The 1934 College All-Star Game
On
August 31, 1934, a contest between a team of collegiate all-stars and
the professional champions of the National Football League was
instituted at Soldier Field in Chicago. The first of the charitable
games sponsored by the Chicago Tribune Charities, Inc., attracted 74,432
spectators from many parts of the country, the largest crowd to attend a
sporting event that year. Among those playing for George Halas and the
Chicago Bears at that time were such immortals of football as Red Grange
and Bronko Nagurski. Despite the objections of his Big 10 colleagues, Noble Kizer of Purdue University agreed to coach the first team of All-Stars. Kizer had been a starting right guard on the famed Notre Dame national
championship
squad of 1924. As the leading vote getter in the nationwide poll, Kizer
had been selected to serve as coach. His assistants were Jimmy Crowley
of Fordham University (one of Notre Dame’s famed Four Horsemen) and Dick
Hanley of Northwestern University.The game turned out to be a very competitive one and the crowd responded enthusiastically, cheering and singing even as the two teams played to a scoreless tie. Ed (Moose) Krause, an outstanding tackle from Notre Dame, recovered a fumble inside the All-Stars’ 20-yard line to stop a scoring drive in the second quarter. The Bears blocked a 41-yard field goal attempt on the last play of the game. Wayland Becker of the Chicago Bears booted a 65-yard punt, the longest in the series’ history by a pro team, during the 1934 inaugural contest.
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