Below is the induction speech given by Greg Stewart in recognition of the 1925 Algona High Football Championship team at the 2025 Wall of Fame Ceremony.
1925 Algona High Football
100 years ago this fall, the Algona High School football team embarked on what would become a very special season that has placed them in Algona’s all-time record book. The 1925 season was much different than today, students attended the Bryant HS building with football practice starting in September. With no field lighting, day games were played, typically on Saturday afternoons, primarily in October and November. Schools were not divided into classes, so comparisons of teams and individual players was done state-wide among all schools. Since there were no playoffs, state championships were earned by impressing large newspaper sports editors, primarily Jack North of the Des Moines Register.
Lets take a quick trip back to 1925:
There was reason for optimism heading into the season as the Bulldogs were coming off a conference championship in 1924 and had some key players returning from that 5-2-2 team. The season opened at the Athletic Park field (now Central Park) with a 33-0 win over Britt, followed by another shutout, a 38-0 romp past Hampton. The Franklin County Recorder recognized the AHS potential, and made an accurate early prediction by writing following the game “Algona dominated the line and ran our ends wild. They have a team capable of going undefeated, and look as if they could be state champions”. Clearly, after just 2 weeks, Algona had made a real impression.
Early in the season, Mason City was cited by sports writers as being one of the five best teams in the state. This presented an early challenge for the Bulldogs as a trip to Mason City was Algona’s 3rd game of the year. In what was billed as a well-played, great contest, the Bulldogs prevailed 17-14. Now at 3-0, with a win over a top team, the Bulldogs had the full attention of state pundits.
The next week, Algona headed to Spencer to take on another unbeaten team on a cold, windy day. Community enthusiasm and school spirit were evident as approximately 100 made the trip west on what would have been unpaved roads at the time. The Spencer News-Herald had this post-game report: “Various Algona Fords, considerably dilapidated, arrived Saturday morning, highly painted up with various slogans, not all of them complimentary to Spencer’s football ability. The use of red barn paint in spots, and the addition of crepe paper streamers completed the decorative scheme of certain of the invaders.” With the support of their dedicated fans, a strong ground game, and a stingy defense, Algona registered their 3rd shutout in 4 games; a 20-0 win.
Next was another road trip victory, this time at Estherville, 33-2. This game is notable for special accomplishment by the 1925 team: establishing a mascot name for an opponent. Many of you know Estherville is known as the “Midgets”. The word has always been that this came from an early sportswriter’s reference to their players as “midgets”; and, the name stuck. In reading a game summary in the October 28 Estherville Enterprise, sure enough, there it was: a quote in the story that “our boys looked like midgets besides the Algona bunch”. So, it appears not only were the 1925 Bulldogs an outstanding team, they were directly involved in establishing the unique Estherville mascot that endures a full century later.
Next, Algona’s record moved to 6-0, then 7-0 with consecutive shutouts of Humboldt (34-0) and and a previously-unbeaten Clarion team (14-0). This set up yet another clash of unbeatens with Emmetsburg who was having their best season in years. While Algona turned the ball over at the 5 yd line, and again late in the game at the 3 yd line, the defense continued to hold, got the ball back, and the Bulldogs drove back to the 20, and kicked a field goal from there to win 10-7.
At 8-0, Algona now stood as one of just a few unbeaten teams left in the state. Although there was another game to play, Jack North aimed to avoid the debates of previous years, and declared four teams to be worthy of the title of “1925 state champion”. In naming Algona first, he said “they had a wonderful and heavy team which waded through stiff opposition to win all eight of its games.” In addition, he named three Bulldogs to his all-state teams: Denny Myers (1st team end), Lloyd Bohannon (1st team tackle), and Paul Trauger (3rd team hb). No team in the state had more players so recognized.
Of course, Algona’s season wasn’t over. The annual Thanksgiving Day game with Eagle Grove, this year on their field, was still a week away. Eagle had 60 men go out for football, was enjoying a strong season. Advance tickets were available for the game at $0.50 (equivalent of $9.23 today). The Eagles were primed to play spoiler, but, as the Eagle Grove Eagle noted in their game report “Algona was just too powerful, and big, with their giant end, Myers weighing in at 205#s, they took the Turkey Day game 35-0! This final game clinched the North Central Six title for a second year, and cemented Mr. North’s designation of the Bulldogs as “state champions”.
At season’s end, the 1925 Algona football team had: won a second consecutive North Central Six title (traveling trophy in our case today) finished 9-0 - the only Algona team in history to go unbeaten and untied. won 9 games - the only AHS team to do that until the 2018 matched that total, 93 years later. allowed opponents only 23 points all year - Algona’s 2nd lowest defensive average of all time earned the fifth highest average margin of victory in Algona history. had three players named “all state” (no classes) * named “state champions” by Jack North of the Des Moines Register Head coach: Chick Sutherland and Asst. Coach William Smith.
Members of the lineup (pictured below): c - Edward Van Trees; rg - George Miller; lg - Paul Hutchins; rt - Julius Winkle; lt - Lloyd Bohannon; re - Dennis Myers; le - William Dooley; qb - Mell Peterson; rb - Paul Trauger; fb - Walter Lichter; lb - Kenneth Stephenson. Other roster players identified include: Wade Coon, Holman Anderson, Wallace Evans, James Africa, Richard Vaughn, Wayne Kieth, Maynard Stephenson, Paul Geilenfeldt, plus players with the last names of Clarke, Johnson, and Tierney.
The 1925 Algona High football team was truly a special team, and truly deserving of this Wall of Fame recognition.