I really like looking back at Hawkeye history including football, basketball and all the things that went on in that particular year.
How many people over 60 will tell you they watched the “Monkeys” on TV.
I did.
We also watched “Gomer Pyle” and “Bonanza,” two of the top shows on TV.
I also remember going to the movie “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Bonnie and Clyde,” two popular movies that year.
We listened to the Beatles, Supremes, and the Rolling Stones.
The Olympics were going on in Mexico and Bob Beamon set a new world record of 29 ft. 2.5 inches in the long jump.
The record stood for 23 years.
The 1968 Olympics saw Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their right fists in protest, during the playing of the National Anthem, of black lives treatment in America.
I got tired of watching news clips of the Vietnam war and was sad to see Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy get shot down.

Pro Sports

The Green Bay Packers won the second Super Bowl beating the Oakland Raiders 33-14.
Bart Starr, who won his second Super Bowl MVP, passed for 202 yards and one touchdown pass, a 68 yard throw to Boyd Dowler.
Don Chandler kicked four field goals and Donny Anderson scored from two yards out.
That was Vince Lombardi’s last game as the Packers head coach.
The Boston Celtics won their 10th NBA championship beating the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.
John Havlicek scored 40 points in the final game.
Bill Russell was the player/coach.
I wasn’t a big Celtic fan.
I liked Wilt Chamberlin, who won NBA titles for Philadelphia (1967) and Los Angeles (1972 Wilt was MVP).
The Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in the summer of 1968.
Dennis McLain won 31 games that season and is the last pitcher to win over 30 games.
Mickey Lolich was the series MVP winning three games including game 7 beating Bob Gibson 4-1.
Roger Maris, who was on the Cardinals team as a right fielder, played in his last game.
That was the last year for former teammate Mickey Mantle.

College Sports

Ohio State was the mythical NCAA football champion in 1968.
The Buckeyes were 10-0 including a 27-16 win over USC in the Rose Bowl.
Heisman Trophy winner O.J. Simpson ran for 171 yards including an 80 yard touchdown run, but USC had five turnovers.
The Buckeyes came into the game ranked No. 1, the Trojans were ranked No. 2.
It was the first of four Rose Bowl matchups between Woody Hayes and John McKay.
UCLA won their 4th NCAA championship beating North Carolina 78-55.
John Wooden was head coach for UCLA, Dean Smith was the head man for North Carolina
Lew Alcindor was the MVP of the tournament.
Alcindor scored 34 points shooting 15-21 from the floor, 4-4 from the free-throw line and pulling down 16 rebounds.
Oklahoma State won the NCAA wrestling championship in 1968 with Iowa State finishing second. The Clones had three NCAA champs including a wrestler at 130 pounds named Dan Gable.

Iowa Hawkeyes

The Hawks started the season beating 8th-ranked Oregon State and then lost three in a row to Texas Christian, Notre Dame and Indiana. Iowa beat Wisconsin, lost to Purdue, beat Minnesota, and were sitting at 3-4 with three games left.
Iowa 68 Northwestern 34
This was a day on November 9, 1968, that Ed Podolak did something no other Big Ten player had ever done. The 6-1, 190 pound quarterback turned tailback ran for 286 yards against the Wildcats.
Ed set the record in 17 carries, which comes out to 16.5 yards per carry including an 80 yard TD run. That Hawkeye record would last for 29 years until Tavian Banks ran for 314 yards against Tulsa in 1997.
The Big Ten record that Ed broke was 34 years old. Ed held the Big Ten record for one week as Ron Johnson of Michigan ran for 347 yards against Wisconsin. Podolak became the Hawkeyes’ all-time total offensive leader surpassing Gary Snook. He also passed Bill Reichardt for the most rushing yards in a season.
I got to know Ed and did a story on him. He said the Wildcats were not very good and he really enjoyed the big time victory. Ed scored twice, Tim Sullivan ran for three touchdowns, and Mike Cilek passed for three TD’s. Ray Manning caught two TD passes and Kerry Reardon caught one as well as retuning a kickoff 95 yards for a score.
Iowa set a Big Ten record of 639 yards total offense and Marcos Melendez set a Big Ten record with eight extra points.
No. 1 Ohio State 33 Iowa 27
The Buckeyes came to town loaded with talent.
You had quarterback Rex Kerns, running back John Brockington, defensive lineman Jim
Stillwagon and defensive back Jack Tatum. Ohio State jumped out to a 19-0 lead in a muddy first half, but the Hawkeyes scored 21 points in the fourth quarter and lost 33-27.
Larry Lawrence and Mike Cilek led the comeback with their passing. Al Bream and Kerry Reardon caught touchdown passes but it wasn’t enough and the Hawks were 4-5.
Despite the loss, Iowa set a Big Ten scoring record of 219 points in their 6th game surpassing the record of 218 set by Ohio State in a seven game schedule in 1950.
Iowa 37 Illinois 13
The Hawks finished their season traveling to Illinois for their first win over the Illini since 1941.
Ed Podolak carried 11 times for 72 yards and set a single season rushing record of 937 yards, topping the previous record of 895 yards set by Aubrey Devine (All-American quarterback of the undefeated 1921 team) in 1921. Iowa finished the season 5-5, the best record in five years. They tied for fifth in the Big Ten with a 4-3 record, the most conference wins since 1960.
Despite Iowa’s 5-5 record, the 1968 team was the greatest offensive machine in Big Ten history up to that time.
It broke the Big Ten scoring record with 256 points. Iowa set a Big Ten record for total offence with an average of 482 yards per game. It smashed Michigan’s 1943 average of 34.5 points per game with an average of 36.6.
Ed Podolak finished his career as the leading rusher in a single game with 286 yards; season with 937 and career with 1,710. Eddy also set the record with 230 total offence in one game and in career with 4,026.
The leading rusher for one game now is Tavian Banks with 314 yards.
Chuck Hartlieb holds the single game total offence with 516 yards against Indiana in 1988.
Shonn Greene holds the season rushing record with 1,850.
Chuck Long holds the career total offence record with 10,245 yards.
1968 was one of the most volatile years in the history of the United States but basketball and football made it fun to be a Hawkeye.