Today's Tidbit... We Get Knox Down, But We Get Up Again
Knox College of Galesburg, Illinois, had football success back in the day, especially when they beat Northwestern, Kansas, and Notre Dame on successive weekends in 1902.
In the 1920s and early 1930s, the Siwash mostly picked on lower-calibre teams from Illinois’ Little 19 Conference, composed of small private and state teachers’ colleges. They also played one challenge game per year against a top-notch team, such as Northwestern in 1920, Iowa in 1921 to 1923, and Army in 1925. They lost each game handily, but they tested themselves, put up their best possible fight, and prepared themselves for whatever may come that season. Unfortunately, even the best preparation does not always ready a team for some challenges, a lesson they began learning as the 1931 season came to a close.
The Siwash opened the 1931 season with a win over Western Illinois, then were blown out by West Point 67-7. Next, they beat Illinois State before finishing with a 1-4-1 stretch against private school foes. For this story, the key is that they lost the last three games of the 1931 season.
Their challenge game for 1932 was the University of Chicago. Knox lost to the Maroons and did the same in their other seven games as well. They did not play a challenge game per se in 1933, but each game proved difficult as Knox went 0-8 for the second year in a row.
With Knox entering the 1934 season on a 19-game losing streak, they tried reversing their fortunes by hiring Lloyd Burdick as coach. He seemed to be just what the doctor ordered: young, energetic, and knowledgeable. Burdick had played at Illinois and then started 28 games over three seasons with the NFL’s Chicago Bears and Cincinnati Reds, winning the 1932 NFL championship in a famous indoor game played at Chicago Stadium.
Training camp went well, filling the team and rooters with enthusiasm. Headed into their opening game with Western Illinois, the Knox Student, the campus newspaper, expected good things:
The fact that Knox has experienced a disastrous slump in grid activities during the last few years is entirely a thing of the past. Coach Burdick and his men are thinking only of the future and with this thought in mind, “Old Siwash” should enjoy one of its most successful seasons in history on the gridiron
‘Siwashers Ready To Stem Attack Of Leatherneck,’ Knox Student, October 4, 1934.
Despite the optimism, a victory against Western was not to be. While the Siwash played decent defense, they struggled to move the ball and fell to the Leathernecks 10-0.
Falling to Western Illinois meant they had lost 20 straight games entering the stretch against Augustana and Illinois College. Neither of those contests worked out well for our boys either, as they added 21-0 and 18-0 deficits to the tally.
In the season’s fourth week, Knox had a shot at breaking the streak when they played Beloit to a 0-0 tie through three quarters. However, Beloit’s Samuel brothers duo each scored a touchdown in the fourth stanza. Still, there was hope. Knox had the opportunity to score for the first time that season when they drove inside the one-yard line late in the period. Alas, the clock ran out before they got the play off, making it 23 in a row.
As the losses mounted, Knox’s dismal streak garnered attention. What started with one-paragraph reports in Midwestern newspapers became longer and more widespread as the list of newspapers tracking the season of hard Knox grew. Adding to the woe were shutout losses to Cornell and Coe.
Their 25th straight loss turned the nation’s attention to the team’s opportunity to tie the 27-game losing streak set by Hobart College in 1931. With two games remaining in the season, Knox could potentially tie Hobart’s record in 1934 and extend it in 1935. National writers began teasing the Knox gridders, whispering that they were unlikely to receive a Rose Bowl bid.
Their loss to the Bradley Braves in game eight brought out all the comedians.
As a writer in Buffalo teased:
They romped home to an easy walloping by Bradley last week, 44-0, and scouts in that part of the country say the scores do not tell the whole story.
Knox was not even extended according to a report which has come to hand. It was obvious to the spectators that Coach Burdick could have yielded another two touchdowns and perhaps a field goal by putting in his third-string men, but the defeat was in the bag and Knox was satisfied to protect its early deficit.
’Hobart’s Record Menaced By Knox,’ Buffalo News, November 23, 1934.
In the days between the Bradley loss and the Thanksgiving Day game with Monmouth, Coach Burdick and the team wondered which national record would be best to avoid: losing 27 straight or completing a full season without scoring? Even a 0-0 tie would end the losing streak, though the winless and scoreless streaks would continue.
Unfortunately, Knox gained only 16 yards on Turkey Day, while Monmouth easily exceeded 300 and rolled to a 39-0 win, so Knox set both ignominious marks. They tied the mark for the nation’s longest losing streak and became the first team in college football history to play a full season without scoring. The poor Knox seniors went winless over three years of varsity football and went scoreless as seniors.
Coach Burdick resigned after the season, so Knox entered the coaching portal hoping for a different outcome in their 1935 season opener against Principia. Knox hired C. W. P. “Pete” Reynolds, the former Bucknell and Syracuse coach, who knocked the boys into shape during the 1935 preseason, sort of.
The Knox-Principia game proved sloppy as the Knox Siwashers fumbled nine times. Thankfully, Principia fumbled thirteen times and threw an interception, allowing Knox to win 18-0, and start on the path to a 5-2-2 record. (To fully appreciate Knox’s return to the victory column, click on the YouTube version of Chumbawamba’s little ditty honoring those who rise after being down: Tubthumping. Enjoy as you read the rest.)
The win kept Knox tied with Hobart for the longest losing streak, a record that others have topped or bottomed many times since, including Prairie View A&M, which lost 80 straight between 1991 and 1998.
As best as I can tell, the 1934 Knox Siwashers remain the only college team to play a full season without crossing the goal line or crossbar. Of course, hope springs eternal, so Knox starts each season hoping another unfortunate squad will join them in their misery, partnering with them on a record that can only be tied, not broken.
Best of luck to your favorite team in 2026.
With the holidays approaching, now is the time to add one or more books to your holiday lists. Make yourself and others merry.
Great writeup; love any content arising out of today’s Midwest Conference!
School of Hard Knox!