In recognizing the 125th season of Stanford football and the 150th year of college football, GoStanford.com is celebrating and highlighting Stanford's football history with a season-long series by decade.
Stanford 125: The 1950s
Games of the Decade:
Nov. 10, 1951: Stanford 27, USC 20
To face USC for a Rose Bowl berth was unexpected for Stanford. The Indians had a new coach, Chuck Taylor, and were coming off a season in which they won only one of their final six games.
Stanford was supposed to be middle of the pack in the Pacific Coast Conference. Yet, it entered Week Eight undefeated and facing an undefeated No. 16-ranked USC team that already beat then-No. 1 Cal. That's why there were 96,130 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that Saturday afternoon for what would be one of the greatest games in Stanford history.
The catalyst was Bob Mathias. At age 17, in the summer after his graduation from Tulare Union High School in California's Central Valley, Mathias braved the cold and rain in London to win the 1948 Olympic gold medal in the decathlon. By the fall of 1951, Mathias was a junior at Stanford and decided to play football for the first time as a collegian. He didn't play at all in the first two games and barely played in the third. But after a teammate was injured, Mathias stepped into the lineup for a Week Four showdown against UCLA and scored two touchdowns in a 21-7 victory and hardly left the lineup after that.
With the score 7-7 after three quarters, the USC contest turned into a wild affair, with 33 points scored in the fourth quarter. After USC took a 14-7 lead on the first play of the final quarter, the ensuing kickoff went to Mathias. Fielding the ball at the 4, Mathias followed interference to the right and cut upfield where he found room up a seam. When he encountered traffic near midfield, Mathias followed Wes Laubscher's block of Trojan star Frank Gifford, and accelerated up the right sideline past the final two defenders for the 96-yard score.
In the media, the Mathias return was called "spine-tingling" and "one of the greatest runs these eyes or any others have beheld." It "electrified the crowd and spurred the team to victory."
The extra-point try was wide and disaster befell Stanford when quarterback Gary Kerkorian was hit in his own end zone and fumbled, with the Trojans falling on the ball for a touchdown to pull ahead 20-13 with five minutes left. The momentum, however, swung quickly when Kerkorian hit Sam Morley for 30 yards to set up a second Mathias touchdown, a 2-yard run, to tie it, 20-20.
Not content to play for the tie, USC aggressively went for the win. On a halfback pass, Gifford rolled right and threw downfield, but Stanford's Skip Crist intercepted the pass and raced 31 yards to the Trojans' 11. Facing third-and-10 from the same spot, Stanford handed the ball to Harry Hugasian up the middle. He picked up 10, and scored from the 1 on the next play with less than a minute left for a 27-20 victory. Taylor was carried off the field on the shoulders of his players.
"The team that didn't want to be beat would not be beat," said Notre Dame assistant John Druze, on hand to scout. "It was by far the best game I've seen in years."
Stanford's perfect season ended with a 20-7 Big Game loss to Cal, and the Indians suffered a second consecutive loss, 40-7 to Illinois in the Rose Bowl, to end the season and would not return to Pasadena for 19 years. But the USC victory still reverberates in the halls of Stanford lore.
In 1952, Mathias won his second Olympic decathlon gold, in Helsinki, with a world-record score and retired from the sport undefeated in the event. Mathias tried acting – he played himself in "The Bob Mathias Story" – before joining the Marine Corps and rising to the rank of captain. He went on to serve four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mathias died of cancer in Fresno in 2006 at age 75.
Bob Mathias scores the second of his two touchdowns in a wild fourth quarter against USC.
Nov. 25, 1950: Stanford 7, California 7
The final game of the Marchmont Schwartz era was one of the hardest-fought Big Games in history. Stanford faced a Pappy Waldorf-coached Cal squad that was 9-0 and headed to the Rose Bowl. Though neither side was entirely satisfied with the result, it truly favored Stanford.
Gary Kerkorian set a Big Game passing yardage record by completing 17 of 31 for 217 yards and threw a 6-yard pass to Boyd Benson to tie the game late in the third quarter. The TD was set up by Russell Pomeroy's strip and Jack Bonetti's recovery deep in Cal territory.
With 1:45 left, Stanford had one more chance at victory on a play that came within an inch of succeeding. Kerkorian took the snap and shoveled the ball back to end Bill McColl who had looped behind the quarterback. Deep downfield, Bob Bryan, a sprinter on the Stanford track team, was streaking behind the Cal defense. McColl hurled the ball 60 yards to Bryan who dived for the ball at the 10, only for it to evade his outstretched fingers and fall to the soft Berkeley turf.
Oct. 17, 1953: Stanford 21, UCLA 20
The No. 4-ranked Bruins bolted to a 20-7 lead that held midway through the third quarter, but Stanford rallied behind quarterback Bobby Garrett, who completed 18 of 26 passes for 197 yards. Garrett passed for three touchdowns, recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff to set up a score, intercepted a pass, and kicked three extra points. His 6-yard pass to Al Napoleon, brought up from the junior varsity only a week earlier, early in the fourth quarter, decided the game.
"I have never seen a game so dominated by one man," UCLA coach Red Sanders said.
Ronald Cook runs against the Bruins in 1953.
Notable Coaches:
Chuck Taylor (1951-57)
As the postgame press conference concluded at the 1950 East-West Shrine Game at San Francisco's Kezar Stadium, West coach Marchmont Schwartz dropped a bombshell. Though he recently agreed to a five-year extension as Stanford's head coach, he announced his retirement, stunning the press corps. After a nationwide search, Chuck Taylor, a line coach for the San Francisco 49ers, became the first alum to be named head football coach at Stanford since James Lanagan in 1903.
An All-American guard who played on the undefeated Wow Boys team of 1940 under Clark Shaughnessy, Taylor coached Stanford to a 1951 Pacific Coast Conference championship, a Rose Bowl berth, and a No. 7 ranking in his first season. Taylor was AFCA Coach of the Year, becoming, at age 31, the youngest ever to earn the national honor. In seven years, his teams went 40-29-2, with four winning seasons and three final top-20 rankings. Taylor was Stanford's athletics director from 1963-71, earning him the distinction as being one of two (the other being USC's Jess Hill) to participate in a Rose Bowl as a player, head coach, and athletics director.
Wrote Bud Spencer in the 1952 book, Great Moments in Stanford Sports:
As a student who came to Stanford with five cents in his jeans and worked his way through college, Taylor was a typical American young man, full of spirit and dash, keen for competition, and reveling in wholesome sport. As a coach he never lost the player's point of view. His interest in young men was unbounded, and his understanding of them was as sympathetic as it was complete.
Chuck Taylor, in 1955.
Prominent Players:
Bill McColl
At 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, Bill McColl could do just about anything on the field. End was his position, but when injuries forced coach Marchmont Schwartz to find a replacement on the defensive line, McColl moved to tackle and developed into one of the best at that position on the West Coast, in addition to catching 27 passes on offense. In 1950, McColl caught 39 passes for 671 yards and was used at tackle, linebacker, and safety on defense. His spectacular and clutch catches helped him earn two first-team All-America honors. In 1951, he caught 42 passes for 607 yards and seven touchdowns, and was fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting.
During an eight-year career with the NFL's Chicago Bears, McColl went to medical school at University of Chicago and became an orthopedic surgeon. He served in Korea as a Presbyterian missionary doctor from 1962 to 1964 and was recognized by the Pro Football Hall of Fame with a humanitarian award for his service. He was voted one of the 10 Outstanding Young Men of America in 1964 by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce.
Bill McColl.
John Brodie
Although All-American Frankie Albert, with the advent of the T formation in 1940, was the first of the great modern-era quarterbacks at Stanford, the 1950s truly was the decade in which Stanford forged its reputation as Quarterback U. In succession came Gary Kerkorian, Bobby Garrett, John Brodie, and Dick Norman, each of whom would play in the NFL.
Brodie played 17 NFL seasons, all with the San Francisco 49ers. In various years, Brodie led the league in passing yardage, passing touchdowns, least sacks, and lowest percentage of passes intercepted. He retired as the third-most prolific career passer in NFL history. He was the NFL MVP in 1970 when he led the 49ers into the first of two consecutive NFC title games, and was a two-time Pro Bowler.
However, 49ers fans had a love-hate relationship with Brodie. Hhis legacy may have been the chicken wire that covered the entrance to the locker room tunnel at Kezar Stadium. Legend says it was put there for Brodie's protection from bottle-throwing fans.
Brodie was a three-year starter at Stanford, passing for a school-record 3,594 career yards. In 1956, he led the nation in passing yards with 1,633 and was a consensus first-team All-American, and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986. A member of the Stanford golf team, Brodie competed on the Senior PGA Tour. In 1991, he became the first NFL player to win a PGA Tour event, capturing the Security Pacific Senior Classic in Los Angeles in a playoff against George Archer and Chi Chi Rodriguez with a birdie on the first extra hole.
John Brodie, against Oregon in 1954.
Paul Wiggin
Before Paul Wiggin's 11-year NFL playing career with the Cleveland Browns and his 19-year NFL coaching career, including a three-year stint as head man of the Kansas City Chiefs, he was a three-year starter at defensive tackle at Stanford. Wiggin was a two-time All-American who returned to The Farm as Stanford's head coach from 1980-83.
Best Teams:
1951 (9-2)
By any measure, the 1951 Stanford team did not have the talent of USC, Cal, or UCLA that season. But "when it came to spirit and determination, we were unmistakably great," wrote coach Chuck Taylor. Stanford -- led by end Bill McColl, quarterback Gary Kerkorian, lineman Norm Manoogian, and defensive back Dick Horn -- captured the Pacific Coast Conference title under first-year coach Taylor, with a signature 27-20 come-from-behind victory at No. 6 USC.
"Taylor did not coach a great team," wrote Bud Spencer in Great Moments in Stanford Sports. "He inspired a good team to greatness."
For Manoogian, the season was a crowning achievement in his own underdog story. He was 18 months old when his father died in an accident and Norm was raised by his mother, whose entire family was among the 1.5 million killed in the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Norm's mother, who was 4 at the time, survived only through the kindness of a Turkish military officer who saved her by secretly absorbing her into his own family. Manoogian was inducted into the Armenian-American Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.
"It was a real pleasure, and I say this with all the emphasis my words can carry, to have coached the kids on the 1951 Stanford football team," Taylor wrote in 1952. "When it comes to spirit, there'll never be another like them."
Fans walk Bob Mathias across Angell Field toward the locker room after a victory over Oregon State.
1953 (6-3-1)
Stanford got off to a rocky start, losing in its season-opener and first matchup with College of the Pacific, 25-20, and at Illinois two weeks later in a rematch of the 1952 Rose Bowl. But Stanford got rolling and was in position to return to the Rose Bowl by beating Cal to close out the regular season. But Stanford squandered a 21-7 fourth-quarter lead and salvaged a 21-21 tie only when Cal missed a field goal in the final seconds. However, the season showcased the incredible play of quarterback Bobby Garrett, who earned consensus All-America honors.
1955 (6-3-1)
Stanford's accomplishments were impressive: its first Big Game victory in nine years, its first victory over USC in four years, and an upset victory over then-No. 8 Ohio State, coached by Woody Hayes. But Stanford won only two of its first six games before a late surge – winning its final four -- rallied the Indians to a No. 16 final ranking.
The Ohio State game was notable as a showcase for Stanford running back Bill Tarr, recently inducted into the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame. Ohio State featured Howard "Hopalong" Cassady, the Heisman Trophy winner that year. But Cassady was held to only 37 yards rushing while Tarr rushed for 102.
An early short touchdown pass from Jerry Gustafson to Paul Camera was the difference in Stanford's 6-0 victory that snapped a 12-game Buckeyes win streak.
Key Moments:
Broadcast History (Jan. 1, 1952)
Stanford's contest against Illinois was the first nationally televised college bowl game in history. With television growing in popularity, Penn (ABC) and Notre Dame (Dumont) were the first to sign individual network deals to broadcast games regionally. However, the NCAA, fearing drops in attendance, asserted control and prohibited live broadcasts, forcing the two schools to break their contracts. In the 1952 season, the NCAA would limit televised games to one national broadcast per week.
Before that, Duke and Pitt played in the first nationally-televised live college football game, on Sept. 29, 1951. NBC also went national with Stanford's 40-7 Rose Bowl loss.
Stanford was involved in another historic broadcast that year. The great Keith Jackson began his broadcasting career on Sept. 27, 1952, by calling Stanford's 14-13 victory at Washington State on KOMO radio in Seattle. Jackson, who grew up on a dirt farm in Carrollton, Georgia, and covered college football until 2006, became the voice of ultimate authority in the profession.
1952 Rose Bowl program cover.
No. 1 Draft Pick (Jan. 28, 1954)
Jim Plunkett, John Elway, Andrew Luck. Each of these Stanford quarterbacks were the No. 1 overall selections in the NFL Draft. But they weren't the first from Stanford to achieve that distinction. Bobby Garrett was called first by the Cleveland Browns at the 1954 draft at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia.
Garrett never played a game for the Browns, who traded him to the Green Bay Packers. The Packers wanted a backup for veteran Tobin Rote, but did not know that Garrett stuttered before making the trade. Garrett played just nine games in the NFL, all for the Packers in 1954, before entering the U.S. Air Force.
At Stanford, teammates had a unique way of dealing with Garrett's stutter, which slowed down his ability to call plays and threatened delay of game penalties. End Sam Morley, a teammate of Garrett's since their days at South Pasadena High, was stationed next to Garrett in the huddle. When Garrett started to stutter, Morley smacked him on the rear and said, "Come on, Garrett, I've got a date tonight and I don't want to be late for it."
Garrett was more than a great college quarterback, he was Stanford's last 60-minute player, a feat he accomplished five times in 1953, starting at quarterback, safety and handling all punting and placekicking duties. Bob led the country in 1953 in passing, defensive interceptions and PAT efficiency. His then-school record of 17 touchdowns in a single season (28 in his career) stood for 16 years. Garrett still shares the season record for defensive interceptions, with nine.
There was a false narrative spread by the Browns that Garrett didn't make it in the NFL because he stuttered. In reality, Garrett had many conversations with coach Paul Brown before being drafted to eventually replace aging Otto Graham. It may have had more to do with the fact that Garrett was in the ROTC and would have a two-year military commitment after the 1954 season. On their way to the 1954 College All-Star Game at Chicago's Soldier Field, Garrett and his wife Joan heard on the radio that he had been traded.
His year in Green Bay was, by all accounts, an enjoyable one. But, after that season, Garrett spent two years in the Air Force, stationed at Castle Air Force Base near Merced, and was promoted to first lieutenant. When his duty was up, the Browns reacquired him. By one account, Garrett won the starting job after spring ball, but before fall camp began, coach Brown changed much of the offense and the terminology, and verbally abused Garrett when the QB had trouble adjusting. Garrett dropped down the depth chart, lost his passion for the game, and retired after a preseason contest in Los Angeles.
Garrett entered the executive training program of Sears, where worked for 30 years until he passed away from a heart attack on Dec. 5, 1987, at age 55.
Bobby Garrett.
Color Barrier Broken (Sept. 27, 1958)
In the second game of the 1958 season, running back Tom Williams played two minutes of a 30-7 home victory against Rice, without getting a carry. With that, Williams became the first African American to play football for Stanford in the modern era.
Williams, a walk-on, played only 27 minutes over seven games under new coach Jack Curtice, carrying twice for five yards. Williams did not return to the team and Stanford did not have another African American until 1962 when Morrison Warren, the program's first African American recruit, joined the varsity as a sophomore. The first recruited African American in any Stanford sport was Eddie Tucker, who joined the basketball team in 1950.
Ernest Houston Johnson was Stanford's first African American player, enrolling at Stanford in 1891, its first year of existence, and played in the 1891-92 season, including in the first Big Game. Johnson was ignored when he first tried to enroll, but Jane Lathrop Stanford interceded.
Tom Williams is No. 23 in the front row of the 1958 team photo.
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Stanford takes the field for the 1959 Big Game.
Lead photo: Bill Tarr runs for yardage in the 1955 Big Game.