RMAC Hall of Fame Page
This is the first profile of seven individuals being inducted into the RMAC Hall of Fame on Friday, July 8 at the Colorado Springs Marriott Hotel. The 1982 and 1983 Colorado Mesa Football teams are also being inducted. Tickets for the Hall of Fame and Awards Banquet can be purchased by clicking here.
As more than one hundred years of football statistics in the RMAC were uncovered and organized this past year, one coach’s name stood out: Ike Armstrong. Known to enthusiasts as “Kickapoo Ike” or “Ike the Strong Arm,” his .853 (65-10-3) winning percentage from 1925 to 1937 will continually stand as one of the more unbreakable records in the RMAC record books.
Born June 8, 1895, Ike J. Armstrong’s passion and skill for football emerged at an early age. As an eighth grader, he was playing for the Seymour High School team in Iowa before he was even a student at the school. Armstrong went on to Drake University in the early 1920’s where he lettered as a fullback. He was famous for his pile-driving style of ball carrying and was integral to the Bulldogs’ perfect 7-0 record in 1922. Despite interrupting his college career to enlist for World War I, he would return to Drake to pick up three more football letters adding to his numerous athletic achievements. This initiative to play at a high level early on paved the way for his future career.
After graduation, he stayed at Drake to coach the freshman football team. Armstrong made the jump from freshmen coach to varsity head coach after accepting the head coach position at the University of Utah in 1925. Little did Utah know they wouldn’t need to look for another head coach for 25 years. His record speaks for itself with 141 wins, 15 ties and 55 losses while in Salt Lake City. He produced five undefeated teams, and had five other squads finish with only one regular-season loss each. Under Armstrong’s leadership, Utah won 13 total conference championships (seven of which were in the RMAC).
The 1930 Utah football team outscored opponents by 40 points per game.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, under the coaching of Armstrong, the football season of 1930 was considered one of the top five Utah football seasons of all time. The Utes finished the season averaging 42.5 points per game while surrendering a seemingly impossible 2.5 points per contest. Their closest contest all season was a season-opening 20-7 win over Nevada. They followed up that “nail-biter” with a 72-0 shellacking of Wyoming in the second week of the season.
In 1938, Utah earned its first-ever bowl invitation, validating the national recognition by capturing a 26-0 shutout over New Mexico in the Sun Bowl. The Utes led the nation in scoring with 259 points in nine games in 1939. He was (so to speak) the first one to show up and the last one to leave when it came to football, having held one of the longest tenures (25 years) of any Utah football head coach. His 141 wins are the most in the program history.
Like many of the hall of famers inducted before him, Armstrong was a coach of many sports and a leader in various areas. He coached basketball and track in addition to football at Utah. After coaching, Armstrong wasn’t finished in the arena of athletics; from 1950 to 1963, he served as the athletic director at the University of Minnesota. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1957.
Remembered as the Rockne of the Rockies, Armstrong died at the age of 88 of pneumonia on September 4, 1983. Even though it has been decades since his coaching days at Utah, Armstrong’s legacy and contributions Utah and the game of football remain.