[Row80Critic]

During the Plunkett era, I was a young Husky fan living in Seattle.  Washington had a talented young QB by the name of Sonny Sixkiller (no match for Plunkett's abilities, but an excellent collegiate QB); and we were hoping for an upset victory down on the Farm.  But Plunkett out-dueled Sixkiller to lead Stanford to a 29-22 victory en route to a Pac-8 title and a Rose Bowl berth.  

Washington finished in a 4-way tie for second at 4-3. Frankly, I was happy to see Stanford win the conference title because I was so sick of seeing USC win.  It was a refreshing spectacle to see Stanford in the Rose Bowl; and since Plunkett and his story were so inspiring, you simply had to like the guy (even if he had just punked your team).

I was there for the two most exciting/emotional games of Stanford football in my lifetime (arguably of all time) in 1970. The matchless beat-down of USC, and the Rose Bowl clincher a month later against UW. I'll never forget Mike Simone with a red rose clenched in teeth post-game. Plunkett rose to both occasions like the champ he was. Bigger the game, the higher his performance. Capped off, of course, on Jan. 1, 1971. I took my dad to the USC game that year. At half-time there was a salute to Ernie Nevers in which they retired jersey #1. After the game my father commented that he had just seen the two best players in Stanford history. Something he would tell anyone who was listening for the rest of his life. I saw every one of Elway's home games. All of them. He was spectacular. Unsurpassed. Still, to me, Plunkett was indisputably best and it's really not even close.

That USC game is, and always will be, my No 1 Stanford football game.  And agree on Plunkett over Elway while at Stanford. Although I always will wonder what Elway and Stanford could have acheived at Stanford if Walsh stayed.

1970 was my first season.  My dad got free family plan seats because he was a graphic designer who drew a lot of the Stanford art/images at the time, including many versions of the Stanford Indian. The energy of 90k+ people during that USC game was intense.  Maybe nothing will ever match the energy of that game (or my 7-year-old perception thereof anyway).   After those games, a lot of players would give their wrist bands to little kids while mulling and signing autographs.  I remember a very dejected JP after the Purdue game telling one little boy that he couldn't give away his wrist band because his mother made it for him.  Been a Stanford football diehard ever since. 

Nelson, Elway, Gerhart, McCaffery, Luck and a few others made lasting impressions, but nothing can live up to a 7-year-old's memory of Jim Plunkett.  

Remember the end zones completely covered in toilet paper; confetti blanketing the wooden bleachers; soda pop tabs linked into chains a mile long; malt sticks criss-crossed into flying triangles; 12:30 kick-offs to avoid nightfall; narrated highlight reels on TV; 'seeing' away games through the eyes of Bob Murphy; 11 bowls total, all named after something of geographic significance, with the Rose Bowl the true granddaddy of them all.  Still love college football, but man those were magic days.

[Row80Critic]

During the Plunkett era, I was a young Husky fan living in Seattle.  Washington had a talented young QB by the name of Sonny Sixkiller (no match for Plunkett's abilities, but an excellent collegiate QB); and we were hoping for an upset victory down on the Farm.  But Plunkett out-dueled Sixkiller to lead Stanford to a 29-22 victory en route to a Pac-8 title and a Rose Bowl berth.  

Washington finished in a 4-way tie for second at 4-3. Frankly, I was happy to see Stanford win the conference title because I was so sick of seeing USC win.  It was a refreshing spectacle to see Stanford in the Rose Bowl; and since Plunkett and his story were so inspiring, you simply had to like the guy (even if he had just punked your team).

I was there for the two most exciting/emotional games of Stanford football in my lifetime (arguably of all time) in 1970. The matchless beat-down of USC, and the Rose Bowl clincher a month later against UW. I'll never forget Mike Simone with a red rose clenched in teeth post-game. Plunkett rose to both occasions like the champ he was. Bigger the game, the higher his performance. Capped off, of course, on Jan. 1, 1971. I took my dad to the USC game that year. At half-time there was a salute to Ernie Nevers in which they retired jersey #1. After the game my father commented that he had just seen the two best players in Stanford history. Something he would tell anyone who was listening for the rest of his life. I saw every one of Elway's home games. All of them. He was spectacular. Unsurpassed. Still, to me, Plunkett was indisputably best and it's really not even close.

That USC game is, and always will be, my No 1 Stanford football game.  And agree on Plunkett over Elway while at Stanford. Although I always will wonder what Elway and Stanford could have acheived at Stanford if Walsh stayed.

1970 was my first season.  My dad got free family plan seats because he was a graphic designer who drew a lot of the Stanford art/images at the time, including many versions of the Stanford Indian. The energy of 90k+ people during that USC game was intense.  Maybe nothing will ever match the energy of that game (or my 7-year-old perception thereof anyway).   After those games, a lot of players would give their wrist bands to little kids while mulling and signing autographs.  I remember a very dejected JP after the Purdue game telling one little boy that he couldn't give away his wrist band because his mother made it for him.  Been a Stanford football diehard ever since. 

Nelson, Elway, Gerhart, McCaffery, Luck and a few others made lasting impressions, but nothing can live up to a 7-year-old's memory of Jim Plunkett.  

Remember the end zones completely covered in toilet paper; confetti blanketing the wooden bleachers; soda pop tabs linked into chains a mile long; malt sticks criss-crossed into flying triangles; 12:30 kick-offs to avoid nightfall; narrated highlight reels on TV; 'seeing' away games through the eyes of Bob Murphy; 11 bowls total, all named after something of geographic significance, with the Rose Bowl the true granddaddy of them all.  Still love college football, but man those were magic days.