116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Time Machine: How an Iowa Hampshire hog became ‘Floyd of Rosedale’
Iowa-Minnesota football trophy began with bet between governors hoping to ease tensions
There was some disagreement between my grandson, Jake Andersen, and I as to when a Sunday Time Machine should run in The Gazette about the famed Floyd of Rosedale trophy that goes to the victor in the annual Iowa vs. Minnesota football game. Should it be Oct. 15, the Sunday before the Hawkeyes take on the Gophers this year? Or should it be Nov. 5, which is closer to the anniversary of the game that spawned Floyd, on Nov. 9, 1935?
Since it’s not November yet, you can guess which one I picked.
The story begins about 1830, when Hampshire hogs were first imported from England to Kentucky. The breed was mostly ignored outside Kentucky and southern Indiana, where they were raised by fewer than 20 breeders.
That had changed by the early 1900s, after Corn Belt farmers discovered how easy Hampshires were to feed and raise. In 1915, there were 1,538 herds numbering well over 100,000 hogs in Iowa alone.
Around that same time, in 1906, A.R. Loomis and W. W. Sherwin bought a Fort Dodge creamery and hired A.B. Sayles of Waterloo to manage it. The new owners’ vision was to make it one of the largest dairy plants in Northwest Iowa. The dairy was supplemented by Rosedale Farms, which by 1929 was raising award-winning hogs as well as cows.
High tensions amid racism allegations
Fast forward to 1934. Relations between the University of Iowa and the University of Minnesota had reached a boiling point after allegations that Minnesota’s team had targeted Iowa’s Black halfback, Ozzie Simmons, in that year’s football game.
Before the 1935 game, Iowa Gov. Clyde Herring said, “The Iowa crowd won’t stand for rough tactics Minnesota used last year.”
The Gophers saw that as a threat, and any meeting of the schools seemed headed for rioting.
A bet between governors
It took a strange bet between the two states’ governors to focus fans’ attention elsewhere and provide calm.
Minnesota Gov. Floyd Olson accepted a challenge wired to him by Iowa Gov. Herring. A premium hog from either state was staked on the outcome of the Nov. 9, 1935, football game between the schools.
Allan Loomis of Rosedale Farms heard about it and offered a 220-pound prize Hampshire hog named “Hawkeye Honor” to cover Iowa’s bet.
When Minnesota won the game, Gov. Herring announced he would drive a truck to Minnesota to deliver the pig to Gov. Olson.
“I don’t know when I’ll be ready to start,” Herring told reporters. “Floyd said it was a prize Minnesota pig against a prize Iowa pig. But he’s used to those scrawny pigs they have in Minnesota, and I’m going to find a razorback for him so it won’t hurt his digestion.
“I’m going to take the pig to St. Paul in a truck and personally herd it into Olson’s office. I hope his carpet wears well. The pig will be named either ‘Floyd’ or ‘Floydina’ depending on the sex.”
Prize hog arrives in Minnesota
Before Herring left Des Moines on Nov. 13, he announced a change of plans. He wasn’t going to truck the hog personally to Olson. “Floyd of Rosedale” was to be shipped in a steam-heated express car. Herring would travel by car and escort the hog into Olson’s private office at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul when he arrived.
Olson had sent a telegram to Herring advising, “Please bring some Iowa corn. I’m afraid your hog is not used to good corn and he might have a hard time eating Minnesota corn.”
Olson also envisioned future Gopher-Hawkeye games when he wrote, “Some of our football enthusiasts have suggested an arrangement to have the hog put up as a trophy for the winner of the Minnesota-Iowa football game each year. That won’t work, though, because the hog would die of old age before you got him again.”
Floyd of Rosedale arrived with a veterinarian’s certificate assuring he had passed all requirements for interstate transport and was delivered to Olson’s office. Olson accepted the pig and announced it would be awarded as a prize to the teen who wrote the best essay on “Opportunity for the Farm Youth in Minnesota.”
Not everyone was amused
The next day, Gov. Herring returned to Iowa and possible legal trouble. Anti-vice and corruption crusader Virgil Case, who edited a monthly Des Moines paper, was not amused by the Floyd of Rosedale saga. He had sworn out a state warrant against Herring for gambling and wanted federal charges filed against Minnesota’s governor for interstate transportation of the fruits of gambling.
None of the charges panned out. The charge against Gov. Herring was dismissed because it was filed in the wrong jurisdiction. The bet had been made in Iowa City, not Des Moines.
As for Floyd of Rosedale, the prize swine was awarded to Richard Jones, 14, of Austin, Minn. He sold it to the university farm in St. Paul.
Iowa claims the pig in 1939
Gov. Olson responded to suggestions that Floyd be made a permanent trophy for the Iowa-Minnesota game by commissioning Charles Briochi of St. Paul to create a one-third-size bronze statue of the prize porker to be awarded to the winning team each year.
Iowa’s first chance to take the prize pig home was Nov. 18, 1939, after the Hawkeyes’ 13-9 victory over Minnesota, led by Nile Kinnick. At the Nov. 20 victory celebration with Kinnick was then-Sen. Clyde Herring.
What happened to Floyd of Rosedale? He was sold to a Mabel, Minn., breeder named J.B. Gjerdrum for about $50. Gjerdrum assumed the prize hog had been vaccinated for hog cholera. He hadn’t.
Floyd died in 1937 or ’38 and was buried in Gjerdrum’s farm field.
Comments: D.fannonlangton@gmail.com
Daily Newsletters