AMES, Iowa - The 1959 “Dirty Thirty” Iowa State football team would not have become so well-known if it weren’t for the coverage by local and national media. One of the media outlets that followed the squad throughout its successful campaign was the Iowa State Daily, headed by editor Tom Emmerson.
He served as editor of the university paper for 1959, but had a strong interest in sports. Emmerson had prior experience as the sports editor for the Daily and wrote the preseason football outlook for the 1959 season.
Emmerson believes that the “Dirty Thirty” team, which finished the season with a 7-3 record, became nationally recognized for several reasons.
“Start with the size of the squad,” Emmerson said. “But most of all, their tenacity. They really fought hard even though they weren’t physically large.”
He also referenced an excerpt from his Sept. 10, 1959 article talking about team captain Dwight Nichols.
“Nichols is not fast,” Emmerson said. “But, he’s tough and he has a burning desire to be a good football player. He can absorb punishment, to say the least.”
Head coach Clay Stapleton became a part of the ISU coaching staff in 1958. He brought the traditional single-wing formation to Iowa State when the majority of college programs had switched to the “T” formation.
“I believe a lot of fans, myself included, were discouraged by the fact that we weren’t going with the flow nationally,” Emmerson said.
Emmerson said that Stapleton defended his single wing formation by explaining that the Cyclones were then able to recruit players that T-formation coaches didn’t want.
“The boy makes the formations, not the formation makes the boy,” Stapleton said in a Sept. 10 Iowa State Daily article.
Stapleton was also criticized for choosing to punt on the third down.
“When asked why he didn’t pass, he told me ‘Three things can happen—and two of them are bad,’” Emmerson said.
As editor, Emmerson traveled to two away games in 1959. One of the games he attended was the Iowa State at Kansas game in which the Cyclones were defeated 7-0, the other when ISU defeated Drake.
“(The Kansas game) was a really hard fought game,” Emmerson said. “The kind of game where people sort of mill around afterwards while the sun sets and a cold wind begins to blow.”
He also explained that media coverage in 1959 doesn’t compare the coverage of college sports today.
“There is no way to compare,” said Emmerson. “There is such a vast different. Games were broadcast live on WOI radio and Iowa State was covered by The Des Moines Register and local papers. There was no live television coverage (until the Oklahoma game), no additional networks, no talk radio and no blogs.”
Another thing that’s changed since 1959 is the increased support of the football program.
Gordon (Slim) Chalmers accepted the position of Iowa State athletics director in 1959. He explained to the student body that the Cyclones could be kicked out of the Big Eight Conference due to lack of support and fan commitment.
At the time, ISU had trouble sustaining the kind of success that would slowly grow attendance over a period of several years. Iowa State College had only put together 14 winning seasons in 68 years of football competition as the 1959 season ended.
Chalmers also said that the stronger Big Eight teams like Oklahoma had the potential to refuse to come to Ames for financial reasons.
As stated in the Sept. 10, 1959 issue of the Iowa State Daily, Oklahoma had previously hosted five of the seven contests between the teams.
“The students had low expectations for just about any Cyclone football team and 1959 was no exception,” Emmerson said. “We had a small squad and we had just lost a star player, Chuck Lamson.”
Chuck Lamson was a standout linebacker for the Cyclones who announced he was quitting one week before practice started, eventually becoming an All-American after transferring to the University of Wyoming.
At the time, students were enrolled in Saturday morning classes. After spending time in the library, they would often get something to eat and make their way to the second half of the football games.
“The capacity of the stadium was around 20,000 and ISU averaged 10,500,” Emmerson wrote in an issue of the Iowa State Daily.
The average attendance to Iowa State football games for the 2008 season was 47,428 fans.
“Early wins captured the fans’ attention,” Emmerson said. “In fact, the 'Dirty Thirty' outscored its opponents 248 to 80. The Cyclones held their opponents to no points in four contests and to six or seven points three other times.”
Some of the larger victories posted during the 1959 season include the 41-0 season-opening defeat over Drake, a 41-6 win at South Dakota, and a 55-0 shutout against San Jose State.
“That was fun,” Emmerson said. “Iowa State was not just winning, but was actually dominating.”
Emmerson describes the players of the 1959 team as not only having a small roster, but being small in physical stature as well.
“They weren’t the kind of jocks who stood out on campus because of their bulk,” Emmerson said.
In a Sept. 10, 1959 Iowa State Daily article Stapleton referred to the team as “the smallest major college squad in he country.”
The successful season inspired not only national recognition but the support of local companies and media as well. In fact, companies like the Iowa Beef and Pork Producers created football-friendly slogans like “More Beef in the Line” and “More Punch from Pork.”
After earning his bachelor’s and master’s degree from Iowa State, Emmerson earned a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He became an associate professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at Iowa State and was promoted seven years later to the professor position. Emmerson taught at Iowa State for an additional 23 years. He also served as chair of the Journalism and Mass Communication department for seven years. Emmerson retired from Iowa State in 2004 and currently resides in Ames.
