The last time

It’s Oklahoma week (as of the time of this post, anyway), meaning it’s that time of year again: Time to contemplate man’s and woman’s struggle against an indifferent universe, a story of futility punctuated by just enough hope for the universe to rub it in later. (So, 2020 in football form.)

The last time Iowa State beat Oklahoma at home, 10-6, November 5, 1960…

SPORTS

  • It was 29 years since ISU had beaten Oklahoma. It would be one year until the next, and then 29 more years for the next time after that.
  • Clay Stapleton was the coach. ISU is on its ninth coach since.
  • The football team at Clyde Williams Field would head south “All the Way to Lincoln Way”, which was still US 30 at the time.
  • “Iowa was fumbled off the national pinnacle and Minnesota undoubtedly arose as the new leader,” Gus Schrader wrote in the Cedar Rapids Gazette as the #3 Gophers made the #1 Hawkeyes’ path to a repeat Rose Bowl extremely difficult.
  • The Big Eight had eight teams and the Big Ten had 10 teams.

ELECTIONS

  • The Kennedy-Nixon election was in its final hours. Both candidates gave televised prime-time speeches that Saturday. KCRG’s schedule did not include those, with “Leave It to Beaver” and “Lawrence Welk” followed by boxing. The other stations did.
  • Chuck Grassley was running for his second term in the Iowa House.
  • Tama County’s state senator was born in the 19th century (1899).

OTHER

  • The United States of America had never put a person into space.
  • The name “Iowa State University” had been official for 16 months.
  • The 50-star U.S. flag had been official for four months.
  • Iowa’s speed limit was 75 (day)/65 (night) on interstates and 70 (day) on primary roads.
  • At Montgomery Ward you could buy a “Gold Star Gas Range” for about $200 and get a ham/turkey and 10-piece cutlery set thrown in for free. (Actually, the stove in the ad looks a LOT like the one we used to have.)
  • Younkers was selling girls’ dresses for $5 and boys’ shirts for $2.
With assistance from Iowa Official Register 1959-60 and Cedar Rapids Gazette, Nov. 5-6, 1960.
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