The 1947 Iowa Hawkeyes football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

team that represented the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...

in the 1947 Big Nine Conference football season. The team compiled a 3–5–1 record (2–3–1 against conference opponents) and finished in a tie for sixth place in the

Big Nine Conference The Big Nine Conference, formerly the Big Eight Conference, was a high school sports conference in Genesee County, Michigan, that ended with four high schools in 2012. History Formed in 1960 as the Big Eight Conference, the conference became th ...

. After opening its season with a 59–0 shutout victory over

North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as t ...

, the team was outscored 179 to 86 in its remaining eight games. Head coach Eddie Anderson was in his sixth season as Iowa's head coach; he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1971. On the evening before the final game of the 1947 season, Anderson submitted his resignation as head coach (effective in July 1948), citing "considerable loose talk" about the state of the program. The team responded with a 13–7 victory over

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. Fans begged Anderson to reconsider, and the Iowa athletic board denied his resignation, promising him a larger coaching staff and other football improvements. Anderson decided to stay, saying, "I'm glad we got things straightened out." The team's statistical leaders included Bob Smith with 395 rushing yards and 30 points scored, Al DiMarco with 644 passing yards, and Emlen Tunnell with 262 receiving yards. Tunell later played 14 years in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

and was inducted into the

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. Other players of note included

Jack Dittmer John Douglas "Jack" Dittmer (January 10, 1928 – May 31, 2014) was a Major League Baseball second baseman. He played six seasons in the majors, from until , for the Boston / Milwaukee Braves and Detroit Tigers. As an amateur, Dittmer was a t ...

, who later played six years in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

, and end Harold Schoener, who was selected as the most valuable player on the 1947 Iowa team. The team played its home games at Iowa Stadium. It drew 187,844 spectators at four home games, an average of 46,961 per game.2012 Media Guide, p. 181.

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References

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

Iowa Hawkeyes football seasons Iowa Hawkeyes football {{Collegefootball-1940s-season-stub