Happy 85th Birthday Memorial Stadium!

Ansel Adams photo

On November 24, Memorial Stadium will be celebrating its 85th anniversary of providing great memories to countless loyal Californians.

Here's a link to the California Monthly magazine from November 1998 describing the construction. A few excerpts:

[O]n November 24, 1923, with the smell of new concrete still fresh, the undefeated Golden Bears christened the oval by thrashing Stanford 9-0 in the 29th Big Game. Seventy-four thousand people came to that first contest, the largest crowd ever to witness a football game in the West.

[snip]
In California in the 1920s, there was a strong feeling that it would be appropriate to build a memorial to the many men from the state who had died in the Great War. An impressive stadium consecrated to the virtues of manhood was deemed a fitting memorial. At the same time, Cal was outgrowing its facilities. University architect John Galen Howard was fast replacing frame-and-brick buildings with modern structures designed to create Berkeley's Athens-like atmosphere. A classical stadium would complement Wheeler, Hilgard, and Gilman halls, the Library, Sather Gate, and the Greek Theatre.

[snip]
Memorial Stadium was dedicated to the heroic University dead of the World War by local civic and military leaders on Friday afternoon. Fifty Civil War veterans from the Grand Army of the Republic led a procession that included veterans of World War I and the Spanish-American War, and active members of all the armed services.

Robert Gordon Sproul turned the new stadium over to the UC Board of Regents with these words: "It was conceived by Californians, it was built by Californians, and is the property of Californians. And now that it is completed, I entrust it in your care. The stadium is complete. Possessed of the rare beauty of simplicity and a restfulness derived from perfection of unbroken lines, dedicated most nobly to the youth which fell in the war, the stadium is complete. It is ready for athletic contests, for academic gatherings, for conferences devoted to the highest ends of civilization."

But my favorite trivia concerning the stadium:

The main axis of the field was designed so that at 3 p.m. on the afternoon of November 20 (always within a few days of the Big Game), the sun would be exactly at right angles to the field of play.

25 years later - the hoax

Still one of the funniest pranks. I went to LA for Thanksgiving the day this paper was placed in the Daily Cal newstands (if I recall correctly, the "real" Daily Cal was not published that week, adding to the confusion). People told me that women were crying after reading the headline. Thanks to my roommate at the time, I received an original.


If you hurry, there is a copy up for bid on eBay right now.

UPDATE: The Fake Daily Cal sold on eBay for $510.00. I need to increase my insurance.

The Play revisited again

Yeah, you all know it:

25 years...

Ruined Elway's last college game...

Starky's excited voice can be found anywhere in cyberspace - YouTube, mp3, transcript (I'm surprised I couldn't find it in a ringtone)...

So let's do something different...selected photos and newspaper shots from that historic day.

1982 Program

Front page - Oakland Tribune

Back page - Oakland Tribune

Sports Page - Oakland Tribune

Photo of the Axe and the exuberant crowd

Front page of the Berkeley Gazette

Go Bears!

Big Game Stories 25, 50 and 75 years ago

The Sunday SF Chronicle this week provided brief snippets from articles from 25, 50 and 75 years ago. Included in the research:

Nov 21, 1982:
Shocked and grief-stricken Stanford players and coaches reacted with bitterness and anger at what one of them termed a robbery in the 85th Big Game. "This was an insult to college football," quarterback John Elway said after Cal's unbelievable 57-yard, five-lateral kickoff return gave the Bears a 25-20 triumph on the last play of the game. "It was just a farce. The officials didn't have control of the whole game. They ruined my last game as a college player. It was a very bittersweet ending. I did not want it to end this way. It's something I'll have to live with for the rest of my life."

Nov. 22, 1957:
A group of gentlemen from the University of California will engage a group from Stanford University in a game of football on the latter's playing field. Naturally, every hotel in San Francisco is crowded to the rafters with people known as "Old Grads," the railroad and bus companies are dusting off everything that can roll, hundreds of traffic police officers will lose their day off, and the international frankfurter and peanut magnates are rubbing their hands in anticipation of a killing. It happens every year about this time, and it is called the Big Game, even though it doesn't last any longer than any other game and is rarely for a championship. There is a trophy involved, however. It is an old ax worth several dollars. This is now in the possession of the Californians, which makes the Stanfordians very angry. Big Games are often sentimental. Alumni from the two institutions traditionally gather and try to remember one another's names.

Nov. 20, 1932:
A Big Game that might well go down in history as the "dog-in-a-manger" game was fought out in Berkeley Memorial Stadium. When the final whistle blew, the score was carefully calculated by the officials, recounted by the players and finally audited by faculties of both universities. It read: University of California 0, Leland Stanford Jr. University 0. And never did a score mirror a game so perfectly.

Diego Rivera, the Big Game and Card Stunts

Recently, I was watching American Masters on PBS which focused on Diego Rivera, considered one of the greatest Mexican artists of all time. I have always been fascinated and impressed by his work. For those of you who do not know me, I am a first generation American of Mexican descent. It has only been recently that I have been more fully embracing my ancestry, primarily due to my increasing knowledge of my fascinating family history.

Anyway, there was a segment of the program that described his visit to San Francisco in 1930, where he had painted murals for the Pacific Stock Exchange and the California School of Fine Arts. It should also be noted that a Diego Rivera mural can be found in Stern Hall.

Imagine my surprise when the screen showed a newspaper article and picture of Diego Rivera and his wife, Frida Kahlo, attending Big Game. The television program did not discuss this article, but after conducting extensive online searching, the article appeared in the Oakland Post-Enquirer on November 29, 1930 as referenced by this 1977 article I found here by Robert L. Scott:

He [Rivera] was the hit of the Stanford-California football game in 1930, which he attended in a sombrero with his wife, the artist Frida Kahlo dressed in a full native Mexican costume; afterwards he gave an interview in which he compared football to a bullfight—but joyous, not brutal—and called the cardsection “art in the mass, a new form of art.” [emphasis mine]

Unfortunately, Cal lost that game. But according to the Oakland Tribune articles about the game, the rooter stunts by Cal stole the show.

The Axe - It's Ours Again!

Not a real pretty game. But we won. Cal now the victor of five Big Games in a row. Fans stormed the field after the end of the game.

An incredibly windy day in Strawberry Canyon, so much so that the California Banner needed to be brought down from its flag posts - it appeared that the Banner may have damaged the one of the flag posts and security did not let anyone sit in a vulnerable section of the student seating. Not a great shot (cell phone camera), but you can tell from the photo that the Banner is missing, as well as a few flags.


Rally Committee, for some reason, took the Banner from the Cannon Platform and placed it just below the UCRC section; I'm assuming the Main Banner was damaged as well. Trivia: the replacement Banner was originally flown at the 1982 Big Game as the main Banner (see the photo of this Banner in an earlier posting), and when it retired, was presented as a gift to Chancellor Tien in the 1990's. Later, it was seen in the lodge of Camp Gold at the Lair of the Bear. Somehow it got back into UCRC's good hands.

Go Bears!

The Axe

The Stanford Axe. We have it. They want it. Originally stolen in 1899.

Archie J. Cloud, Class of 1900, and one of the original Cal men who liberated the blade:

It should be abundantly clear that this fantastic feat could not have been pre-planned. Look at the extraordinary breaks - or coincidences - only through which did the coup succeed:

1. The exit from the baseball park of three Stanford men only, leaving the Axe unguarded, and these men unsuspicious;
2. The non-interference of the police at the start;
3. The sudden and perfectly timed arrival of the great sprinter, [Billy] Drum;
4. The unexpected appearance of the "girl" or "young lady" near the Ferry Building at the exact moment when the "jig" seemed to be up.

Moreover, in view of the razor-like edge of the blade, it seems almost miraculous that no one of the several participants incurred serious injury.

Without loss of time, the dramatic saga of the original seizure of the Stanford Axe hit the first editions of dailies in San Francisco. It splashed over from the sports columns to the front pages as a stirring feature story, setting the stage for the birth of a great, and then greater, college tradition. - Archie J. Cloud, The Stanford Axe

Go Bears! Let's keep it!

Controversial History

From the stanfraud review - the farm now claims it invented the card stunt:

The Card stunt started as a way for Stanford to make-up for the smaller size of their cheering section in the Big Game. Ralph Fitting sets the scene for the 1904 Big Game: “What Stanford lacked in numbers, it made up in campus-wide Stanford spirit. The memory of the stolen Axe clung vividly in the minds of everyone; kept alive by the colorful Axe Yell. Revenge was the pass-word.”

As Stanford fans entered the stadium, each received a small packet of confetti. Those in certain seats also received a white tarp and instructions on how to hold it over their hats. As the Stanford team walked onto the field, the Yell leaders gave the command, and the Stanford section threw up their confetti, creating a cloud of red. Fitting comments: “When the great sea of red subsided over the rooting section a great white S emerged on the background of the red rooters’ hats. The Berkeley side was completely stunned...Newspaper cameras clicked from every side. The Stanford stunt became history, again to add to the list of Stanford traditions.”

The card stunt also became history at the farm when they discontinued its use in the 1970's.

Now white tarps do not equal cards. However, this undercuts the long-time claim that the UC Rally Committee believes:

Card stunts originated in the 1910 Big Game against Stanford University. Their appearance at this game marks the first appearance of card stunts and the Rally Committee is attributed with their invention. At the time, it was an activity known as "bleacher stunts."

It's almost like the question of who invented the Wave?

Football Statue all Dressed Up

From the UC Berkeley News Center - the Football Statue was all dressed up today.


Photos at right by Steve McConnell



Douglas Tilden's Football Statue (officially called "Football Players") was the precursor to the Axe. San Francisco Mayor James Phelan promised to award the statue to the winner of two of the three Big Games of 1898, 1899 and 1900. Cal won the first two, thereby winning the statue.

Go Bears!

Tightwad Hill's top-10 Big Games

Tightwad Hill - the blogger - summarized his top-10 Big Games. Number 8 on his all-time hit list is the 93rd Big Game (1990) when stanfurd beat Cal in the waning seconds of the game:

...but this was a series of catastrophes - like a bad wreck on the highway. Stanford scored. Russell White somehow missed the onside kick. John Belli got a ticky-tack roughing penalty on Jason Palumbis on a simple throwaway pass. And then the field goal, and that song. That song. It's frankly too painful to write about, so let's move on. [emphasis added]

The Upset - 20 years later

SF Chron Caption - Cal students and players celebrate with the Stanford Axe, newly returned to Berkeley following the 1986 Big Game. Photo courtesy of Cal Media Relations.

The SF Chron has an article on the 89th Big Game - the upset in 1986 by a 1-9 Cal team over the 7-2 Gator Bowl-bound stanfoo team.

Looking for a little more motivation, [Head Coach Joe] Kapp called upon 74-year-old Natalie Cohen to lead the Axe cheer to his players right before the game. After Cohen's exhortations, Ortega recalled, "We ran out on the field together, as a team. We didn't do that every week that year."

[snip]

"Those Cal crazies got all excited," [stanfurd QB John] Paye said.

"Our fans will rally when they see anything good happen," said [Cal QB Kevin] Brown, who works in marketing and communications for Delaware Investments in San Francisco.

The Play revisited

On Mondays of every Big Game Week, I typically have written about The Play - the incomparable kickoff return from the 85th Big Game held in 1982. It continues to get air time, recently getting #1 on Best Damn's Top 50 Unforgettable Sports Moments. You can find all sorts of videos concerning The Play on YouTube.com. My favorite is the "lo-def" version used for a Sony HD commercial:

Other Play memories:
- The ESPN Classic 7-minute video
- The Joe Starkey transcript

Sure - most Cal students today have only seen the youtube.com version. But I'll still celebrate the "unforgettable sports moment" 24 years later. Why?

The most famous Cal play before The Play was the 1929 Rose Bowl game against Georgia Tech. Roy Riegels '30 (inducted into both the Rose Bowl and Cal Hall of Fame) ran 65 yards the wrong way resulting from a GT fumble. He was finally turned around by his own teammate but was tackled by the opposing team at the 1-yard line. GT eventually scored a safety and won the game 8-7. It was known as the "worst football blunder". I remember growing up watching the rerun of this event every January 1 before the Rose Bowl game. It took nearly 54 years to transform the talk about the "worst football blunder" to the "most unforgettable sports moment".

I figure we have another 30 years to keep talking about The Play.

We've Got The Axe!

You all know the story.

But if you need a quick refresher course, check out a brief history summarized by the Berkeleyan a few years ago.

Go Bears!

In Memorium - Ralph Edwards 1913-2005

Ralph Edwards '35, the well-known radio and TV host and producer of popular game shows such as "Truth or Consequences" and "This Is Your Life", died Wednesday.

For those of you who didn't know, Mr. Edwards was a Class Yell Leader during his years at Cal. Here are some of his memories from a Cal Band oral history interview:

Yes, three of my four years at Cal, freshmen, sophomore and senior years, I was class yell leader and during my junior year, I was assistant varsity yell leader. Johnny McGill was varsity yell leader and Bill Johnson was the other assistant yell leader.

Now during those freshmen, sophomore and senior years, as the class yell leader, I always tried to make our class of '35, the most lively at the big game rallies at the Greek Theatre, cheering the loudest, we hoped, when the University of California Marching Band came royally marching onto the Greek Theatre stage.

[snip]

Now one of my prize photos is one that somebody took of me at the stadium in my yell leading whites at the base of the rooting section on the long narrow platform, arms outstretched for a yell and three Cal Bandsmen, just below me, resting from their performance, and thousands and thousands and thousands of Cal rooters and their adversaries glued into every seat in the Cal stadium.

Please make a toast to the memory of Mr. Edwards this Big Game weekend. Go Bears!

The Play

Happy Monday of Big Game Week.

My annual Monday of Big Game Week has traditionally been a reposting of Joe Starkey's famous call in 1982 of "the most amazing, sensational, traumatic, heart rending... exciting thrilling finish in the history of college football! California has won...the Big Game...over Stanford." I still get goose bumps when I hear it.

I won't repost this year, but it's absolutely amazing that 23 years later, it still has a huge following. Perhaps it's because it was ranked #18 in ESPN's 100 most memorable moments.

The full text of The Play can be found here and here.

A Wikipedia entry of The Play can be found here, which also links to attributed quotes from that day. Well worth visiting.

RealOne Player videos of The Play can be found here, with audio at Joe Kapp's site.

If you want eyewitness accounts, I can refer you to at least 10-12 people out of the 150,000 who claim to have been there.

Go Bears!