The 1932 Big Ten Conference football season was the 37th season of

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

played by the member schools of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

(also known as the Western Conference) and was a part of the

1932 college football season Year 193 ( CXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sosius and Ericius (or, less frequently, year 946 '' Ab urbe condi ...

. Big Ten co-champion

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

compiled a perfect 8–0 record, outscored opponents 123 to 12, shut out six of eight opponents, and allowed an average of only 1.6 points per game. Michigan quarterback

Harry Newman Harry Lawrence Newman (September 5, 1909 – May 2, 2000) was an All-Pro American football quarterback. He played for the University of Michigan Wolverines (1930–32), for whom in 1932 he was a unanimous first-team All-American, and the reci ...

was a consensus first-team All-American and won the

Chicago Tribune Silver Football The Chicago Tribune Silver Football is awarded by the ''Chicago Tribune'' to the college football player determined to be the best player from the Big Ten Conference. The award has been presented annually since 1924, when Red Grange of Illinois w ...

trophy as the most valuable player in the conference. Michigan was awarded the Knute K. Rockne Trophy, narrowly prevailing over USC as the national champion under the

Dickinson System The Dickinson System was a mathematical point formula that awarded national championships in college football. Devised by University of Illinois economics professor Frank G. Dickinson, the system crowned national champions from 1925 to 1940. Dicki ...

. Co-champion

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

compiled a 7–0–1 record, had the conference's leading scoring offense with an average of 20.5 points per game, and was ranked No. 4 under the Dickinson System. Fullback

Roy Horstmann Roy Joseph Horstmann (December 6, 1910 – January 23, 1998) was an American football running back in the National Football League for the Boston Redskins and Chicago Cardinals. He played college football at Purdue University. While at Purdue ...

was Purdue's most valuable player and was selected as a first-team All-American by several selectors. End

Paul Moss Paul Raymond Moss is the general manager of Media Prima network's media portal and a judge in 8TV's '' One in a Million'' singing contest. Moss was the AS A&R director of record company Positive Tone from its inception in 1994 until last year. ...

was a consensus first-team All-American.

Season overview

Results and team statistics

Key
DS = Ranking in the

, a system used at the time to rank the country's best college football teams and to award the Knute Rockne Trophy to the national champion
PPG = Average of points scored per game
PAG = Average of points allowed per game
MVP = Most valuable player as voted by players on each team as part of the voting process to determine the winner of the

trophy

All-conference players

The following players received first-team honors from either the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

(AP) or

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...

(UP) on the 1932 All-Big Ten Conference football team: *

, end, Purdue (AP, UP) *

Ivy Williamson Ivan B. "Ivy" Williamson (February 4, 1911 – February 19, 1969) was a player and coach of American football and basketball, and a college athletics administrator. He played college football and basketball at the University of Michigan from 193 ...

, end, Michigan (AP) *

Sid Gillman Sidney Gillman (October 26, 1911 – January 3, 2003) was an American football player, coach and executive. Gillman's insistence on stretching the football field by throwing deep downfield passes, instead of short passes to running backs or w ...

, end, Ohio State (UP) * Marshall Wells, tackle, Minnesota (AP, UP) *

Whitey Wistert Francis Michael "Whitey" Wistert (February 20, 1912 – April 23, 1985) was an American football and baseball player. He played college football and college baseball at the University of Michigan. Wistert was the first of the three Wistert brothe ...

, tackle, Michigan (UP) *

Ted Rosequist Theodore Anthony Rosequist (April 17, 1908 – November 29, 1988) was an American football player and coach. Rosequist played college football at John Carroll University and Ohio State University. He was selected by the International News Service ...

, tackle, Ohio State (AP) *

Greg Kabat Gregory Stanley Kabat (May 21, 1911 – January 12, 1994) was an American gridiron football player and coach. He played Canadian football professionally as a running back for eight seasons with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football Le ...

, guard, Wisconsin (AP, UP) * Joseph T. Gailus, guard, Ohio State (AP) *

John Oehler John Walter "Cap" Oehler (born August 5, 1910 – May 12, 1983) was an American football center in the National Football League (NFL). He was a charter member of the Pittsburgh Pirates (which would later be renamed the Steelers). Oehler was bor ...

, guard, Purdue (UP) *

Chuck Bernard Joseph Charles Bernard (August 29, 1911 – March 1962) was an American football player. He played college football for the Michigan Wolverines from 1931 to 1933 teams and was the starting center on the 1932 and 1933 teams that compiled a co ...

, center, Michigan (AP, UP) *

, quarterback, Michigan (AP, UP) * Gil Berry, halfback, Illinois (AP, UP) * Lew Hinchman, halfback, Ohio State (AP, UP) *

, fullback, Purdue (AP, UP)

All-Americans

Two Big Ten players were consensus first-team picks on the 1932 College Football All-America Team: *

, end, Purdue (AP, UP, CO, AAB, NEA, INS, CP, NYS, NYT, WC, FWAA, LIB, TR, PD, PM) *

, quarterback, Michigan (AP, UP, CO, AAB, NEA, INS, CP, NYS, NYT, WC, FWAA, LIB, TR, PD, PM) Other Big Ten players receiving first-team All-American honors from at least one selector were: *

Ted Petoskey Frederick Lee "Ted" Petoskey (January 5, 1911 – November 30, 1996) was a three-sport athlete at the University of Michigan, a Major League Baseball player, a collegiate coach in three sports and an athletic director. At the University of Michi ...

, end, Michigan (AAB, WC) *

, end, Ohio State (PD) * Joseph Gailus, guard, Ohio State (PM) *

, center, Michigan (NEA, INS, FWAA) *

, fullback, Purdue (AAB, NEA, INS, NYS, NYT, WC, TR, PM) *

Jack Manders John Albert "Automatic Jack" Manders (January 13, 1909 – January 29, 1977) was an American football player. He played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago Bears from 1933 to 1940. He's considered pro football's f ...

, Minnesota (CP)

References

{{Big Ten Conference football navbox