71Bear;550360 said:

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1956 Cal 14 Pitt 0. A few years ago, I saw a program from that game in an antique shop. Needless to say, I bought and had it framed.

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did it bother you that something that you're older than is considered an antique?

:beer:

Not sure if this was my first game, but in 75' I was in a " unit filler" class. I think it was Forestry 10 or something like that. I was a big eyed freshman. The guy I was sitting next to asked if I was going to the game. I said, " sure, I guess " he said.. " Don't miss it " After class someone asked me if I knew who that was. " ummm no?? He said that is the qb. His name is Joe Roth. I just said oh, cool.!!! The next week I saw him and said I had gone to the game, he gave me the thumbs up

1963 vs DukeA 22-22 tie.Craig Morton was the QB.We always sat in the south end zone.
$1.00 tickets.Remember the fences that screened-off the GA from
the reserved seats ? Always wanted to be rich enough to sit on
the other side.LOL.
We used to run on the field after the game and ask for chin straps.
We always got a few.

My first Cal game was in 87' we beat Pacific like 40 to nothing. It wasn't all that memorable though..I was in the Cub Club and got the free rubber mini-football. I think at halftime I ditched the game and went up above the student section and threw it around with the other 100 kids and their free footballs lol.

CUB CLUB 4 LIFE !!!!!

1977 against San Jose State. My parents drove me and my two brothers and sister up from San Jose and we sat in the south end zone. We got there late but during the 1st quarter. While outside the stadium we heard the cannon go off 2 or 3 times. Mom said, "Oh, the JV game must still be going on." No. Final score Cal-52 SJSU-3 Charlie Young was the qb, followed by a cast of a thousand backups.

bar20;550260 said:

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The year was 1958 CAL vs College of the Pacific (COP later UOP). We were heavily favored. However COP upset us. CAL went on to play in the Rose Bowl.

I went with our local Park & Rec dept. As I recall it cost $1.00. I remember coming home with with a CAL pennant and a blue and gold pom pom. My first taste of the college football game expeience. I was 11 years old and a CAL fan for life after that game. Joe Kapp was my hero! Blue & gold were my favorite colors. :cheer

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Pretty amazing - I was there with my dad (Cal '45) and remember walking straight up to the south entrance. I was 8 years old and can still recall holding his hand, smelling the cigars, popcorn, beer, and roasted peanuts. And Joe Kapp was my dad's hero. I only wish he was alive today to see the Bears under Tedford - he would be very proud. Oh yeah, we bought my mom one of those gold paper flowers with a big blue C in the middle..

Actually, my first game was positive. 2004 Big Game, and it was actually my girlfriend who suggested we go to Tightwad. At the time I was much more of a baseball and basketball fan, so college football never really registered with me until that day.

Big C_Cal;550271 said:

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1975, Cal vs. San Jose St:

Cal looked sluggish for most of the game, but then won it on a long pass from the late, great Joe Roth, to Wesley Walker. Cal continued to improve -- the success snowballed -- and SHOULD have been in the damned Rose Bowl that year, were it not for too many fumbles against UCLA and U$C's inept effort against the Bruins on the Friday after Cal detroyed Stanford, 48-15, in the Big Game.

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Mine too. What a great freshman season, but it gave me expectations that caused me to believe, throughout my college career, that we were on the verge of a Rose Bowl.

You don't mention our wonderful thrashing of #4 SC, 28-14, in Memorial (ironically the same score by which we lost to Southern Branch)!

Craig Morton at the helm in a loss. Sad, but I did not officially cry at a game until the first quarter of the 1969 Big Game - we got down three scores right away. Almost made it all the way back.
Regarding the initial post and the Torchio pass...
In 1981, Major League Baseball had a media campaign - "Baseball fever...Catch It!"
We in the student section were heard to say during that season,
"Torchio fever! Catch it...on a bounce!"

davetdds;550362 said:

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Not sure if this was my first game, but in 75' I was in a " unit filler" class. I think it was Forestry 10 or something like that. I was a big eyed freshman. The guy I was sitting next to asked if I was going to the game. I said, " sure, I guess " he said.. " Don't miss it " After class someone asked me if I knew who that was. " ummm no?? He said that is the qb. His name is Joe Roth. I just said oh, cool.!!! The next week I saw him and said I had gone to the game, he gave me the thumbs up

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.. we already got the winner here.

Thanks for sharing Dave.

Sometimes seems like crazy random happenstance rules our life. And Joe's, alas.

Surely by now you've read Roth's classic tribute, "JR, His fight for life"?

#GoLegends

The first game of the Jeff Tedford era was my first game at Memorial. Many credit JT with Cal's impressive resurrection. But, oddly enough, I have never heard anyone (besides myself) give me full credit for the turnaround.

I had absolutely no interest in sports, but during my undergrad days I thought I should go to at least 1 game as part of the collegiate experience. I can't remember who we played, but I knew it wasn't an "important" game (like Stanford or one of the southern California teams) - it was probably Oregon State or another team that made it easy to get a last-minute ticket. All I remember is that it was a overcast day, and we lost.

Which may help explain why I didn't go to my second Cal game until my graduate days in the early 1990's. My major professor had extra tickets, and THAT's when I finally converted to a whole-hearted Cal fan.

I don't remember who the opponent was, but I do remember that it was in 1966. There are reasons why I know it was 1966. I was closing in on 7 years old.

My maternal grandparents took me to my first football game. I had been introduced to football. I was enraptured. I was hooked. I would never be the same.

That day, I became a Golden Bear for life. Only later would the meaning of that allegiance unfold, as layers of an onion.

I've got you all beat. 1949 Cal thumped Wash. State College (that's what they called it then) I think something like 34-6 on a gray November day. I went with a pack of Cub Scouts. I remember Jack Swarner as the next hope after Jackie Jensen who left for a baseball career the year before. I went around with the daughter of backfield coach Wes Fry as a 5th grader at Lafayette Elementary School. I think she scored tickets the following year when my heroes were Matt Hazeltine and Pete Schabarum.

Age 4, Pitt or Penn State (i think), not sure if won or lost.....probably lost.....though I was hooked.

L'il 2th, age 6 months, 2006 Sept 9th, Minnesota Golden Gophers, Bears won 42-17....hasn't missed a home game since.

GO BEARS!!!

Easy. 1962 vs. UCLA. As I remember Craig Morton's second or third game as a Bear (after he hurt his knee in camp in, of all things, a punting drill). Rainy, misty day but I was hooked.

This is how you create a lifetime of despair:

1. Send a happy freshman to his first Cal game and watch them demolish their opponent, UOP. In fact, if Snyder wanted, 100 points is in our grasp.

2. Follow that win with a highly successful season and he is hooked.

3. Then queue up a series of misfortunes


But that day was something to behold. It was a crisp September morning and we looked unbelievable. An offense manned by three future NFL studs on the line, a lion at the QB, and fantastic play making ability in Treggs, Dawkins and R. White. On defense, the line backing crew was all over the field. What a beautiful site to behold.

04 vs asu, the fall after my senior year in hs. unfortunately, I never got the opportunity to go to cal, but I love the team and school like it's my own. every time someone sees my cal gear and asks if I went there, I tell them I take saturday classes during the fall haha.

anywhoo, I believe this was the first ever night game at memorial. andrew walter was highly regarded. we shut them out, 28-0. I could telll by the few plays he made marshawn was gonna be special.

made it to two more games that year I think ( oregon and washington I think?), and I've only missed 2 home games since then!

The Duke!;550409 said:

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The first game of the Jeff Tedford era was my first game at Memorial. Many credit JT with Cal's impressive resurrection. But, oddly enough, I have never heard anyone (besides myself) give me full credit for the turnaround.

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You Lucky Golden Bear, you.

The Duke!;550409 said:

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The first game of the Jeff Tedford era was my first game at Memorial. Many credit JT with Cal's impressive resurrection. But, oddly enough, I have never heard anyone (besides myself) give me full credit for the turnaround.

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Well you probably haven't heard anyone lay the last 2 years of moribund play at your feet either.

The first entire game for me was last year's big game (2010). Yeah...you guys know how it ended.

DeusEx;550504 said:

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The first entire game for me was last year's big game (2010). Yeah...you guys know how it ended.

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I hope your second game wasn't UW. *ugh*

KoreAmBear;550505 said:

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I hope your second game wasn't UW. *ugh*

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Nah, I pretty much stopped watching after the Big Game since I knew that even if we beat UW we still wouldn't have a winning season (at best 6-6). Good thing I was right, as Cal ended up 13-16, and no bowl game, as we all know. Just bought my student season tickets today, btw.

Fall 2008 vs UCLA. I stood in the Cal student section with a ucla shirt under a cal shirt. I remember pretending to be a Cal fan... surprised no one around me didnt get I was a UCLA fan despite me telling them how much better UCLA was (only to watch them get destroyed).

A beat down of Minnesota, 55-14. Johnny O, Pete Schabarum, Jim Monachino, Les Richter. And to top off Cal's scoring, a true freshman, Paul Larson took a kickoff to the house. Who wouldn't have been hooked?!

I love that story. Classic Joe.

Just to bust your chops a bit. #4 played the week earlier against Wisconsin at Madison.

KoreAmBear;550503 said:

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Well you probably haven't heard anyone lay the last 2 years of moribund play at your feet either.

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I didn't arrive in 2010. As a humble person, all I can do is take full responsibility for all of Cal's success. I will allow others to take credit for partially undoing my good work. :acclaim:

xultaif;550324 said:

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And actually helps explain many of your posts.

Not one part of your post sounds like a pleasant memory. Not one. Couldn't get anyone to go with you. Paid too much for Fall sports sticker. Couldn't get beer. CAL got blown out. Stadium was half empty. Didn't understand why we were playing UCLA's fight song...

It's interesting, for instance, that Russell White, the first time he touched the football as a CAL player, returned a kick for a touchdown and that doesn't make it into your "memory" of the game that you post here.

A very interesting post.

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Hmm...I seem to remember that this was the intent of the thread:

Quote:

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We're all going to miss watching football in Strawberry Canyon this Fall. To help get us through it, post whatever you remember about your first game at Memorial Stadium.

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I remember the touchdown but it was drowned out in the final score (the correct score was 52-24). Isn't the final score what everyone remembers? And I had plenty of pleasant memories that day - most notably the weather - which was crisp, sunny and beautiful and......

now that you mention it.......(and thank you for being rude as it has jogged my memory)......this was the game where a guy came out of the crowd and took over the mic man duties. I remember this girl was leading cheers or trying too. She was terrible and I think she was drunk too. She tried to do this cheer of "Bear Claw!" - holding up your hand like a claw or something. Anyway, sometime during the game, she started chanting Defense - when Cal had the ball. She started getting catcalls and boos and then all of a sudden, some guy came out of the crowd and started to lead cheers. The student section immediately warmed to this guy and he was the mic man for the rest of the year. And he was good too. I think his name was Ken or Kent.

Lol, philly. Yeah, the guy's name was Ken. Went on to become a legendary mic man. I wonder whatever happened to him.....

Btw, unless you did this intentionally, I nominate this post for funniest post of the year.

Nah...

I crossed that road years ago when I saw a bunch of stuff that I had as a kid in the Oakland Museum in a display that highlighted stuff from the 50's...

Besides, those of us that were born during the Truman Administration take great pride in having screwed up the world for all those who have followed us.... ;-)

I was 13 and went with my uncle, his wife, my brother and his wife. Sat in the north end zone which made the lane that opened for Brunk look like the parting of the Red Sea. Other memorable aspects: Les Richter playing on a bum ankle and still dominating; Johnny Olszewski playing in the frosh prelim; the walk back to our car along the Northside fraternity row where keggers were in progress; being denied entrance to Trader Vic's (no neckties), so we went to another restaurant where the menu was entirely in French. I ordered filet mignon (priciest item on the board) because it was the only thing I could translate (got teased about it for years after at family gatherings).

A stunningly gorgeous day it was in September of 1980, when the Golden Bears hosted the Arizona Wildcats. Despite a 41-13 (?) beatdown the previous week in Gainsville (against a not yet highly rated Florida team, and in which Rich Campbell threw for over 500 yards, all for naught), Bear fans were still fairly optimistic about what would be a wretched 3-8 season. This was not only my first game at CMS, it was also my first performance as a member of the marching band (edit: first performance for Cal football --- we'd played at the 49er game the previous week). I honestly can't remember whether I was an alternate or not, but we played "Children of Sanchez" at halftime, and it really wasn't very good either in concept or execution. The team came out gangbusters in building up a 21-3 halftime lead, but gave away the game with, among other things, a couple fumbles deep in our own territory. When the Cats took the lead and it was clear a win wasn't in the cards, mic man Damien led the student section in the famous ARIZONA EAT S**T AND DIE yell. Since the crowd was completely dead and the cheer was fully embraced by the entire student section, it supposedly came out loud and clear through the television broadcast. Administration were very unhappy about it afterwards.

Big Game 1974.
A group of my H.S. buddies came to Cal for the weekend.
We spent the night in a holding cell that U.C.P.D. had in( I think) the Sproul basement.
:beer:
We were very hung over, and to top ot off Stanford won, with a 50 yard field goal. :cry:

ohsooso;550614 said:

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A stunningly gorgeous day it was in September of 1980, when the Golden Bears hosted the Arizona Wildcats. Despite a 41-13 (?) beatdown the previous week in Gainsville (against a not yet highly rated Florida team, and in which Rich Campbell threw for over 500 yards, all for naught), Bear fans were still fairly optimistic about what would be a wretched 3-8 season. This was not only my first game at CMS, it was also my first performance as a member of the marching band. I honestly can't remember whether I was an alternate or not, but we played "Children of Sanchez" at halftime, and it really wasn't very good either in concept or execution. The team came out gangbusters in building up a 21-3 halftime lead, but gave away the game with, among other things, a couple fumbles deep in our own territory. When the Cats took the lead and it was clear a win wasn't in the cards, mic man Damien led the student section in the famous ARIZONA EAT S**T AND DIE yell. Since the crowd was completely dead and the cheer was fully embraced by the entire student section, it supposedly came out loud and clear through the television broadcast. Administration were very unhappy about it afterwards.

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My first game as a Cal student and fan too (anything before doesn't count), went with a group from my dorm--loved being in the student section, getting drunk and loud--Damien was awesome.