowl victories after the 1956 season (35-19 against Oregon State) and the 1958 season (38-12 against California). After the 1958 season, Iowa was voted the national champion by the Football Writers Association of America. In his final season as coach, Evashevski took Iowa to an 8-1 record and his final victories were against Ohio State and Notre Dame. He finished his coaching career with a 63-33-6 record in 11 seasons.

Elliott served as an assistant under Evashevski for five seasons and then replaced Evashevski as athletics director in 1970. He said Evashevski knew how to handle players in every circumstance.

“He had a great sense of timing, of how to coach and when to do it,” Elliott said. “He did an excellent job of doing those things he should do at the right time and right place.”

Evashevski retired from coaching in 1961 after Iowa officials told him he couldn't coach and become the school's athletics director. He was relieved as athletics director in 1970. Elliott and Hilgenberg said Evashevski should have stayed as football coach.

“He still had a lot of successful seasons in front of him,” Hilgenberg said. “He was one of the great ones.”

“He had a great career at Iowa as a coach, and it's probably a little bit of a shame didn't stay longer,” Elliott said. “He would have proven to be one of the greatest coaches of his time.”