Coach Andy Smith and his California Varsity squad could have been excused if they had approached the fourth game of the 1920 season, against Nevada, with considerable satisfaction. They had swept through the first three games in extraordinary fashion, first a 21-0 win over the Olympic Club, then an 88-0 beat down of the MareContinue reading “Cal’s Wonder Team Centennial: Game Four – California vs. Nevada”
Author Archives: Leslie Mitchell
Cal’s Wonder Team Centennial: Game Three – California vs. St. Mary’s
Eighteen touchdowns scored in a single game is a lot. Eighteen touchdowns scored by one team in a single game is…almost inconceivable. Throw in a safety (and subtract one missed extra point) and you have the 127-0 score by which Andy Smith’s boys triumphed over St. Mary’s in their third game of the 1920 season.Continue reading “Cal’s Wonder Team Centennial: Game Three – California vs. St. Mary’s”
Cal’s Wonder Team Centennial: Game Two – California vs. The Mare Island Marines
Game postponed by an epidemic? Or maybe canceled? A desperate scramble to find a substitute? Minimal chance to prepare? Why does all this seem familiar? But never fear, Cal fans. The second game of the “Wonder Team’s” amazing 1920 season turned out to be a rousing success for the Golden Bears, and provided the firstContinue reading “Cal’s Wonder Team Centennial: Game Two – California vs. The Mare Island Marines”
Cal’s Wonder Team Centennial: Game One – California vs. The Olympic Club
In 1960, the Helms Athletic Foundation reviewed the records and accomplishments of the best college football teams from the beginning of the sport in 1869 to the end of the 1959 season, to decide which team was the greatest of all time. Their answer? The 1920 University of California Golden Bears. Undefeated and untied, theyContinue reading “Cal’s Wonder Team Centennial: Game One – California vs. The Olympic Club”
1920 Rugby: Cal’s First Olympic Gold
Nothing could be more fitting than that rugby, one of the University of California’s signature sports, should have brought the first Olympic Gold Medals to Berkeley. The 1920 United States Olympic Rugby team was comprised entirely of northern Californians: six players from Cal, nine from Stanford, five from Santa Clara, and two club players. TheContinue reading “1920 Rugby: Cal’s First Olympic Gold”
Crew: Cal’s First Sport
What is the University of California’s most spectacularly successful sport ever? A good argument can be made for rugby, with its 33 national championships. Or swimming, which especially in recent years has brought Cal a multiple of medals and championships. But an equally good argument can be made for crew. Rowing is certainly Cal’s oldestContinue reading “Crew: Cal’s First Sport”
Jerry Drew: The Day the Dam Broke
A few years ago I was reading an article about the all-time greatest games by Cal running backs and came across this amazing statistic: Jerry Drew vs. Oregon State (1954) – 283 yards on 11 carries. That’s 25.7 yards per carry. I got to wondering: who was this Jerry Drew? Why had I never heardContinue reading “Jerry Drew: The Day the Dam Broke”
The World’s First Women’s College Basketball Team
It is not widely known that it was the University of California, Berkeley, which gave the world the very first women’s college basketball team. The Cal women became the first women’s team to play a basketball game as the representatives of their school the fall of 1892, less than a year after the game ofContinue reading “The World’s First Women’s College Basketball Team”
Nion Tucker: The Improbable Story of Cal’s First Winter Olympics Champion
The University of California can boast of over 200 Olympic Medals won by its students, alumni and coaches. But of all those Olympic Medals, only two have come in the Winter Olympics. Jonny Moseley won a Gold Medal in Moguls in 1998, nearly a decade before he graduated from Cal. And way back in 1928,Continue reading “Nion Tucker: The Improbable Story of Cal’s First Winter Olympics Champion”
Cal Bears History 