1959 Eastern Michigan Hurons football team

{{short description|American college football season}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox college sports team season

| year = 1959

| team = Eastern Michigan Hurons

| sport = football

| image =

| image_size =

| conference = Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

| short_conf = IIAC

| record = 1–7

| conf_record = 1–5

| head_coach = Fred Trosko

| hc_year = 8th

| mvp = Albert E. Day

| captain = Dave L. Longridge

| stadium = Briggs Field

}}

{{1959 Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings}}

The 1959 Eastern Michigan Hurons football team represented Eastern Michigan University in the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) during the 1959 college football season. In their eighth season under head coach Fred Trosko, the Hurons compiled a 1–7 record (1–5 against IIAC opponents) and were outscored by their opponents, 217 to 50. In the second game of the season, the Hurons defeated Illinois State by a 14–7 score, but then lost the six remaining games. Dave L. Longridge was the team captain and also led the team with 513 passing yards and 517 yards of total offense.{{cite web|title=2014 Digital Media Guide: Eastern Michigan University|publisher=Eastern Michigan University Football|accessdate=June 29, 2016|pages=169, 176, 178, 184|url=http://www.emueagles.com/custompages/football/2014/2014EMUFBGuide.pdf}}

Albert Day led the team with 226 rushing yards and was a first-team selection for the All-IIAC team; he was also selected for the team's most valuable player award.2014 Media Guide, pp. 148, 150, 191. The team totaled only 645 net yards of offense.2014 Media Guide, p. 205.

The Hurons had great success in the 1950s, winning IIAC conference championships in 1954, 1955 and 1957.

However, by 1959, Eastern Michigan had ceased granting athletic scholarships, even though IIAC rules permitted member schools to do so. The school also banned recruiting and drastically reduced the football program's budget to $15,300. University vice president William Lawrence explained: "We feel athletics here are for students with students the participants.

We don't think it's our job to go out and hire a troop of athletes to entertain our students."{{cite news|title=Hurons Are Real Amateurs|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|author=Jack Berry|date=October 1, 1959|page=37|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5729695/hurons_are_real_amateurs/}} Using non-scholarship athletes against IIAC schools with scholarship athletes, Trosko's Eastern Michigan teams were unable to compete and suffered a 29-game winless streak (0–27–2) between October 7, 1959, and October 27, 1962.{{cite web |url=http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_year_by_year.php?coachid=2358 |title=Fred Trosko Records by Year |work=College Football Data Warehouse |accessdate=April 20, 2010 |archive-date=March 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310060522/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_year_by_year.php?coachid=2358 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news|title=Former Eastern grid coach Trosko dies|newspaper=Ludington Daily News|date=1999-02-11|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LfMoAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zVUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3337,3562592&dq=fred+trosko&hl=en}}