Everett "Sonny" Grandelius, the former Michigan State All American from
their dominant early 1950's teams, a former N.Y. Giant, and most recently a
Spartan assistant coach, was named as the new head coach. He was only
twenty-nine but came from a great staff, had the pedigree of a champion and
was given the mandate to beat Oklahoma and win. He introduced a Wing-T
offense but could not use a two-platoon approach due to a lack of depth and
his undermanned squad went 5-5. A general lack of team speed, a dearth of
quality players, and an inexperienced QB in Gale Weidner who threw 100
completions and seven TD passes made for a season that showed potential to
be better. Good production was garnered from FB Chuck Weiss and guard Joe
Romig who was named All Big Eight. Gramdelius put his mark on the program by
both upgrading the offense and taking the silver helmets he had inherited
from Ward and placing very distinctive black, thin-profile buffalo horns on
the headgear. In 1960 the 6-4 record did not demonstrate the great strides
that were actually being made but the victories included a 7-0 shocker
against powerful Oklahoma which did wake some observers to the Buffs
progress. The line was small but the 5'10", 200 pound Romig was a two-way
terror at guard and middle guard, using his high school championship
wrestling skills. He was named to both the All American and Academic All
American teams. Big 230-pound end Jerry Hillebrand was an All Conference
performer, also going both ways and QB Gale Weidner surprised many by
playing clutch football and making the All Big Eight squad.
For Grandelius, it all came together in 1961, a dream season of 9-1 with
only a 21-12 mid-season let down against Utah. With enough depth to
two-platoon, his Big Eight Championship squad had a few true stars. Joe
Romig was again both All American and Academic All American. His 3.87 GPA
earned him a Rhodes Scholarship which he pursued instead of pro football. A
three-time All Big Eight performer and member of the College Football Hall
Of Fame, he returned to CU as a PhD. in Astrogeophysics and remains a full
professor of Astronomy on the Boulder campus. Jerry Hillebrand was again All
Conference for his two-way end play and named to some All American teams.
He would have an eight-year NFL career after being the Giants first choice
in '62. QB Weidner performed well. Dan Grimm was a comer at tackle, teaming
with Ralph Heck. The 25-7 loss to LSU in the Orange Bowl did not put a
damper on the immense enthusiasm that Grandelius and his team had generated.
