Fast 5: Impact Freshmen (April 1)
Fast 5: Missed Milestones (May 3)
STANFORD, Calif. – Our latest edition of Fast 5 features some of the more unusual aspects of Stanford's rich athletics history.
Stanford has played games, the coronavirus notwithstanding, since March 18, 1892, the date of the first Big Game. This collection is just a sampling of the strange but true events over the past 128 years.
Will we ever see anything like these again? Not likely, but here they are.
Football Doubleheaders
The 1926 Stanford team. Photo by Stanford Athletics.
Stanford coach Pop Warner was an innovator. He invented huddles, numbers, and headgear. He also had one invention that never quite took off – the doubleheader. From 1926-28, Stanford opened each season with two home games on the same day against two different opponents. Warner wanted a chance to evaluate as many players as possible. In 1926, Warner saw 51 different players over the course of a 44-7 victory over Fresno State and a 13-6 triumph over Cal Tech, playing his 'starters' in the first half of the first game and the second half of the second. Stanford went 10-0-1 that season and claimed a share of the national title. In 1927, Stanford beat Fresno State, 33-0, and the Olympic Club, 7-6, with Biff Hoffman kicking the winning extra-point, on the way to another Rose Bowl season. In 1928, Stanford opened with a 6-0 loss to the Young Men's Institute before beating West Coast Army, 21-8, in the nightcap.
Tennis at Maples
Dick Gould and John McEnroe. Photo by Gene Tupper.
Before its small stadium was expanded into the Taube Family Tennis Center, fans were so packed during big men's matches that they watched by climbing bushes, looking through fences, or laying on the ground to peak under hedges. Coach Dick Gould began to wonder: Why not use Maples Pavilion? Gould found an unused indoor tennis surface at a warehouse near Los Angeles, bought it for $10,000, and shipped it to Stanford. He created an annual event when USC and UCLA came on the Friday and Saturday night in the third week of April. The format of those duals was: Nos. 3-6 singles and Nos. 2-3 doubles outside, and at 6:30 p.m. competition began on a single court in Maples with No. 2 singles, No. 1 singles, and finally No. 1 doubles. The first matches, in 1974, drew 14,000, the largest two-day crowd ever to see collegiate tennis. Stanford would play as many as five times a year at Maples through the late 1980s.
2 Sports, 2 Championships ... Twice
Maureen McLaren. Photo by Rod Searcey/Stanford Athletics.
Maureen McLaren did something no woman at Stanford ever accomplished, winning NCAA team titles in two sports in the same academic year. And she did it twice, in 1992-93 and 1994-95. A three-time All-American in the backstroke, McLaren won four team swimming championships (1993-96), and as a backup outside hitter, she won two in volleyball (1992, 1994). McLaren was on a full volleyball scholarship, and joined the swim team almost by accident. A volleyball teammate was a roommate of backstroke specialist Lea Loveless, who encouraged McLaren to try both sports. McLaren hadn't touched the water in eight months, since her high school championships, and had no club experience. "(Stanford swim Coach Richard Quick) told me how good I'd be if I picked one," McLaren said to the Los Angeles Times in 1993. "But I'm perfectly content to be average on these really great teams. It's not to say I don't have goals to be better, but it's not worth it to have to give up one."
The Stall Game
Doug Marty. Photo by David Madison/Stanford Athletics.
On Jan. 28, 1980, Stanford men's basketball was mired in a 3-13 season when it faced No. 2 Oregon State at Maples. Coach Dick DiBiaso knew a conventional approach would not work, so, in a basketball equivalent of a mismatched soccer team playing for penalty kicks, the Cardinal went to the stall. In the days before a shot clock, teams could simply hold the ball for minutes at a time. Unless a scoring opportunity presented itself, Stanford players were instructed to simply stand and do nothing. The halftime score was 12-12, but Oregon State, which had been playing its regular offensive game, took the lead with eight minutes left and went into its own stall, for seven minutes. Stanford fouled, and after the Beavers missed the front end of a one-and-one with a minute left, had a chance to tie, but traveled with nine seconds left in an 18-16 loss. Stanford finished 7-for-12 shooting in the lowest scoring game in Maples Pavilion history. Stanford's leading scorer? Doug Marty with eight.
A Dubious Record
Carlos Quentin. Photo by Kyle Terada/Stanford Athletics.
On Feb. 9, 2002, Carlos Quentin, the Stanford slugger who would play nine seasons in the big leagues, set an NCAA record for all divisions that still stands in a 15-11 victory at Florida State. He was hit by pitches five times -- by five different pitchers. Officially, he was 0-for-1 with a flyout. "I just see it as helping my team," he told the San Francisco Chronicle. His HBP's, In order: "The first was a fastball that grazed me on the forearm. The second was a fastball that got me on the left butt. The third was a curveball. We had two men on and I was supposed to bunt. It hit me in the right thigh. That was the worst one because it was right between the muscle and the bone. The fourth was a curve that hit me on the left calf. The fifth was a curve off the left shin." After the game, Quentin said, "It's kind of fun to have a record, but it's not too fun to get hit five times."