The 1950s
A home win streak.
1950 - 1959
New Heights
The 1950 Bearcats––with sophomore quarterback Gene Rossi running Gillman’s aggressive passing attack––finished 8-4 and made another bowl trip.
Everything was set up for a dominant 1951 season and UC met the hype: A 34-0 blowout at Kansas State, a shootout victory over Tulsa, and an October for the history books––Cincinnati outscored opponents 166-18. With road wins over Hardin-Simmons and Ohio to open November, the Bearcats made their first appearance in the AP Poll on November 12, 1951, ranked 20th after a 9-0 start to the season. On November 17, UC’s high-flying offense stalled out in front of “more than 30,000” fans at Nippert Stadium: Xavier 26, Cincinnati 0. The Bearcats bounced back the following week to beat Miami and earn another MAC title, concluding the season at 10-1, the best year in program history.
The Gillman and Rossi pair would run it back one more time in 1952 for an 8-1-1 mark, winning the conference for the fourth time in six seasons. The Bearcats clinched the championship with a 34-9 victory over undefeated Miami in front of 25,000 fans at Nippert Stadium who couldn’t have known that the MAC title would be UC’s last.
Aiming Higher
Cincinnati kissed the Mid-American Conference goodbye in February 1953. At a meeting in Bowling Green, the conference had voted unanimously to expand the league schedule from four to five games, against the wishes of UC, who felt the change was financially restrictive. Through six seasons in the league, Miami and Cincinnati were 3-3 against one another and undefeated in every other MAC game. The two rivals were singlehandedly carrying the banner for a conference that had not achieved the national recognition many had hoped. Feeling the tightening grip, Cincinnati cut ties from the conference it helped establish, leaving Miami behind.
The Bearcats’ independent status––and the departure of quarterback stalwart and future UC Ring of Honor member Gene Rossi––did little to dampen Gillman’s party in 1953. Taking the mantle from Rossi was Mike Murphy, a sophomore who was at Cincinnati despite overtures from the University of Kentucky (and head coach Bear Bryant) and the Cincinnati Reds (who had offered Murphy a minor league contract).
The Bearcats suffered a 31-7 setback at Marquette in Week 2 but otherwise went 9-0 while outscoring opponents 347-27. Gillman’s Bearcats lead the country in total offense (409.5 yards per game, ahead of Notre Dame) and total defense (184.3 yards per game, ahead of UCLA). The Bearcats were the 2nd best Midwestern independent behind the Fighting Irish.
The 1953 season concluded with a 14-0 win over unbeaten Miami, but the story of the game wasn’t the three-game Victory Bell win streak.
Going Vertical
Dr. Reed A. Shank, a member of the UC board of directors and an outspoken Bearcats football supporter, suffered a heart attack in his private box during the first quarter of the 1953 Battle for the Victory Bell and never regained consciousness. According to Dr. Shank’s son, the last words his father spoke before collapsing during a long Miami offensive drive were “They’re tearing our line to shreds.”
News of the tragedy made its way to Coach Gillman in the first half, who shared the news with his team at halftime. “I am personally going to present the game ball to Dr. Shank’s family,” said Gillman after the win. Shank did get the ball and was reportedly buried with it.
Plans for Nippert Stadium expansion, which had been announced earlier that month, involved an east-concourse upper deck. One week after Dr. Shank’s passing, the UC board announced that the cantilevered second deck would be named Reed A. Shank Pavilion. The structure ran between the 20-yard lines and added about 2,500 seats.
Shank Pavilion was rolled out in phases. At the home opener against Dayton, 800 seats were in use while the remainder was under construction. The Bearcats won 42-13. The second phase was open in time for the Xavier contest the following month. The Bearcats won 33-0.
Beneath the ongoing work being done on the stadium’s east side, UC had picked up right where it left off, continuing the win streak to close 1953 with eight more victories in 1954. Following a resounding 34-7 win at Arizona State, the ‘Cats had won 16 in a row. It was a program record. So was the Nippert win streak, which stretched 15 games back to 1952. On November 8, 1954, 30 years to the day after Nippert Stadium was dedicated, the Bearcats hit #12 in the AP Poll while riding those concurrent win streaks. The program was soaring.
Crashing Down
Both streaks were snapped on November 13, 1954, at the hands of the undefeated Wichita Shockers. Bearcats quarterbacks finished just 6-for-25 passing and the offense failed to take advantage of two Shocker fumbles inside the five-yard line and a successful UC onside kick to open the second half. Maybe the 13-0 defeat could be attributed to the Bearcats looking ahead to a potential unbeaten-vs-unbeaten matchup with Miami the following week, though perhaps the same could be said for the Redskins, who dropped a game of their own to Dayton that day.
Ahead of the Victory Bell game on Thanksgiving, UC dedicated Shank Pavilion in a ceremony featuring members of the Shank family, UC board member R.K. Brodie, and Mayor Carl Rich. More than 30,000 fans filled the stadium to the brim as the Bearcats raced out to a 9-0 first-half lead.
The first signs of trouble came with three minutes remaining in the opening half, as a Mike Murphy pass was intercepted. The Redskins scored five plays later to cut the UC lead to 9-7 at halftime. Miami regained the lead in the third quarter and––after UC fumbled the ball away in Redskins territory twice––tacked on another touchdown in the fourth for a 21-9 victory. The win gave Miami a 27-26-6 advantage in the rivalry, its first lead in the rivalry since 1915.
In the Cincinnati locker room, the players quietly took their showers and filed out as quickly as possible. “Coach Gillman patted some of the boys,” reported the Enquirer. “And told them that there is always another year.” But there wouldn’t be another year for Gillman. The Los Angeles Rams came calling and the 43-year-old accepted their head coaching job on January 25, 1955, bringing to a close a six-year UC tenure headlined by a 50-13-1 record. In his final five seasons, it was an even more impressive 43-9-1.
George Blackburn, a Gillman assistant from 1949-53, was charged with following up the greatest coach in Cincinnati history and doing so without many of the players who headlined those great teams. The ‘Cats caved to a 1-6-2 record in 1955––the worst mark since 1937. After another losing season in 1956, Cincinnati officials guided the school into the Missouri Valley Conference, a move that had been openly speculated about since the departure from the MAC in 1952. (And again when MVC member Wichita slammed the door on UC in 1954.)
From 1955-59, Blackburn’s Bearcats amassed a 21-21-6 record. With the arrival of the 1960s––and basketball becoming the toast of Cincinnati––UC football had plateaued.