October 17, 1931 – USC 53, Oregon 0

For the sad details of the life of Oregon halfback Joe Lillard, who’s listed in the roster but was barred from playing in this game, click this link.

November 15, 1947: Oregon at Stanford

click to embiggenA team’s game program souvenir publication often reflects the personality, ambition and traditions of its publisher. The long-term, well-funded programs for teams with large stadiums and big publication runs carry features like custom cover illustrations (for example, the humorous work by John Churchill Chase for Texas in the mid-20^th century), voluminous advertising inches, player biographies, looks at other school sports, and the like. Presumably, the more you can cram into that magazine, the more likely someone will buy it on game day and not leave it laying in shreds under the seats.

As a contrast, there is Stanford University’s late-40s program format.

The cover illustration: disgusting, yes, but at least this caricature has an expression of focus and resolve as he aims his hatchet at the duck’s neck; there are many examples of much more humiliating representations of their beloved “mascot.” Stanford would continue humiliating Native Americans in this way until a group of students began agitating in 1972 to recapture a small piece of their own dignity; that year, the Stanford administration responded to their petition by unilaterally declaring, to its eternal credit, that “any and all Stanford University use of the Indian Symbol should be immediately disavowed and permanently stopped.” Ever since, there have been periodic efforts by nimrod fraternity brothers and alumni to resurrect a “wild-eyed, big-nosed, tomahawk-chopping savage” as the public face of Stanford athletics, as recently as 2006. (The Stanford Review has a good history of the subject.)

Beyond the cover, the program is itself embarrassingly skimpy for a major college program in a large metropolitan area. It’s only eight pages, including the covers; three of those pages are full-color cigarette ads, with a center spread featuring pop singers Perry Como and Jo Stafford hawking Chesterfields, and a comely back cover cheerleader insisting that Camels are “The Choice of Experience” (think her parents knew?). The four pages of editorial content are limited to head shots of head coaches Jim Aiken and Marchy Schwartz, a roster (admittedly comprehensive), and two pages of player photo collages. No stats. No game stories. No player features.

All this for fifteen cents, of which .004 cents was somehow payable as sales tax.

The game itself, the penultimate contest of Jim Aiken’s first season at the helm, played out on a rainy Saturday before 15,000 fans rattling around in Stanford’s 90,000-seat bowl; presumably most of the game programs were snapped up as emergency headwear, but no rain fell during the game itself. The Webfoots asserted themselves early on the muddy field, surrendering only a late touchdown in a 21-6 victory. “Grandpa” Jake Leicht, the PCC’s leading rusher at 27 years old, and George Bell ran over and around the bigger but slower Stanford defenders – some things never change – and Norm Van Brocklin passed and punted efficiently (and sat out on defense, as usual).

After knocking off OSC the following week, Oregon’s record stood at 7-3, their best season since 1933. With only six seniors on the 1947 roster, things were looking up.

 

November 9, 1935 -- OSC at Oregon

With recent conference expansion requiring some changes in scheduling, there has been discussion of moving the Oregon State game earlier in the season, along with the other traditional rivalries. Cal/Stanford has become the first victim of logistics; the 2012 Big Game will not hold its customary final-weekend status. This change has been met with cries of anguish and disgust and sadness that “tradition,” the opiate of the mature college football fan, is being cast aside so that television can have its way.

Eventually, this rivalry game date shuffle will hit the Civil War. So it’s important to note that UO-OAC has not in fact always been the season’s final scheduled gridiron event; the final game setting only became fixed after WW2. Oregon would often finish its season in the pre-war era on a road trip to California, or even an extended journey by train to Florida or Louisiana. Post-war, the Civil War was set in stone as the last game of the season; after the last “post-season” roadie in 1941 resulted in a 71-7 loss to Texas, it’s easy to guess why.

Since WW2, only four times has Oregon vs Oregon State not finished the regular season: twice the team went to Hawaii, once to Miami, and once against USC in Japan (the “Mirage Bowl”, so named because as an Oregon bowl game, it was a mirage). So, when it finally happens again, and the Civil War is closer to a midseason event, it’s going to feel a little strange.

This program is from the 39^th Civil War, the sixth game of 1935, the last year of an extended era when “Civil War” and “end of season” were not synonymous. Prink Callison’s team had struggled a bit, pitching three shutout wins but losing to Cal 6-0 and, the weekend before, hammered 33-6 at eventual conference co-champion UCLA. Still, even though the Webfoots had a brilliant 9-1 season in 1933, and hadn’t lost to OSC in years, this Homecoming game was expected to be the first Hayward Field sellout since… well, since the last OSC game at Hayward, in 1931. (The game had been played in Portland the last two seasons.)

As usual, the media fell over itself complimenting the game play on the field.

“Oregon’s crushing football machine … playing the driving game of a championship eleven … one of the most dramatically thrilling gridiron classics ever seen here …” 
— Bill Phipps, Register-Guard Sports Editor, 11/10/1935 

Beaver coach Lon Stiner’s inexplicable plan to start his second team blew up in his face, as his halfback Bob Mountain fumbled on the second play from scrimmage; six runs later, Oregon had the winning points in a 13-0 game. The Ducks finished the 1935 season at 6-3 – Prink Callison’s last winning season; by 1938 he would be retired from coaching, operating the venerable Lucky’s Club Cigar Store and Tavern in downtown Eugene.

The Register-Guard by 1935 had begun tallying semi-reliable game statistics. Translating these to modern layout standards is a good indicator of how far the game has progressed in the “modern era.” Nowadays you’ll find middle school first-year-in-pads teams with better numbers than this.

	OSC	Oregon
Rushing	15 carries, 76 yds	40 carries, 116 yds
Passing	5-16-3, 58 yds	1-6-3, 9 yds
First downs	5	5
Total plays	31	58
Total offense	134	125
Punts	10 / 40.8 avg	10 / 42.7 avg
Penalties	3 / 15 yds	1 / 15 yds
Fumbles	2	0

It’s safe to say that the passing game hadn’t exactly caught on yet in college football, at least out West. 

Program Notes

• To my knowledge this is the only time the entire front cover of an Oregon game program has been sponsored by any advertiser. Tobacco hustling would never get more blatant than this. (Does any smoker actually have teeth that white?)

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