That Damien was a s***-disturber, from what I've heard....and for those of you keeping score at home, that's two mic men who are also regular posters on this board mentioned in this thread.

86Oski;550224 said:

---

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.

I'll start:

Home opener in 1982. We beat San Diego St. I believe the final score was 28-0. This was Kapp's first year as coach, and the win followed up our opening day win over CU in Boulder...so we were 2-0.

I remember being surprised at the genuine (well-deserved!) affection the Cal student section had for the Cal Band...it certainly wasn't like that at my high school games.

I also remember that late in the game, J Torchio replaced Gilbert at QB. His first pass landed a couple of yards in front of the receiver, and a big mock cheer went up from the student section...it was so bad that a lot of the players on the Cal bench turned around to look at the rooting section. I felt bad for the guy.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

---

Cal v. USC 1959.
I was a Freshman in HS and came to the game to see my brother who was in the Cal Band.
I knew NOTHING of Cal FB.
Memorial was packed.
Late in the Game tied 7-7 Cal held USC (ranked 6th in the nation) 4 straight downs from inside the Cal 4 yard line.
Cal Fans were going nuts on each of the 4 plays as USC tried to ram the ball across the goal line.
Each time the Cal D-Line held.
Cal did lose 7-14 finally; but those 4 plays made me a Cal fan for life.

59bear;550611 said:

---

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).

---

You beat me by 3 weeks. I do remember listening to the radio broadcast of Frank Brunk's return (would that have been Bud Foster of Oakland Oaks fame?) going nuts over the runback. What a great way for a kid (I was 9 years old) to get enmeshed with Cal football!

It was vs Oklahoma in 1997. Cal won. With regional TV back in the day, I don't think I'd ever seen a regular season Cal football game on TV. But OU was big time and the Big 8 (12) was on TV all the time.

So I thought, hey, this tom holmoe guy is alright. M()T#FU&()R! That was probably the high point of the Holmoecaust. 2-0 first year. I think USC stomped us the next week.

run2win;550545 said:

---

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

---

Ya that's correct. It was Russell's first touch in a real game at Memorial.

2003 vs SC. Yep, I'm spoiled.

The Duke!;550554 said:

---

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:

---

Haha, thanks so much for your humility.

bar20;550260 said:

---

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

---

The great CoP Tiger RB Bass beat the Bears running roughshod over everybody and everything with power and speed.

The same season Cal lost to MSu and had a big win over uU w/ QB Lee Grosscup. The record breaking Big Game against the winless Farm @ CMS was memorable.

86Oski;550576 said:

---

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.

---

I doubt he did this unwittingly but if he did, that would be the most coincidental thing ever. Is it ironic? I'm thinking it could be.

September 15, 1984
UoP 12
Cal 28

Only home win of a 2 and 9 season.

And a Golden Bear fan is born...

KoreAmBear;550753 said:

---

I doubt he did this unwittingly but if he did, that would be the most coincidental thing ever. Is it ironic? I'm thinking it could be.

---

I was going to call it ironic, but every time I use that word, someone accuses me of not knowing its real meaning.

I couldn't tell whether it was unwitting or intentional. And that's one of the things I like about it. For those of you who remember TrojanAl, my favorite thing about his schtick was that you could never be entirely sure whether he was real or a very clever parody -- and either way it was hilarious.

John Payeback;550379 said:

---

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.

---

This was my first game. The halftime score was like 42-0 and I remember the newspaper the next day asking the SJSU coach what he told his team at halftime. It was sunny as the crowd was "friendly" and I felt at home.

Cal also beat USC that year at Memorial - but a very dreadful performance in the BG was my introduction to the miseries of Palo Alto.

SiniCal;550408 said:

---

.. 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

---

Thanks SiniCal. I have read it. The day he passed away, I thought of that moment in class, and then cried like a baby...

Jeff82;550240 said:

---

As I recall, Gary Fowler returned a punt or a kickoff for a touchdown. All during my childhood we sat in the family section in the southeast corner, where the visiting fans now sit. My mom would make us lunch and we would bring it in in a paper bag. Attendance was so poor, we had plenty of room to run around in the stands, or we would go across to Witter.

---

I believe Cal played Syracuse that day and won 44-0.

egbear82;550247 said:

---

Mine was 48 years ago, against Penn State I think..A receiver, Jerry Bradley made a great catch and we pulled it out at the end..

the main thing I remember was tossing the chocolate malt tops so that they would land in the endzone, the hotdogs and peanuts (I was only 4 haha), and the student section would hold up balloons at halftime with all the students sitting in blue holding blue balloons, and the ones in the gold C holding yellow balloons..

It looked cool and then they would all pop them together. We'd go over there after the game and grab all the balloons that the students didn't use.

---

Last play of the game, a Hail Mary pass, but I believe it was the tight end and not Jerry Bradley (who played wide receiver) who made the catch.

barr2dawkins;550499 said:

---

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.

---

And the Head Coach of UOP was.... Pete Carroll

pjlbear;550793 said:

---

And the Head Coach of UOP was.... Pete Carroll

---

As much as I wish that were true, PC never was the head coach at UOP. He was an asst. for one (1983), and was DC for the Jets in 1991 when that game was played.

barabbas;550302 said:

---

1966 v. Michigan:cheer

---

Yes, me and Mrs Oski were at the game with friends and neighbors, 1960 UM grads working on post-docs. UM FB (and sometimes QB) Rick Volk and the running UM smash mouth offense.

A great CFB day for beer w/ fried eggs and fried bananas over rice post-game.

The great Amos Alonzo Stagg.

oskihasahearton;550804 said:

---

The great Amos Alonzo Stagg.

---

The great Bob Toledo was the head coach at Pacific though when we won a squeaker against them in 1991. It was so sad we allowed 24 points to Pacific.

KoreAmBear;550812 said:

---

The great Bob Toledo was the head coach at Pacific thought when we won a squeaker against them in 1991.

---

QB Toledo started for the SFSu Gators coached by the great Vic Rowen in the 1966+67 seasons. SFSu (16–5) beat SDState in the '67 Camellia.

A Gator legacy story: While taking graduate summer classes @ SFSu, I met Coach Rowen who was manning a table on the quad selling hot dogs to raise funds for the cash strapped Gator athletics programs. Very enthusiastic and quite a gentleman. A winner.

pjlbear;550793 said:

---

And the Head Coach of UOP was.... Pete Carroll

---

UOP's head coach in 1991 was a man who had been:
an assistant (LB) at Cal under Mike White ('74-'77)
an assistant (QB) at Illinois under Mike White ('80-'82)
Offensive Coordinator and QB coach at Tennessee under Johnny Majors ('83-'88)

before being named UOP's head coach in 1989. Later, this same man was head coach at Pitt (1997-2004) and Stanf*rd (2005-2006) and is currently the Offensive Coordinator of the California (PA) Vulcans. I give you...

Walt Harris.

...of fame at the Farm?

oskihasahearton;550851 said:

---

...of fame at the Farm?

---

Harris was Stanf*rd's HC when they lost to UC Davis in 2005. Stanf*rd was 0-3 vs the UC system that year:
Sep 17 - lost to UC Davis, 17-20
Oct 29 - lost to UCLA, 27-30
Nov 19 - lost to Cal, 3-27

Also notable about that trifecta, all games were at The Farm in the final season of the Old Gray Lady (as some 'Furddies refer to the original Stanf*rd Stadium).

It doesn't get much better for Stanf*rd haters, I think.

Who achieved less---Buddy the doughboy or Walt?

We lost 26-6. I think the Student Body tore up the bleachers.
Pappy came the next year.

drunkoski;550873 said:

---

got to go with buddy. Walt had horrible talent left to him.

---

htc

I believe my first game in CMS didn't involve Cal. I remember going to a Raiders preseason game against the Seahawks. Mid 70's, but not sure...

Marinbear;550872 said:

---

We lost 26-6. I think the Student Body tore up the bleachers.
Pappy came the next year.

---

1946 Big Game. ...
Wow, there are not too many of us left I was 13 yo, and recovering from rheumatic fever -- a one year convalescence, -- and my father took me to see how my heart would respond to getting back out into the world. I, of course, survived, but as you note
coach Wickorst and a few bleacher benches did not. I believe reading the next day that a fire took out some benches.p
Sitting in the south end zone, I could see the gapeing holes the Indian backs were running through. The hurt to this kid was remedied the following year with the Jensen to Keckley pass to save the 47 BG for us.

I think the first game at CMS was against tOSu circa 1953? Hazeltine, Larson, Bill Dutton, Hanifan and Coach Pappy.

But my favorite was the year before---the 1952 team with Hazeltine, Larson, Olzewski, Dutton, Beal, Maiorana, and Willsey.

drunkoski;550873 said:

---

got to go with buddy. walt had horrible talent left to him.

---

DavidDempster;550879 said:

---

htc

---

yeah but Walt would publicly demean his players... he was a total tool... plus he frequently employed the 3rd down punt thing, which was always worth some razz points. (although, to beat the negative neds to the punch, I think we did that once at some point in the past three years).

That same quarter (Cal used to be on the quarter system), Fall '75, Joe Roth had some class in Wheeler and would be walking out right about the time that I was arriving for my first-ever Cal class, Econ 1 in Wheeler Auditorium.

A year-and-a-half later, on that unforgettable night in good ol' Harmon Gym (when they announced his passing), I was in tears, too, as was just about everybody else.

DavidDempster;550839 said:

---

UOP's head coach in 1991 was a man who had been:
an assistant (LB) at Cal under Mike White ('74-'77)
an assistant (QB) at Illinois under Mike White ('80-'82)
Offensive Coordinator and QB coach at Tennessee under Johnny Majors ('83-'88)

before being named UOP's head coach in 1989. Later, this same man was head coach at Pitt (1997-2004) and Stanf*rd (2005-2006) and is currently the Offensive Coordinator of the California (PA) Vulcans. I give you...

Walt Harris.

---

Also, Walt Harris, Pete Carroll and Ted Leland were teammates at UOP...

72CalBear;550394 said:

---

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..

---

That was my first CMS game too. I was a senior in high school from Vallejo and Dick Bass was playing for COP. As most educated people know, Bass was from Vallejo too. I was coming to Cal the next year, and already loved the Bears. Kapp was great, but Bass was greater on that day. He ran for over 200 yards around and through the Bears. Still one of the most impressive days for a running back I've ever seen. I think COP won 25-20, or something like that. I was torn in my allegiance as I watched the game, but that was the last time I ever had anything but complete support for the Bears at CMS or elsewhere.

Was anyone there when Tommy Mason and the Tulane Green Wave ran through and around the Cal D back in 1960? As a kid, I was so impressed with their flashy green uniforms and methodical running game that was unstoppable that day. Mason ran for over 100 yards and was drafted first by the Minnesota Vikings in 1961.