Plati-'Tudes Folsom Turning 100: The 1930s

CUBuffs.com celebrates the 100th season of Folsom Field this fall; highlighting the top game, moment, coaches and players of each decade. This week: the 1930s

Record: 29-8-2
Game of The Decade: Colorado 31, Utah 7 (Nov. 7, 1936)
A little-known junior to the country, Byron White, took the national headlines by storm by accounting for all 31 points in CU's 31-7 win over Utah on a snowy day in Boulder. He scored four touchdowns, threw for a fifth and made the only extra point in the win. Two of the scores came on runs of 38 and 33 yards, another on a 40-yard punt return and the last on an 88-yard kickoff return. He capped it off with a 35-yard TD pass to Art Unger that closed the scoring. He also placed three punts inside the Utah 5-yard line to keep its offense in check. White would be CU's first All-American in football as a senior in 1937.

Other Folsom Games in the Top 5
Colorado 7, Utah 6 - Nov. 10, 1934: The first game with CU's nickname as the Buffaloes after it was selected from a contest where fans submitted suggestions. Jim Counter's TD pass to Kenny Anderson accounted for the Buffs' lone touchdown, with Doy Neighbors extra point the difference in the game, which was also CU's annual Homecoming affair. The victory was needed as CU secured share of the league title with Northern Colorado, then known as Greeley State Teachers College.

Colorado 58, Colorado Mines 0 - Oct. 19, 1935: Kayo Lam records one of, if not the most prolific game ever at CU: he carried the ball just seven times, gaining 265 yards with four touchdowns. The yardage mark would remain for 36 years until Charlie Davis ran for 342 against Oklahoma State in 1971.

Colorado 14, Missouri 6 - Oct. 2, 1937: By now, Colorado Stadium had been renamed Norlin Stadium for the '37 season opener, an intersectional match-up with all eyes on Byron White. Despite Erv Cheney scoring both Buffalo touchdowns, White's punting and returns dazzled those in attendance, including a monster 83-yard punt that pinned the Tigers at their 1-yard line. It remains the longest punt to this day in CU history.

Colorado 27, Denver 17 - Nov. 30, 1939: The Buffs closed out the season and decade on a good note with a Thanksgiving victory over the rival Pioneers. CU had dropped its first three games in '39, but rallied to win its last five and claim its first Mountain States Conference title with a 5-1 league mark to Utah's 4-1-1.)

Coaches: Myron Witham (1930-31); William Saunders (1932-34); Bunny Oakes (1935-39)

Top Performers:
College Football Hall of Fame member: Byron White
Colorado Sports Hall of Fame members: Kayo Lam, Art Unger, White (inaugural class, '65)
CU Athletic Hall of Fame members: Lam, White
Rhodes Scholar: George Carlson ('31), Clayton White ('33), B. White ('38)
First-Team All-American: White ('37; first in CU football history)
First-Team All-RMAC: Bernard Buster ('30), Pete Middlemist ('30), George Grosvenor ('32, '33), Vernon Drain ('33, '34), Dave Murphy ('33, '35), Eddie Wagner ('34, '35), Walter Driskill ('35), Kayo Lam ('35), Del Richhart ('35), Gene Moore ('36, '37), White ('36, '37), Louis Smith ('37)
First-Team All-Mountain States: Jack Broady ('38), Leo Stasica ('39)

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