I was glad to see that your special issue on Chicago football (Dec. 10) included at least one mention of Ernie Nevers. I wish it had pointed out that Nevers still holds the oldest NFL record on the books, scoring 40 points in a 1929 game against the Bears. After rushing for six touchdowns, he also ran in four extra points.
Given the changes in the game, the only way I think his record will be broken is if someone rushes for seven touchdowns, although it’s not inconceivable that a back could run in a couple of two-point conversions after scoring six TDs.
The Tribune staff did a tremendous job putting together all the information and history for this special feature.
DAVE NEVERS (NO RELATION) / Hinsdale
THE FEATURE ON Jay Berwanger (Flashback, Dec. 10) reminded me of a bit of minutiae: Berwanger didn’t get the Heisman Trophy in 1935. Yes, he was recognized by the Downtown New York Athletic Club as the most outstanding college football player of that year-but there was no trophy!
In the ensuing 12 months, a member of the committee, John Heisman, died. The following year they decided to present their choice with a trophy in his honor. They did eventually provide Berwanger with one of his own. He gave it to his aunt, who used it as a doorstop.
LOU YORE / Prospect Heights
I ENJOYED RICK Kogan’s remembrance of the 1967 football game between the Latin School and North Shore Country Day School. I have been teaching and coaching at North Shore Country Day for the past 42 years, and I vividly recall that game in Lincoln Park. I remember the field being a complete mudhole and neither team doing very much on offense. I can still envision Russ Cangelosi carrying the ball every down. He was a terrific athlete.
JAY BACH / Northfield
I LOVED THE “Football In Chicago” articles . . . until I read the “Greatest Chicago Prep Bowls” sidebar. I was a freshman at Lane Tech in 1961 and in total hero worship of the members of our football team. Needless to say, I was devastated by their loss in that year’s Prep Bowl, and I thought that after all these years I had finally put the name of Norbert Klincik, the Weber tackle who recovered the game-winning fumble, out of my memory-until he was mentioned in this issue.
How could you do this to me?
STEVE SCHWALGE / Chicago
Prisons and college costs
While I find the article on the rapid rise of tuition at Illinois public universities (“Can SIU stay in the game?” Dec. 3) interesting and relevant, the chart you ran on page 2 featuring “the runaway cost of higher education” neglected to highlight the explosion of prison building in Illinois in the past 30 years.
As Illinois drastically cut funding to its public universities since 1976, it built approximately 20 prisons across the state. No new four-year institutions of higher education were built during that time. The expenditures for these prisons were monumental, and their cost to the state increases every year.
Illinois’ new prison culture, a culture of overbuilding centers of incarceration, will haunt the financial solvency of this state for decades. It is one of the prime reasons for the loss of investment in Illinois’ higher education, and it is important that it is considered when ideas on how to solve the problem of rising tuition are discussed.
JOSEPH K. HEUMANN / Charleston
THE ARTICLE ON SIU leads one to ask: What does one really get from a college education, and is it worth what it costs today? This country was built from a huge crop of men who never had one, but who had street smarts and passion and a need to succeed at what they did.
Take a look at what colleges have brought forth today, the good and the bad. Look at how many college grads are not pursuing their field, or are doing other things they could still do without having a college degree. Look at the amount of college grads, many from prestigious colleges, who have been sent to prison for malfeasance in office or other chicanery. Yet you can’t get a foot in the door of any company, small or large, without a college degree.
Why does a college degree have to be the only way to become successful?
L. BORASH / Chicago
THANK YOU FOR the article on college tuition-the increases and the lack of substantiation for those increases. It might be important to note that the huge tuition outlay is not necessarily going to translate into a huge salary. This is often a big surprise to students and their families who have spent so much on college.
College administrators like to point to the alleged earnings difference between college graduates and non-college graduates, but I think those statistics need to be looked at carefully.
If the non-college graduates include high school drop-outs, we’re really lowering the bar for “average earnings.” On the other end, I suggest that there are wildly varying earnings for college graduates. If you lump in the six-figure accountants, engineers, doctors and business moguls, the average looks great. But if you look at the median, rather than the mean or average salary, you might find something startling.
My daughter and her girlfriends who graduated from prestigious schools (Brown, Dartmouth, St. Louis University, Northwestern) are still earning low salaries four years out from college. They are working for non-profits, teaching or even still job-hunting.
Perhaps these girls should have all become brain surgeons.
MARILYN MAYER / Glen Ellyn
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