The Cardiac Kids return

The year was 1967. Already up 13-7 against Purdue, Hoosier running back Terry Cole sprinted 48 yards up the middle to give IU a commanding 19-7 lead, ultimately culminating in the program’s only Rose Bowl berth.\nForty years later, the “Cardiac Kids” are coming back to Bloomington. With the Hoosiers stuck at six wins and vying for their first bowl game since 1993, this year’s reunion is more than just the average get-together.\n“We’re excited about coming back to the campus after forty years,” said Harold Mauro, director of football operations and the center on the 1968 Rose Bowl team. “It brings back a lot of memories to me.”\nThroughout the week, the IU Alumni Association has held several events for the members of the team. Prior to kickoff, the players will join in “The Walk” alongside the present Hoosiers and will be honored at halftime.\nAside from the activities, author Bill Murphy will have a book signing of “The Cardiac Kids – A Season to Remember,” which he wrote from a fan’s perspective about the 1968 Rose Bowl team.\nEighty-two members of the Rose Bowl team, including players, coaches, and staff, will come back to Bloomington for the reunion this weekend, a number IU Varsity Club Assistant Director Mark Deal is ecstatic about.\n“A tremendous number 40 years later,” Deal said.\nFollowing the game, a duplicate of the Rose Bowl trophy will be given to IU President Michael McRobbie and IU Athletics Director Rick Greenspan.\nIn honor of the 1968 Rose Bowl team, the Hoosiers will wear retro uniforms when they play for the Old Oaken Bucket. Above the “Hep” patch over the player’s hearts, a commemorative patch of the ’68 team resides. Rather than using the regular “IU” helmet, the players will feature a single “I.”\n“I want to express the significance of the ‘I’ here,” Mauro said. “Every team that has gone to a bowl game has always had an ‘I’ on the side of the headgear. My take on it is I never like the ‘IU’ on the side because they don’t put an ‘IU’ on the bucket. They put a damn ‘I.’”\nSenior fullback Josiah Sears said wearing the retro jerseys is going to be something he is looking forward to.\n“Personally, I think they’re really nice, and I’m going to see if I can keep mine after the game,” Sears said. “I don’t know. Probably not.”\nFor IU coach Bill Lynch, watching his players wear the retro jerseys brings back fond memories of a team that has gone down as one of the greatest in the history of IU football.\n“I was at Saum Park on the northeast side of Indianapolis,” Lynch said. “Our eighth grade football team had won the city championship. We were having a team picnic and our parents had the radio on listening to the Bucket game.”