A fond memory from 1977 season, and tribute to a Cal professor - Printable Version

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A fond memory from 1977 season, and tribute to a Cal professor - Embo - 11-27-2018

I hope you can tolerate this long post.  It may give insight on how my thought processes are affected by Stanford football....

I do scan the obituaries in the Chronicle.  No, I'm not morbid, it's that I've reached the age where I am seeing the passing of physicians that I knew when I was in training, now 30+ years ago.  This weekend, I read the life tribute of Cal Professor Jack Kirsch, who died Nov 12 at the age of 84.  As is true with nearly all Cal and Stanford tenured professors, he was an outstanding teacher, researcher, and mentor, and his CV is remarkable.  I had the chance of hearing his lectures when I was a junior in 1977.  I was pretty bold at the time and took Biochem 200, which is the mandatory class for the first year Stanford medical students.  The lecturers were all prominent - the instructor of record was Paul Berg (he got the Nobel in 1982), and Arthur Kornberg, another Nobel laureate, gave several lectures.  There were several other outside professors from UCSF and Cal.  Jack Kirsch gave a series of lectures on enzymes, his specialty.  (Of note, he got his BS in physics but then got his PhD in biochemistry.)  

So what does this have to do with Stanford football?  Kirsch's first lecture was the Thursday before the 1977 Stanford - UCLA game.  During the previous game (I think vs Oregon), Guy Benjamin was helped off the field and limping.  There was no internet or ESPN back then, so no one knew if Benjamin would be playing vs. UCLA, the campus's biggest worry.  Kirsch started off his lecture by introducing himself and that he was from Cal, and then made the comment, "I was sent here to see how Guy Benjamin is doing."  There were chuckles - as it was nice to hear an ivory tower prof show he was such a football fan.

For those of you who don't know, the 1977 Stanford-UCLA game was a classic.  One of the greatest games of the '70's.  I was a junior, and had experienced two losses to UCLA, and was starting to wonder if we'd ever see us defeat them.  And yes, we learned on Friday that Guy Benjamin was out, and Steve Dils would take over.  It was a back and forth affair led by legendary names - this was Bill Walsh's first year as head coach anywhere.  Darrin Nelson was his usual, darting in and around for the first TD.  Stanford was trailing with minutes to go, but NFL Hall of Famer James Lofton, curiously underutilized under the Christiansen regime but flourishing under the Genius, outjumped another NFL Hall of Famer Kenny Easley for a 40 yard gain at the sideline.  A few plays later, Lofton split two defenders at the two yard line and walked into the end zone with the ball held high.  I can still picture it today.

There's one other detail.  Cal played the same day at the Palouse, and the 1977 Cougars were really bad then.  Cal, undefeated prior, did their own coug-ing.  It was a devastating upset.

The following Monday, Jack Kirsch started out his lecture by saying, "Well, I see you didn't need Guy Benjamin.  But we could have used him ....."  He paused, then said, "Oh well, there's still seven more games to play."

I was an impetuous undergrad.  I yelled out, "Eight!"  (I was right.)

Professor Jack Kirsch life tribute

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