Sweet Sioux Tomahawk
NU's only current trophy game is the annual Sweet Sioux game against
Illinois. For a while NU and Illinois had played for an old fire bell;
however, that trophy was forgotten by the mid forties, and an effort was
made by the newspapers of the two schools to renew a trophy rivalry.
The following passage is from Northwestern's yearbook, The Syllabus, and
it describes the 1945 inauguration of Sweet Sioux. Its author is
unknown.
NU Takes Sweet Sioux
A
tradition was born at the 1945 Northwestern - Illinois football game.
It's the Wooden Indian, Sweet Sioux, custody of which went for the first
time to Northwestern by virtue of a 13-7 gridiron conquest of the Fighting
Illini in Dyche Stadium on November 24. Sweet Sioux, like his colleague
trophies, the Old Oaken Bucket and Little Brown Jug, will be presented
annually, to the winner of the NU - U of I cross-state grid match.
The country-wide campaign to transform NU and the U of I into traditional
pigskin rivals was conceived by Tom Koch, sports editor of the Daily
Northwestern. Jim Aldrich, news editor of the Daily; Alice Methudy,
editorial chairman of the Daily; and other staff members threw in their
lot, and the hunt for a hemlock Hopi was on. Bob Doherty, sports editor
of the Daily Illini, handled the campaign on the Illinois campus.
After examining all the entries, members of the student Wooden Indian
Committee selected the brave uncovered by Bill Brown, Northwestern
journalism sophomore. The Northwestern chapter of Acacia Fraternity
donated the redskin.
Unwilling to continue calling the trophy Chief Whosis, the Daily
Northwestern and Daily Illini conducted contests to name it. Entries
poured in, and a staff of experts, consisting of Chicago sports editors
and campus athletic authorities had to be called in to select a winner.
The trophy is one of the few remaining cigar store relics. He was carved
by hand in 1833 and had a colorful career on his own before being adopted
by the two universities. Brown discovered the chief in an Evanston
antique shop, staring quietly at his sixth generation of Americans.
And so Northwestern and Illinois become traditional football rivals, bound
together by Sweet Sioux. The rivalry is a natural one, and will
undoubtedly become one of the nation's hottest in years to come.
Well, dear old Sweet Sioux found that it would set up light-housekeeping
in Patten for the ensuing year when it saw the 'Cats sweep over Illinois,
13-7.
Hap Murphey was the "man of the hour" for NU rooters as he racked up 153
yards gained in 30 rushes, half of Northwestern's total. Besides that
record-shattering performance, Hap accounted for the winning touchdown in
the last quarter.
The Illini, despite their crippled and degenerate state, scored first.
They took over on the NU 41 after the officials called a chipping penalty
on the 'Cats while an Illini punt was in the air. Jack Pierce swept over
his own left tackle on the first play and went all the way for a score.
A 79-yard drive gave the 'Cats the tying marker halfway in the second
quarter. Murphey and Ed Parsegian were the king-pins, Parsegian scoring
and Jim Farrar knotting the count 7-7.
Bob Jones, sub Illinois tackle, was called on to try a 28-yard field goal
from a difficult angle in the third quarter. However, his kick missed by
the thickness of a coat of paint as the ball grazed the upright and fell
back into the playing field.
NU got the clincher on a 55-yard drive into the promised land. Murphy and
Ted Kemp did yeoman-like jobs in the attack with Hap doing the final
scoring of the year.
The original Sweet Sioux only lasted one year. In 1946 the
statue was stolen from its case at NU, and the two schools replaced the
trophy with a tomahawk in 1947. The statue was recovered soon after, but
the universities agreed to keep the tomahawk as the trophy, since it would
be easier to transport.
The current status of the original, 171 year-old statue is a total
mystery. |