Where I Come From: Most Memorable Husky Moments
by John Berkowitz on Jul 9, 2010 8:15 AM PDT
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Print(This is the fifth article in a week long series sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011)
What are your most memorable Husky moments? That is a good question because after watching so many games over the past 50 years at home and on the road.
I have a quite a few but these are the most memorable.
1. Becoming a Husky for life
We go full circle in this chain of articles and refer back to December 1959 when my father boarded a train at King Street Station to head South with friends to Pasadena. That is my earliest and most memorable Husky Football Moment. It sealed the deal between me and Husky football for life.
The Big Ten had dominated the Rose Bowl for two decades and the West was looking for a savior. They found it in a young Husky coach with a big smile named Jim Owens. Coach Owens 9-1 Huskies trounced Wisconsin 44-8 in convincing fashion.
The Huskies were led by one-eyed quarterback Bob Schloredt and flashy halfback George Fleming. Washington rushed out to a 17-0 lead before Wisconsin has a first down. Fleming's 53-yard punt return TD broke Wisconsin's back. Schloredt rushes 21 times for 81 yards and passed for 102 more while playing safety on the defensive side of the ball.
Husky football was headed for an incredible run and the rumor was that Jim Owens started walking to the stadium each day on the water from his home in neighboring Laurelhurst. Washington and the West had its savior.
2. Spider Gaines and the 1975 Apple Cup
I was at the 1975 Apple game with my dad and UW was trailing by 14 points with under three minutes to go. We were thinking of heading for the exits but decided to stick it out to see if WSU would score. All the Cougars really had to do was run the clock down and bury the Huskies deep to secure the victory.
WSU coach Jim Sweeney at the urging of his players called a pass that was picked off by Al Burleson that was returned for a 93 yard TD. WSU's offense then went three-and-out and Washington got the ball back at its own 22 with 1:56 left. Moon lofted a pass to the middle of the field intended for Scott Phillips. The ball was batted around, and Spider Gaines, who had followed the play, grabbed it and ran into the end zone for the winning score.
That was one serious single moment. Coach Sweeney ended up resigning a few weeks after the game. It was a loss that was hard to live with. His grandson Nate Fellner is a current Husky. If you can't beat em...join em!
3. Animal House
Don James began the 1977 season with a sense of urgency. This still wasn't his team. It was year three and there was still a division of culture between the Owens players and the kids he had recruited. We have all seen the movie "Animal House"...well to say the least this team was definitely living the movie.
When Washington began the season with a 1-3 record losing to such juggernauts as Mississippi State, Minnesota and Syracuse the fan base was becoming very restless. DJ's coaching career was actually hanging by a thread. He was described as being distant and out of touch by some of his players and the fan base. Coach James reacted by moving out of his home and into his office so he could be with his team 24 hours a day. He became the ultimate hall monitor.
On October 8, in the visitor’s locker room of Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon, something happened to bring the team together. The boosters who were with the team described the intensity as ferocious as anything they had ever seen when the Huskies took the field against the Ducks. Washington demolished Oregon 54-0 that day and Don James finally had the united team he had been working towards since 1974.
The Huskies won six of the next seven games to win the conference championship and the right to face mighty Michigan in the 1978 Rose Bowl. It was just prior to the Washington taking the field to warm up for the game when I was talking to Kenny Gardner who a was freshman on the team. I asked him what he was feeling at that moment. He said it was unbelievable... the most incredible feeling of his life. He could feel the adrenaline surging through the team and he knew it was going to be a big day. As fans we could feel the energy of this team too and knew that Michigan was in for a big surprise.
Washington came out and dominated in the first half and hung on in the fourth quarter to beat Michigan 27-20. The season marked the first of eight-straight years the Huskies would finish first or second in the conference race. It was the foundation that Don James built his dynasty on.
4. Surprise!
Two years ago my wife Kate chartered a yacht to put on a surprise 50th birthday party for me. We had 60 people on the boat from all over the country who had flew in for the event and it was a complete surprise. We had a great time cruising along the lakes before and after the game. The boat was the highlight of the day because the Huskies were on there way to an 0-12 season. I would rate it as the best tailgate and party moment of my life even though the game was terrible.
As I said it was a complete surprise and she had spent a full year planning it. On our anniversary in September of that year she gave me a single airline ticket to Seattle as a gift. I thought it was strange but she said she was sending me away for a weekend with the boys and who could complain about that.
A good friend of mine picked me up at the airport on Friday and we headed to spend the night at his beach house in Gig Harbor. We drove up to Seattle on Saturday for the game and he said we had to meet some strippers he had met the previous week at the Sands in Ballard to give them a couple of his extra tickets. The Sands...Strippers? He was recently divorced and I rolled my eyes and said whatever.
He got a phone call and we took off to the docks in his car to deliver the tickets. I had no interest in meeting strippers so I said I was staying in the car while he did what he had to do. He convinced me that I had to see this boat and I needed fresh air anyway. I was a good sport and relented.
As I was walking toward the yacht I heard someone yell at him and I remember thinking that one of the strippers looked a lot like my wife. In a split second 50 people ran over to that side of the boat and yelled surprise! I was absolutely dumbfounded and speechless....it was a great day to be a Husky and married to fantastic woman who is a Boston College Eagle and definitely not a stripper.
5. The Sooner Schooner Incident
The 1984 Huskies had the best defense in the country but the offense was challenged. Washington was 9-0 and rolling toward a national championship when USC derailed them in the tenth game of the year by keeping the Husky offense deep in their own territory the entire game. The Huskies finished the season 10-1and USC won the Pac 10 title and a trip to the Rose Bowl. Washington was awarded a berth in the Orange Bowl against Oklahoma which actually put them in a better position to compete for the national championship.
With just over 14 minutes remaining in the game the score was tied, 14-14. Then Oklahoma kicked what appeared to be a go-ahead 22-yard field goal. The kick was negated because of an illegal procedure penalty, something the members of the team operating the Sooner Schooner (Covered Wagon) didn't pick up on.
Oblivious to the penalty the Sooner Schooner charged onto the field, earning Oklahoma another penalty — a 15-yarder for unsportsmanlike conduct. The re-kick from 42 yards away was blocked by Huskies safety Tim Peoples. Inspired by the momentum swing, Washington went on to score two touchdowns in less than 60 seconds around the five-minute mark and won the game, 28-17.
This You-tube video of Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer being interviewed in the locker room after the game gives an accurate take on what happened from his view.
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I’m going to miss a few, but here are some that come to mind:
- Against a loaded USC squad (ranked #3) featuring RB Marcus Allen in the year he became the first college back to top 2,000 yards rushing in a season, and in one of the PNW’s famous November storms, the UW goes ahead late on the game 6-3 on a Chuck Nelson field goal. On the ensuing kickoff with crazy wind squalls and sideways rain, the ball lands in a dead spot in between Trojan players, wobbles it’s way in to the end zone where it is finally recovered by freshman UW LB Fred Small for a TD and what would become a 13-3 lead and final score.
- UW beats #8 ranked Michigan at home in ‘83 on a late TD and 2-pt conversion: My memory is a little fuzzy on the details, but the Huskies were trailing 17-24 late in the 4th quarter when QB Steve Pelluer marched the team down the field, got the TD to close it to 23-24 and then DJ called for the 2-pt conversion which was successful, UW leads (and wins) 25-24 and it was pandemonium in the stadium. One of the scores was a Pelluer pass to WR Mark Pattison in the corner of the end zone – can’t remember if that was the TD or the 2-pointer.
- 1992 Rose Bowl: Washington demolishes Michigan to complete their undefeated season, and the feeling of immense satisfaction that grew throughout the game as it became clear the team would achieve their goal, and then getting the confirmation early the next morning that the coaches poll had indeed crowned the Huskies National Champs.
- The pass from Damon Huard to Richard Thomas in the “Whammy in Miami” that started as a short pass to the FB and ended up 75 yards later as a TD and which made it clear that the Huskies really did have it in them to beat the Hurricanes in Miami and snap their record home winning streak.
- Pretty much the entire game in 2000 at home vs. Miami – I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a more electric crowd at Husky Stadium than that one, as the crowd was at 100% from the start to the end, with highlights including Rich Alexis taking the pitch from Marques and going 50 yards for the TD, a special teams hit on Santana Moss forcing a fumble, multiple sacks of Hurricane QB Ken “Dorothy” Dorsey – that whole game was outstanding.
- Apple Cup 2002; I have a lot of Coug friends, and at the time was rooming with a couple of them. Remember, in 2002 the Cougs were in the 2nd of their string of 3 straight 10-win seasons and were ranked #3 in the country coming in to the game on their way to the Rose Bowl. The game went in to OT where John Anderson was nails, and in the 3rd OT he hit another FG to put us up by three; in the Cougs turn came the famous “backwards pass” where Kai Ellis pressured the Coug QB and intercepted his hurried sideways pass to take possession of the ball and end the game. Since the play was reviewed by the officials, there was plenty of time for fevered debate about what had happened, and when the official call came, I whooped it up big time in front of my very angry Coug roommates. Ah, good times!
To the BCS: Head to Head should mean so much more
Back in 84 the entire country was trying to figure out who was the No.1 team in the country. BYU was the only undefeated team in the nation, OU’s Barry Switzer was vocal and lobbied to AP voters that his team deserved to be No.1, and then their was 1-loss Washington. How truly dumb do you have to be to not vote Washington No.1 after the climatic 84 Orange Bowl?
Our only loss was to USC that year and we beat Oklahoma in a high profile Orange Bowl, who in their right mind were in a position to get a national title too. BYU’s strength of schedule was a huge laugher that season. Sure they beat Michigan in the Holiday Bowl, but that was a bad Michigan team.
I always say the most important factor is deciding a champion is head to head competition. You can’t hide the grey stuff because their isn’t any. Their is a winner and a loser. Washington flat out deserved that national championship over BYU who played cupcakes all season long. Another gaf in voting came in 2001. Washington beats Miami, Miami beats Florida State. Who won the national championship? Florida freakin’ State. Are you kidding? Miami proved on the field they were better then Florida State. Meanwhile Washington proved on the field they were better then Miami, all had identical records.
I like that the college football season means more then others, but let’s get this right. If it means as much as folks say then head to head should speak volumes, but voters are biased and it is a flawed system. Playoff is the only way to get it right.
P.S. Sorry John for sort of highjacking the thread. But when you brought up the 84 Orange Bowl it brought back not only a great moment for me, but a bitter sweet pill to swallow.
All I saw was purple
My favorite moments
1. Whammy in Miami- from a fan perspective it legitimized the rational that Washington was the better team when both UW and Miami shared the national championship, by going down to South Beach and kicking their over sized egotistical butts and put a AND ONE on their 58 game home winning streak.
2. 91 Rose Bowl- I remember it vividly. I kept saying I wanted to score fast so I could watch our defense more- that defense was the equivalent of the 85 Bear defense. Watching Mario Bailey do the Heismen pose in the endzone was beautiful.
3. Tui’s 300 yard passing/200 yard rushing game vs. Stanford.
Their have been many great moments over the years, but these 3 are at the top of my list. The 84 Orange Bowl is a close No.3, but it was bitter/sweet to win, but not enough to pull voters away from voting for a BYU team that played way too many cupcakes that season. Even back then simply voting a team No.1 because they are the only unbeaten is stupid. If BYU played our schedule back then surely BYU wouldn’t have been unbeaten. I agree with Switzer from that perspective. Washington was clearly the best football team back in 84.
All I saw was purple
"Whammy in Miami"
I remember the tombstone. We were supposed to be # 54. They panned over to it at the end of the game and it had disappeared.
Huge For Me...
…I was there. One of about 3000 of the loudest DAWGfans you have EVER heard. Don James was sitting a few rows below me and my wife. Seriously folks, you would have been proud of those fans who traveled to that game. Think of it like “The 300” but in this case it would be “the 3000”. I know we jacked up our squad. I remember the team looking up into our section from the sideline incredulous. Some Cane had commented that it was “5 minutes” of bad football. Take away those 5 minutes and Miami “woulda, coulda, shoulda” won the game. We’ve all heard those sentiments before.
The black kid named “Chris” who bravely paraded around the Orange Bowl with his “Bad To The Bone” sign. I was up buying beer when Richard Thomas took that swing pass 70 plus yards for a TD but I remember hearing the cheers and I was asking people around me what had happened. They said we had scored and I was ecstatic. When I got back to our section all the fans said “get out of here you’re bad luck, we scored when you were gone!” I was like “if that’s what it takes OK I’m out!” I think that play started the turnaround. Another thing you didn’t see on TV was all the taunting that was going on by the Canes. It was unreal! Truly I believe there was some Karma going on there. I didn’t see any “homering” going on at all. It just was like once the Huskies got going they were unstoppable. The Canes started dropping like flies. I couldn’t believe how many of there guys got knocked out of that game. The big bad Canes had finally been beaten. The Miami paper had an article the next day mapping out the Canes run. It had been like 9 years since they had been beaten at Home. Penn State, Florida State, Notre Dame, it was like so many of the heavy weights of college football had failed to beat the Canes in their house but the Huskies “got er done” GO DAWGS!!
Washington Husky Football-Undefeated 1991 National Champions 12-0!
Orange Bowl
I can see why it was torn down. What a pit! It was right in the middle of the ghetto. I had some gang banger crossing the street in front of me as I slowly rolled past the stadium looking for parking. All the Miami alumni had fully fenced parking areas with razor wire over the top. I was told after the game by some young black kid that I shouldn’t be wearing “those colors” around there or I might get beat up. Needless to say my wife and I got out of there as quickly as we could and got back to our hotel.
Washington Husky Football-Undefeated 1991 National Champions 12-0!
Terrible road trip
Probably the worst I have been on. Hostile fans in the middle of the ghetto…not a great place to be.
by John Berkowitz on Jul 9, 2010 11:26 PM PDT up reply actions
Now you know why it was so easy for the Cane program to slip into an outlaw type culture. Back then was the Canes football program a college team or more associated with gangsta mob?
All I saw was purple
Hey I'm just asking
The U of Miami is a fine school, but clearly the culture of the school did not reflect that of the football team.
All I saw was purple
When We Beat Them...
…down there they were still pretty full of themselves. There were a lot of really pissed off Cane fans leaving the stadium! It was really hard for them to accept that loss. I guess when they destroyed us in 2001 there was a pretty ugly encounter in one of the restrooms. What was the score in that one 65-7 or something like that?
Washington Husky Football-Undefeated 1991 National Champions 12-0!
Dress neutral on road trips…put on your colors once you reach your seat.
by John Berkowitz on Jul 12, 2010 7:44 AM PDT up reply actions
Good advice
My coworker talked about what his son went through in New York. He apparently refused to take his Mariners jersey off on the way home and suffered numerous physical blows on the subway.
Washington Husky Football-Undefeated 1991 National Champions 12-0!
Fred Small for a TD
recovered kickoff in the end zone. We were towards the middle of the field and weren’t sure what happened until the touchdown signal was given. Boy was that reaction loud.
Favorites
There are a bunch, here are a few that stick out in my mind:
1991 come from behind win in Lincoln, Nebraska
1994 The Whammy in Miami – Miami was suppose to be better than 91, and we were suppose to be worse, oops.
2001 UW vs Michigan – After three quarters of Michigan controlling the game, Roc Alexander returns a blocked FG, 77 yards for a TD. Then Omare Lowe gets a interception, returns it for a TD and we pull the game out in the fourth quarter. 23-18.
2002 Apple Cup – Triple overtime win
2003 Apple Cup – Corey Williams game winning TD catch
The game that I’ll never forget. Sept 5th, 1998 UW vs ASU in Tempe. I had just moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma for flight school and had talked up the Huskies and Brock Huard to my roomate who was a big Virgina Tech fan.Needless to say, we had done our fair share of trash talking going into the season. It was a night game (fourth quarter was after midnight in Tulsa), my roommate and I were watching the game go back and forth, back and forth. With less than a minute left Brock tosses the ball behind Jason Harris on 3rd down. My roommate wouldn’t stop saying “choke” and making all the sounds to go with it. Then on 4th and 17, Brock hits Reggie Davis for a 64 yard TD pass in which Davis runs over Mitchell “Fright Night” Freedman. We both were screaming “Touchdown” at the top of our lungs for what seemed like an eternity. I still feel bad for our neighbors, but it was a classic shoot out with an epic ending.
For anybody else who likes to remember the past:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv5tKP8vG90
"Legends are made on the shores of Lake Washington"
"BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON"
For me as a fan, and I suspect for the team as well, that win in ’91 in Lincoln – especially the resolve they showed in coming from behind to win big – proved that the team really did have the ability to run the table and win a National Championship. I was in San Francisco on a road trip with a buddy and insisted we find a sports bar to watch the game. It was looking a little dicey for a while, but the defense stepped up, Billy Joe hit some big throws and Jay Barry ripped off that long TD run. Great, great win. And the following year in Husky Stadium was fantastic as well – first night game in Husky Stadium, fully packed house, national TV, another impressive win and a game which showed the country not just how good our program had become at that point, but also how loud Husky Stadium was. I have little doubt we were the loudest crowd in the country in the decade of 1990-1999.
92 Nebraska Game
That was one of the first night games. My wife and I and so many of the fans were a bit lit up. That was an unbelievably loud game that you just had to be there to appreciate. The Nebraska QB was just perplexed, he couldn’t hear anything! I don’t know how many sacks we had in that game but that Nebraska offense couldn’t do anything. It was sooo fun! I remember this Nebraska couple in front of us and they were NOT happy.
Washington Husky Football-Undefeated 1991 National Champions 12-0!
2 more to think about
My top moment is the same as John’s- the stomping of Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. That game changed the entire Big 10- PAC dynamic.
Here is an excerpt from a PI (RIP) article concerning great Seattle sports moments.
1933, UW-Stanford football – The Huskies pulled out a 6-0 victory the hard way, using just 11 players the entire game. There was wind and rain and a fierce opponent, but Bill Smith, Rudy Mucha, Glenn Boyle, Woody Ulin, Jay Wiatrak, Ted Isaacson, Vic Markov, Jay Hornback, Matt Muczynski, Hurley DeRoin and Paul Sulkosky were up to an iron-man effort. And, yes, college games were sixty minutes long back then.
That was before my time, believe it or not.
Another great moment was in the 1960 Rose Bowl year. Those were the original Hairbreadth Huskies because they won so many close games. In the game against Oregon, Don McKeta caught a pass and looked like he was going out of bounds to stop the clock. When the Oregon DB slowed up , McKeta broke past him down the sideline for a TD and UW won by 1 point. The Oregon DB in question was Mel Renfro who played for the Cowboys for 14 years and was a 10 time Pro Bowler. I “saw” that game on the radio.
I hope the young Dawgs enjoy these moments, too.
John and Paul Wiatrak
On a side note my dad was very good friends with the Wiatrak brothers. Paul Wiatrak was the city engineer for the City of Seattle for many years.
John Wiatrak was my Grandpa
He and his brothers were Husky greats. My Grandpa bled purple and gold and was one hell of a player. Ironmen is right. Those guys could play forever and not get tired. Would be interested to talk with you John about your memories of the Wiatraks. I’m always interested in learning more about my Grandpa. He was a great man.
by desertdawg13 on Jul 18, 2010 9:17 PM PDT up reply actions
My favorite UW moment
Ending “The U’s” unbeaten streak in the Orange bowl.
“Take away their ring! We the true Champs!!!”
God help me, I have a problem. I'm a Shinya Aoki fan. I don't know what to do about it...
Pain don't hurt...
The double negative
“not definitely not a stripper.” John, you might want to edit that one. Have a great time on your vacation.
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