[81alum]

Our basketball program was reasonably successful prior to WWII.  From 1913-1941 we had 20 winning seasons, 2 even seasons, and 9 losing seasons.  Those last few years before the war were the Hank Luisetti years.  Luisetti did not invent the jump shot, but since he was one of the first to use it in a highly publicized game in Madison Square Garden--a game in which we broke Long Island University's 43 game winning streak--he became known as the man who changed the game of basketball.  Basically, before Luisetti a tiny number of players were using the jump shot, but after Luisetti it became the norm.

From 1954 to 1975 we were coached by Howie Dallmar.  Howie had led us to the 1942 national championship, then played professionally before coming back to coach us.  During the first half of his coaching career we usually had winning seasons.    Though 1966 we had 9 winning seasons to 4 losing ones, but we won the Pac 8 only 1 year.  But after that his teams began to flounder a bit, and he had only 1 winning season until he retired in 1975.

After 1975 we went through the Dick DiBiaso and Tom Davis eras, during which we never had a winning season in 11 years.  Considering the last decade of Dallmar, followed by DiBiaso and Davis, any sort of basketball tradition at Stanford passed into dim memory and faded.  Basically, we went nearly an entire generation without any significant basketball success before Mont gomery showed up.

Now, contrast this with football.  Stanford football started some twenty years earlier than Stanford basketball, and most of those years were winning seasons. 

From 1924-1935 we had the glory years.  We had winning seasons--usually overwhelmingly so--every single year.  Pop Warner was a genuine innovator of the game and took us to three Rose Bowls.  Claude Thornhill followed and we won the conference 3 years straight.  Sadly, we only won 2 of the 6 Rose Bowls, but six in an 11 year period! 

Thornhill seems to have lost his touch in the late 1930s, but Chuck Shaughnessy replaced him and immediately led us to a glorious Rose Bowl victory in 1941, where we beat Nebraska in their first ever bowl game 21-13.  In the third quarter Nebraska put up a brilliant goal line stand and stopped us from scoring on four tries from the 1 yard line.  They chose to punt the ball on 1st down to get it out of the end zone, but Pete Kmetovic caught on, caught the punt, and returned it 39 yards for a touchdown.  That sealed the game for us.  That play apparently was thought to be the greatest play in the history of the Rose Bowl at the time it was made.

After Shaughnessy, we went through a decade of medicrity until Chuck Taylor took over in 1951 and took us immediately to another Rose Bowl.  It was, unfortunately, the first nationally televised college football game.  I say unfortunately because after we jumped out to a 7-6 lead over Illinois, they scored 27 unanswered points to crush us.

The rest of Taylor's coaching career with us was mediocre, although we had decent seasons in 1953 and 1955.  Then came Jack Curtis for five years without a single winning season.  And finally John Ralston, who did not really get off to a fast start.  For his first 5 years Ralston had only one winning season--although he had three 5-5 seasons.  Beginning in 1968 things improved, with a 6 win season, then a 7 win season, then two 9 win seasons capped by winning Rose Bowl performances.  Ralston really marks the beginning of the modern Stanford football tradition, after two decades of mediocrity.

Jack Christianson had five winning seasons in a row, although most people remember him as a failure since he was unable to continue Ralston's Rose Bowl success.  Then Walsh for two innovative, successful years in which he changed the nature of American football.  Sadly, he was followed by 12 years with only two winning seasons.  Finally Denny Green got us to a bowl in his final of three years,  and everyone here knows the rest of the story.

IN SUM

I think it is pretty clear that football has the more illustrious tradition at Stanford.  Both football and men's basketball had their glory years earlier in the 20th century, both had their innovators, but men's basketball got to the national stage exactly once and our football program did so half a dozen times.  Football has had its ups and downs since 1968, as has basketball, but the Ralston-Walsh-Harbaugh-Shaw era seems on balance more impressive than the Mont gomery-um-who-else era. 

Perhaps most important, I do not think football has ever been without hope for an entire generation of time the way basketball has.

[81alum]

Our basketball program was reasonably successful prior to WWII.  From 1913-1941 we had 20 winning seasons, 2 even seasons, and 9 losing seasons.  Those last few years before the war were the Hank Luisetti years.  Luisetti did not invent the jump shot, but since he was one of the first to use it in a highly publicized game in Madison Square Garden--a game in which we broke Long Island University's 43 game winning streak--he became known as the man who changed the game of basketball.  Basically, before Luisetti a tiny number of players were using the jump shot, but after Luisetti it became the norm.

From 1954 to 1975 we were coached by Howie Dallmar.  Howie had led us to the 1942 national championship, then played professionally before coming back to coach us.  During the first half of his coaching career we usually had winning seasons.    Though 1966 we had 9 winning seasons to 4 losing ones, but we won the Pac 8 only 1 year.  But after that his teams began to flounder a bit, and he had only 1 winning season until he retired in 1975.

After 1975 we went through the Dick DiBiaso and Tom Davis eras, during which we never had a winning season in 11 years.  Considering the last decade of Dallmar, followed by DiBiaso and Davis, any sort of basketball tradition at Stanford passed into dim memory and faded.  Basically, we went nearly an entire generation without any significant basketball success before Mont gomery showed up.

Now, contrast this with football.  Stanford football started some twenty years earlier than Stanford basketball, and most of those years were winning seasons. 

From 1924-1935 we had the glory years.  We had winning seasons--usually overwhelmingly so--every single year.  Pop Warner was a genuine innovator of the game and took us to three Rose Bowls.  Claude Thornhill followed and we won the conference 3 years straight.  Sadly, we only won 2 of the 6 Rose Bowls, but six in an 11 year period! 

Thornhill seems to have lost his touch in the late 1930s, but Chuck Shaughnessy replaced him and immediately led us to a glorious Rose Bowl victory in 1941, where we beat Nebraska in their first ever bowl game 21-13.  In the third quarter Nebraska put up a brilliant goal line stand and stopped us from scoring on four tries from the 1 yard line.  They chose to punt the ball on 1st down to get it out of the end zone, but Pete Kmetovic caught on, caught the punt, and returned it 39 yards for a touchdown.  That sealed the game for us.  That play apparently was thought to be the greatest play in the history of the Rose Bowl at the time it was made.

After Shaughnessy, we went through a decade of medicrity until Chuck Taylor took over in 1951 and took us immediately to another Rose Bowl.  It was, unfortunately, the first nationally televised college football game.  I say unfortunately because after we jumped out to a 7-6 lead over Illinois, they scored 27 unanswered points to crush us.

The rest of Taylor's coaching career with us was mediocre, although we had decent seasons in 1953 and 1955.  Then came Jack Curtis for five years without a single winning season.  And finally John Ralston, who did not really get off to a fast start.  For his first 5 years Ralston had only one winning season--although he had three 5-5 seasons.  Beginning in 1968 things improved, with a 6 win season, then a 7 win season, then two 9 win seasons capped by winning Rose Bowl performances.  Ralston really marks the beginning of the modern Stanford football tradition, after two decades of mediocrity.

Jack Christianson had five winning seasons in a row, although most people remember him as a failure since he was unable to continue Ralston's Rose Bowl success.  Then Walsh for two innovative, successful years in which he changed the nature of American football.  Sadly, he was followed by 12 years with only two winning seasons.  Finally Denny Green got us to a bowl in his final of three years,  and everyone here knows the rest of the story.

IN SUM

I think it is pretty clear that football has the more illustrious tradition at Stanford.  Both football and men's basketball had their glory years earlier in the 20th century, both had their innovators, but men's basketball got to the national stage exactly once and our football program did so half a dozen times.  Football has had its ups and downs since 1968, as has basketball, but the Ralston-Walsh-Harbaugh-Shaw era seems on balance more impressive than the Mont gomery-um-who-else era. 

Perhaps most important, I do not think football has ever been without hope for an entire generation of time the way basketball has.