March 27

In this episode of the Football History Headlines, we discuss Randall Cunningham, Alex Agase and the 1991 suspension of the Golden Gophers as well as many more HOF Legendary stories.

The picture in the banner above is from the US Library of Congress' collection and was contributed by photographer Gordon Parks circa 1943 and is titled " Daytona Beach, Florida Football ."

March 27, 1991 - NCAA bans University of Minnesota Golden Gophers football program from postseason play in 1992. Ed Sherman in an article he did for the Chicago Tribune tells the tale of the incident quite well. A former University of Minnesota administrator, Luther Darville started the practice way back in 1982 of handing out cash to football players. Others in the Minnesota program caught him red handed in 1988 and stopped the practice with consequences. Therefore the NCAA felt obligated to do their own investigation and in its aftermath they laid the hammer down on the program in 1991 not allowing the team to participate in a bowl game for the 1991 postseason. Mr. Sherman brings up some great points to people that did crime both in Darville’s handing out the funds and the 1982 era players that accepted them did not suffer much at all from the NCAA penalty. But the legacy players and coaches in the Golden Gophers program almost a decade later served the penance for what their predecessors did so long ago. D. Alan Williams, chairman of the NCAA's infraction committee in 1991, had a different opinion according to the article. First, he said, the NCAA isn't penalizing individuals. ''The penalties are to the institution. It's always unfortunate , but the committee has before it what it is required to do .'' The matter comes down that there has to be a better solution of punishment of violating institutions, perhaps a more efficient and timely investigation, rather than one three years in length would be a good place to start.

March 27, 2000 - It was announced by the NFL officials that the 1999 season was the first time that paid attendance reached an average of over 65,000 fans per game. It was also the first time in the League's history that paid attendance reached over 20 million for all games in a single season.

March 27, 1898 - Warren, Ohio - The prolific University of Pittsburgh interior lineman, Herb Stein was born.  

March 27, 1921 - Dallas, Texas - Malcolm Kutner the tough University of Texas end from 1939 to 1941 arrived into life. The NFF tells us that as a college athlete Kutner had it all going on. He was big at 6’2” weighing in at 190 pounds and was very mobile as shown as he starred in not only football but basketball and track as well. His leaping ability was off the charts making for an extremely big catch radius for QB’s to launch passes to. Once he caught the ball he was often off to the races because most DB’s could not compare with his great foot speed. Kutner led the Longhorns in receiving as a junior, hauling in 16 aerials for 237 yards while helping the Burnt Orange and White to an 8-2-0 record in 1940. The following year, Kutner was named All- Southwest Conference and All-America as the 'Horns finished 8-1-1.  Malcolm Kutner was honored with induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1974 after the National Football Foundation tallied their votes. Malcolm served his country during World War II and even got a chance to play ball with the Navy Pre-Flight School. He picked up in the pro ranks just where he left off in college before the war as he earned Rookie of the Year honors with the Chicago Cardinals in 1946. The next year, Kutner led the Cardinals to the World Championship and, in 1948, was the NFL's Most Valuable Player.

March 27, 1922 - Chicago, Illinois - The stalwart Purdue guard of the seasons of 1941-1943 and 1946, Alex Agase was born. The FootballFoundation.org tells us that though he was the starting right guard in the line up he had stats that running backs would be proud of. Playing for Illinois against Minnesota in 1942, he scored two touchdowns. On the first, he stole the ball from Bill Daley and ran 38 yards to the goal line. On the second, he recovered Vic Kulbitski's fumble. This was only the second time in history a guard scored two touchdowns in a game. He was a defensive stud as he was credited with 22 tackles against Great lakes in 1942. Alex  earned All- America status in 1942. He played at Purdue as a Marine Trainee in 1943 and again made All-America. He returned to play at Illinois in 1946, was All- America a third time and the Big 10's Most Valuable Player. Alex Agase received the great honor of being selected for inclusion into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1963. Agase played pro football 1947-53 and was on three championship teams with the Cleveland Browns. He then went on to be the Northwestern head coach from 1964-72 and the Purdue head coach 1973-76. The Football Writers Association named him national coach of the year, 1970. 

March 27, 1963 - Santa Barbara, California - Randall Cunnigham the Nevada las Vegas quarterback with the great moves and an arm to go with it was born. The NFF says that Randall Cunningham left Las Vegas as the most accomplished player in school history as not only was he the career best passer and punter at UNLV  ever but he became the first Rebel player to enter the College Football Hall of Fame in 2016. First Team All-America punter in 1983, Cunningham received second team honors as a senior while also garnering honorable mention as a quarterback. The two-position star broke 18 UNLV records, including career marks for 8020 passing yards , 59 touchdown passes  and a stellar punting average of 45.6 yards. Randall is only the third quarterback in the history of collegiate football to pass for at least 2,500 yards in three consecutive seasons, and he finished his career with 142 punts for 6,471 yards. After college  Randall was picked in round number 2 of the 1985 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles, Cunningham went on to play for 17 years in the NFL for the Eagles, Minnesota Vikings, Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens. The four-time Pro Bowl player also finished second in NFL history for yardage rushing by a QB.