Hawk Fanatic for 8/3/26

By Hawk Fanatic

IOWA CITY, Iowa – William Hughes was so determined to help push his belief that the 1960 Iowa football team deserves to be called the national champion that he wrote a book about it.

Hughes, President of Nebraska Beef in Omaha, recently had his book titled “Standing Up For The Hawkeyes” published and he’s now trying to spread the word, including making a guest appearance on the Hawk Fanatic radio show and podcast on Monday.

Hughes calls the 1960 squad the legitimate national champion and his 354-page book helps to explain why in great detail why he feels that way.

Iowa finished 8-1 in 1960, which was Forest Evashevski’s final season as head coach.

Its only setback was a 27-10 loss at Minnesota.

The Gophers would go on to finish 8-2, but still were ranked No. 1 in the final Associated Press and UP polls. Minnesota lost to Washington in the Rose Bowl, but the final polls were issued prior to the bowl games, leaving intact Minnesota’s claim as AP and UPI national champion.

Hughes believes that Iowa should have been awarded the national championship over the Gophers, partly because Iowa played eight ranked opponents in 1960, while Minnesota only played three.

The book’s foreward was written by former Iowa quarterback Gordy Bohannon, who started for Iowa’s 1981 Rose Bowl team under Hayden Fry.

“This book was written with the sole purpose of recognizing the fact that Coach Forest Evashevski’s 1960 team was the undisputed National Champions,” Gordy Bohannon writes in his foreward. “When I sat down to read this book, I ended up reading the whole book in one sitting.”