A Team of Destiny

The Unforgettable Story of Indiana’S 1967 Big Ten Championship Season and the Rose Bowl of 1968

By the mid 1960s, Indiana University had hired its sixth football coach since 1945. The Hoosiers reputation continued to erode. To the other Big Ten teams, the Hoosiers were patsies! And their new coach, John Pont, despite a good record at Yale and Miami (Ohio), had started his first two years at Indiana with a miserable two wins, sixteen losses and one tie. By the year 1967, Indiana had little thought of competing for the Big Ten Championship. It would be considered a successful campaign if Indiana had a .500 record and beat Purdue. What nobody expected was that Coach Pont and a determined group of veterans and sophomores would take the college football world by storm. With sophomores like quarterback Harry Gonso, running back John Isenbarger, pass catching whiz Jade Butcher, and a stout senior led defense Indiana would go undefeated in its first eight games before being surprised by Minnesota. Still, the Hoosiers went on to win their first Big Ten championship since 1945, beating Purdue to claim the Old Oaken Bucket, and play against the mighty Southern California Trojans in the Rose Bowl