St. Cloud Times — It was a sign of things to come.
A headline in the Times 75 years ago this week read: “August most uncertain month in college grid history.”
The story beneath detailed the uncertainty facing the football programs at both St. John’s University and St. Cloud Teachers College (now St. Cloud State) as each team prepared to begin practice for the 1941 college football season.
“Uncle Sam has prior claim on all young men of college age, and the location of their numbers in the selective service rolls will determine if they play football or tote a rifle,” the story read.
The U.S. was still neutral as World War II continued to rage in August 1941. That neutrality would not be officially shattered until the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of that year.