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.