Iowa State football has been through a lot in its history. However, winning six games to begin a season has only happened twice.

After a convincing 28-16 win over West Virginia on Saturday, the Cyclones are now ranked ninth in the country and are 6-0 for the first time since 1938. During that season over 85 years ago, the Cyclones ended the season 7-1-1 after defeating Drake 14-0, tying Kansas State at 13 and losing to Oklahoma 0-10. 

The world was a lot different 86 years ago, but one thing connects 1938 and 2024: the Iowa State Cyclones started 6-0 in football.

In 1938, World War II had not begun and FDR was serving the second of four presidential terms. Around the U.S. things looked a bit different too, especially in the economy.

The top-grossing movie was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at $3.9 million domestically. For comparison, Barbie was the highest-grossing movie in the U.S. in 2023 and made $636 million.

A gallon of gas was 17 cents, whereas it costs around $2.98 a gallon now in Iowa. Another item regularly sold in gallons is milk, which costs $4.03 on average now but was 42 cents in 1938.

The first air-conditioned car would not roll off the production lines until a year later. New inventions in 1938 included the ballpoint pen, strobe lighting and chocolate chip cookies.

I cannot imagine going to the store now and not seeing chocolate chip cookies anywhere. As for the ballpoint pen, I’d like to imagine that it had a role in the journalism industry even then.

Globally, the population has quadrupled. It was estimated to be 2.2 billion in 1938 and is at 8.2 billion now.

When it comes to Iowa State and Ames specifically, 6,103 students attended Iowa State in 1938 compared to over 30,000 students now.

The population of Ames has grown too. The 1940 census had the Ames population at 12,555, while the 2020 census had it listed at 66,427.

Jack Trice Stadium would not be built for nearly another 40 years after the 1938 season in 1975. Hilton Coliseum opened a few years prior, in 1971.

The Cyclones won a conference title in men’s swimming in 1938, a sport that Iowa State folded in 1994. Back then, the Big 12 was called the Big 6 and consisted of Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

Another crazy fact about the 1938 college football season is that the old leather helmets players used to wear were not mandated until 1939. They were still optional to wear.

To me personally, the biggest shock when I first found out 1938 was the last time Iowa State started a season 6-0, was that none of my grandparents had been born yet.

Specifically, my grandpa was born in 1940 in Hawaii, a year before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He passed away earlier this year, so he never got to experience a 6-0 start for the Cyclones. He was two years too late and a year too early. 

Love you, Papa.