Little-known fun fact about the Vow Boys - Printable Version

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Little-known fun fact about the Vow Boys - Crafter Artisan - 09-19-2020

In honor of the home game against USC that was originally scheduled to take place today.

When the Stanford Indians (as they were then called) were getting ready to play the USC Trojans on the road on November 11, 1933, the Indians were 5-1-1, and under a first-year head coach, Claude "Tiny" Thornhill, trying to fill the shoes of his predecessor Pop Warner.  The Trojans were 6-0-1, defending Pacific Coast Conference champions, and had not lost a game since the 1931 season opener.

Yet Thornhill was not fazed.  Following in the footsteps of Charles James Napier (who, in an immortal legend, sent the word "PECCAVI" ("I have sinned") in a telegram back to England upon capturing the Indian province of Sind), Thornhill sent the following two-word telegram to USC coach Howard Jones the day before the game:

WILBEET USURIOUS.

And he did.

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RE: Little-known fun fact about the Vow Boys - Phogge - 09-21-2020

And Bobbbbbb and I had the pleasure of knowing the famous “Big Red” AKA Paul Wallace who regaled us with Vow Boy tales up until four years ago. Paul would jump on the San Francisco SP train to the Stadium stop as a 12 year old. He would creatively enter the stadium and watch his favorite player Horse Reynolds chew up the opposition en route to three consecutive Rose Bowls. Paul went on to become the top B17 mechanical instructor for the Army Air Corps in WWII and lost a brother on the Bataan Death March.

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