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.
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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.
Those who worship the memory of Len Casanova – and they are legion, your faithful blogger included – sometimes forget that it took him a while to get things going his way. Coming out of the wreckage of Jim Aiken’s program, Cas went 5-19-1 over his first 25 games, and there were some frustrating moments; a three-game shutout streak in early 1953, a 49-0 debacle in Seattle in 1952… and home-and-home losses to College of the Pacific. The return match with the Tigers, a 14-6 Webfoots loss in Eugene, is the subject of this week’s program.
The game was played under fog and clouds that threatened but did not release, preserving a five-year streak of no rain at Hayward Field. (It is not known whether one of Don Essig’s predecessors uttered the immortal “It never rains at 15th and Agate!”) After being blown out 34-6 in ‘51, the Webfoots made a better accounting of themselves in the rematch; their first-quarter touchdown, an 84-yard strike from Hal Dunham to Ted Anderson, stood as the longest pass play in Oregon history until 1970. But Oregon couldn’t find the end zone again, and couldn’t withstand COP’s balanced attack, led by HB Tom McCormick, who scored both of the Tigers touchdowns.
(Oregon had its share of trouble with Pacific over the years, dropping 3 of the 7 contests before the Tigers folded their football tent in 1995, the third loss being a real doozy – the 1983 season opener at Autzen, where they were favored by three touchdowns.)
Program Notes:
The nation would be at war within ten days, but the only reflection of a war footing in the ’41 Civil War program is a mention of Mike Mikulak, backfield coach, who was called up to active duty and replaced by Manny Vezie. Otherwise, this is a big program at 32 pages that supports the importance of the game: An OSC win would put them into the Rose Bowl for the first time in program history. (Win they did, 12-7 over an injury-riddled Duck squad; but the December attack on Pearl Harbor forced the relocation of the game from Pasadena to Durham, North Carolina.)
ASUO business manager Jack Saltzman’s team really stepped up its game in 1941. The year’s program is loaded with a variety of ads; besides the obligatory full-color cigarette pages, there are dozens of half- and quarter-page ads for local business, national entities like Pepsi and Longines, and even pages without display advertising contain single-line text ads in the footer.
The cover art is by Howard Brodie, who would go on to widespread acclaim as a battlefield artist and later as a courtroom illustrator at high-profile trials such as the Chicago Seven and My Lai court martial.
A humorous “Glossary of Football Terms” is not all that out of date when looked at 70 years later. (“Quarterback – Nitwit who couldn’t hear the instructions you shouted to him during the game.”)
Center roster spread: