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Spring 2023

Football

WSC football team posing on the field in Pasadena. Courtesy WSU Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections
Winter 2015

First ’16 Rose Bowl

WSC banged, smashed, bulled, and pounded their way to a 14–0 victory that started a storied football tradition.

Washington State supporters wondered, sometimes aloud, if President E. A. Bryan had made a grievous mistake in entrusting the football program to William “Lone Star” Dietz shortly after the sharp-dressed man arrived on September 1, 1915. 

Dietz emphasized conditioning over running plays, then a radical approach. He inherited eight experienced players and three teams of untested candidates, none of whom were familiar with the single- or double-wing formations Dietz—as Pop Warner’s protégé—brought with him from Carlisle Indian School. Hopes sank when the varsity squeaked by the alumni … » More …

Video highlights of 1916 Rose Bowl
Winter 2015

1916 Rose Bowl highlights

Highlights of the 1916 Rose Bowl, when Washington State College defeated Brown 14-0.

Video by WSU Athletics

 

Silent footage of the 1916 Rose Bowl game played between Washington State College and Brown University. Washington State was coached by Pop Warner’s protege, Lone Star Dietz, in his first season as head coach. Brown’s star halfback, Fritz Pollard, was held to 40 yards by WSC’s tough defense and muddy field conditions. Also includes footage of the parade and players.

Video posted by Tom Benjey

Cover of Chance for Glory
Winter 2015

Chance for Glory: An excerpt

An excerpt from Chance for Glory, about the 1915 Washington State College football team, Coach William “Lone Star” Dietz, and their improbable run to the 1916 Rose Bowl.

A century later, this 2015 book by Darin Watkins ’84 puts the team and WSC sports into the context of the period, when the college was striving to expand.

Read more about Chance for Glory.

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Read Chapter 2 of the book, about the crucial game against Oregon on October 9, 1915 (PDF)

The Oregon football team had a number of good reasons to be confident. On paper, the game would be lopsided. … » More …

Fall 2015

Dr. Dan Doornink’s football career

Highlights of the football career of Dan Doornink ’78, with the Seattle Seahawks and the WSU Cougars, produced by Seattle Seahawks Legends and WSU Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections.

A Visit with Dan Doornink

by Seattle Seahawks Legends

“Dr. Dan” was a running back for the Seahawks for seven seasons (1979-85), and will always be remembered for his 123-yard rushing performance in the 1984 Wild Card playoff win against the LA Raiders at the Kingdome.

L.A. Raiders vs Seattle Seahawks 1984-85 1st Half

1984-85 AFC Wildcard Game between the Raiders visiting the Seahawks from the Kingdome in Seattle. The Raiders are … » More …

Jason Gesser
Winter 2014

The right color back on

Ask Jason Gesser ’02 about the finest decision he’s made and his answer is as pinpoint as each of the 70 career touchdown passes he threw at Washington State.

“Coming to Washington State was the perfect and best decision I made in my life,” he says. “Besides marrying my wife,” Gesser is quick to add, with a laugh. He married his college girlfriend Kali Surplus ’02, a former WSU volleyball player, and the couple has three children.

In his new role as the assistant director of development with the Cougar Athletic Fund, the fundraising arm of the Washington State University Athletic Department, his … » More …

WSU football building
Fall 2014

Cougar football—A new home at the core of campus

Mike Leach walks into the new Cougar Football Complex towering between the west end zone of Martin Stadium and Rogers Practice Field for a final tour in May before the program moves in. Looking up, the head coach says, “Where did you get the four-story football player?”

The tour’s leader, WSU Athletic Director Bill Moos ’73, laughs. A huge image of a Cougar football player stretches from the bottom of the open staircase to the top level of the new building. The figure will be even more visible when it’s lit up at night, he says.

It’s a grand entrance for the newest athletic building, … » More …

WSU football reunion
Spring 2014

After the games

Some students finish school and never take the time to look back. The same goes, perhaps even more so, for student athletes, who often return to their home states or get caught up in either pursuing pro careers or lives outside of sports.

This year, though, one football player made a special effort to reconnect athletes whose names were once synonymous with WSU.

Wanting to give back to the school that gave him a college career, Derek Sparks ’95 approached the WSU Athletic Department and asked if he could be of use in some way. Someone tossed out the idea of his reaching out … » More …

WSU tailgating
Winter 2013

Cougar encampments

On home game weekends during football season, WSU’s Pullman campus goes through a rapid and dramatic transformation. As soon as students and staff vacate their parking lots, a new community, equipped with hibachis and hot dog buns, motors in. These RV-driving Cougar fans come with their families, friends, and sometimes their cats and dogs, too. They set up outdoor living rooms, roam through campus, and share food and fun with the friends and strangers around them.

“It really is its own culture,” says Bridgette Brady, director of transportation services. “What we have here is very important to WSU. And we are unique in how many … » More …