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Jason Gesser becomes “winningest quarterback in WSU history”

Jason Gesser broke several Cougar football records during his time at WSU. He was the only player to be selected as team captain three times, and the only quarterback to have back-to-back double-digit win seasons. The “winningest quarterback in WSU history” played briefly in the NFL, CFL, and AFL, then coached for the Idaho Vandals and the Wyoming Cowboys, and in 2014 returned to WSU as an analyst for the football radio broadcast team.

William “Lone Star” Dietz joins WSC to coach football

Dietz arrives on campus to take over the reins of a football program that hasn’t compiled a winning record in five seasons. He transforms the squad into a juggernaut that finishes 7-0 and holds opponents to a total of 10 points for the season. The historic year culminates with a WSC blanking of Brown, 14-0, in the 1916 Rose Bowl.

Dietz comes west after attending and then serving as assistant coach at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he was a teammate of the immortal Jim Thorpe and was coached by Glenn “Pop” Warner, considered one of the game’s greatest coaches and innovators.

Dietz guides WSC’s gridiron fortunes for 3 years. His teams post a 17-2-1 record with 15 shutouts. After leaving Pullman, Dietz goes on to a successful coaching career at Mare Island, Purdue, Louisiana Tech, Wyoming, Stanford, Haskell, the NFL’s Boston Redskins, Temple, and Albright College. Also an accomplished artist, he contributes sketches for the Walt Disney film Bambi.

The National Football Foundation selects Dietz for the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

Paul Wulff named WSU football coach

In December, Paul Wulff, WSU graduate and former Cougar football player, is named WSU football coach following eight years as head coach at Eastern Washington University. He succeeds Bill Doba who was at WSU for 19 years, the last five as head coach. In late November, Doba’s coaching career concluded in Seattle in the 100th Apple Cup football game where WSU defeated the University of Washington Huskies, 42-35.

WSU renovates Martin Stadium and the WSU Golf Course

Renovations on the Compton Union Building and Martin Stadium continued on the WSU Pullman campus. The nine-hole WSU Golf Course was also renovated into an 18-hole championship course and renamed WSU’s Palouse Ridge Golf Club.  The renovations were completed and both the CUB and Martin Stadium were open for the fall semester in 2008.

 

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Coug football and basketball “sweep” the UW Huskies

During the 2005-06 year, the WSU Cougars had a football and men’s basketball “sweep” of rival University of Washington Huskies. In fall 2005, WSU beat the UW in the annual Apple Cup football game. In the winter of 2006, the Cougars beat the Huskies in both basketball games. The last time the Cougars had such an academic year “sweep” of the Huskies was 1968-69.

Cougar football plays in two bowl games in 2003

The WSU football team had a successful year in 2003. It began with the 2002-03 football team (named PAC-10 Conference co-champions) playing in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2003. The Cougs lost to Oklahoma 14-34. For the 2003 season, former assistant Bill Doba became the Cougars’ new head coach, succeeding Mike Price. The Doba-led team played in the 2003 Holiday Bowl football game on Dec. 30, 2003. The Cougars beat Texas 28-20. The 2003 season marked WSU football’s third straight 10-win season. The Cougs were the first Pac-10 team to achieve this feat in 70 years.

The NFL establishes a scholarship at WSU in Michael Utley’s name.

Michael Utley, former student and 1989 All-American offensive guard, injures his spinal cord and is paralyzed during a Detroit Lions football game. Utley establishes the Mike Utley Foundation to help those with spinal cord injuries and Utley became known for the “thumbs up” he flashed fans after being carried off the field when he was injured in 1991.  In 2008 the NFL established a scholarship at WSU in Utley’s name for students studying sports medicine.

1993 Flyer for Mike Utley Foundation and appearance at WSU Homecoming
1993 Flyer for Mike Utley Foundation and appearance at WSU Homecoming

Hugh Campbell, WSU record-breaking football pass receiver, is voted MVP of the East-West Shrine game after setting a new catching record

Hugh Campbell, WSU record-breaking football pass receiver, is voted MVP of the East-West Shrine game after setting a new record after catching 10 passes. The East-West Shrine game, sponsored by the Shriners, has been played annually since 1925 and teams are drawn from the two geographic regions east and west, including Canada. Campbell played wide receiver from 1958 to 1962 and during that time he appeared in the Hula Bowl, the College All-Star game, the Coaches All-America game and the aforementioned Shrine Bowl, and while at WSU he was awarded the 1961 W. J. Voit Memorial Trophy as the outstanding football player on the Pacific Coast. After playing for WSU, Campbell went on to play for the Saskatchewan Rough Riders and coach several Canadian and US college and professional football teams.

 

Hugh Campbell

 

 

Weldon B. “Hoot” Gibson graduates with a B.A. in economics

Weldon B. “Hoot” Gibson graduates with a B.A. in Economics. Gibson attended WSC with the help of his Uncle, Arthur “Buck” Bailey, and was a member of the football team and the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. After graduating from WSC, Gibson studied at the Stanford Graduate School of Business receiving an MBA in 1940 and a Ph.D. in 1950. Gibson was a long-time executive at the Stanford Research Institute from 1947 until 1988. He earned the Legion of Merit in 1946, Commander of the British Empire in 1947, and the Washington State University Distinguished Alumni Award for his role in creating the Washington State University Foundation.

 

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The football stadium at Rogers Field gets a complete renovation

The football stadium at Rogers Field gets a complete renovation. The new horseshoe-shaped structure is named for former Washington State Governor, John R. Rogers. The wood bleachers supported by concrete pilings seat 23,500 fans.

During spring break of 1970, a fire destroyed the wood stands. The Cougars were forced to play off-campus for two years while the university built Martin Stadium.

 

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Hein and Edwards: First Team All-Americans

Mel Hein and Glen “Turk” Edwards receive the honor after anchoring the Cougar defensive line and leading the team to a 9-0 regular season record and a spot in the 1931 Rose Bowl against Alabama.

Hein goes on to play 15 seasons for the New York Giants (1931-45) and never misses a down due to injury. He is the first player and only offensive lineman to win the NFL MVP award (1938), and he helps the Giants win the championship that season.

In 1963, Hein is selected as part of the inaugural class for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

After college, Edwards plays 9 seasons in the NFL for the Braves/Redskins beginning in 1932, winning All-NFL honors from major media outlets every year of his career except his last one. Following the end of his playing career, he continues with the Redskins as an assistant coach from 1941 to 1945 and then as the head coach from 1946 to 1948. After 17 consecutive seasons with the Redskins, Edwards then retires from professional football. He is selected for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1969.

Mel Hein

Mel Hein

 

Glen 'Turk' Edwards
Glen “Turk” Edwards

The WSU Cougars return to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 67 years

The WSU Cougars head to the 84th Rose Bowl for the first time in 67 years. Sadly, the Cougars lose to Michigan, 21-16, a sad end to an otherwise great season. The Cougars were predicted to finish seventh in the Pac-10, but won the conference title and posted a 10-1 record.  In February, football coach Mike Price signed an eight-year contract extension through December 31, 2005.

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Cougars reach Rose Bowl a second time

The previously undefeated Cougars fall to Alabama, 24-0, a game attended by an estimated 60,000 fans on a drizzly New Year’s Day in Pasadena.

Pacific Coast Conference champions thanks to a dominating defense, the WSC defensive line is anchored by All-American Mel Hein and Glenn “Turk” Edwards, considered two of the greatest Cougars ever.

As a psychological ploy, Washington State dresses for the game in red helmets, jerseys, pants, socks, and shoes.

Legendary coach Babe Hollingbery kicks off his Cougar career

Orin Ercel “Babe” Hollingbery begins a 17-year stint as head coach of the Cougar football team and earns legendary status in the process. He compiles a career win-loss record of 93–53–14, the most wins by any coach in Cougar football history. Under Hollingbery, Washington State goes undefeated at home from 1926 to 1935. He guides the team to the 1931 Rose Bowl against Alabama.

Hollingbery coaches some of the greatest names in Washington State history, including Turk Edwards, Mel Hein, Mel Dressel, Dale Gentry, Ed Goddard, Harold Ahlskog, Elmer Schwartz, Bob Kennedy, Nick Suseoff, Bill Sewell, John Bley, and Herbert “Butch” Meeker.

Hollingbery remains at WSC until World War II, when WSC temporarily ceases playing football.

Hollingbery Fieldhouse, built in 1929, and is renamed for the coach in 1963. In 1979, the College Football Hall of Fame selects him for membership.

 

Hollingberry shows a high kick during practice.
Hollingberry shows a high kick during practice.

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Herbert “Butch” Meeker stars on the gridiron

Five-foot-five, 150-pound quarterback Herbert “Butch” Meeker becomes an instant Cougar legend after leading his 1-3-1 team to a stunning 17-12 win over a good USC team in Los Angeles—Washington State’s first-ever win over the Trojans. The team returns to Pullman and is treated to a hero’s welcome, with students let out of class to go to the Union Pacific depot to greet the players’ train.

Meeker repeats his football magic multiple times from 1925 to 1927, earning him the title of “the fightingest little football player ever to don a Cougar uniform.”

After Washington Governor Roland Hartley presents the college with its first live cougar mascot at halftime of a game in 1927, it is quickly named Butch in Meeker’s honor.

Meeker (left) beside 77-inch center Gene Dils.
Meeker (right) beside 77-inch center Gene Dils.

 

Butch I in 1932.
Butch I in 1932.

 

WSC beats Brown, 14-0, in Rose Bowl

A crowd of 10,000 in Pasadena watches as undefeated Washington State shuts out Brown in the second Rose Bowl game ever played. Coach William “Lone Star” Dietz and his Cougar squad serve as extras in the football film “Tom Brown of Harvard” each morning and then hit the practice field in the afternoon during the two weeks leading up to the bowl game. Each player receives $100 for the 14 mornings of movie work.

Winners in first varsity football game

The college inaugurates the sport by defeating the University of Idaho, 10-0. The team doesn’t employ a paid coach until 1900, but advisers in the first couple years include newspaperman William Goodyear, agriculturalist William J. Spillman, and young athlete Fred Waite.

1894 team, reproduced in a 1934 40th Reunion Banquet brochure. Item held at WSU MASC, Collection WSU 31
1894 team, reproduced in a 1934 40th Reunion Banquet brochure. Item held at WSU’s MASC, Collection WSU 31
Pullman Herald, November 1894.
Pullman Herald, November 1894.