EM: ETERNAL HERO

by Nestor on Dec 3, 2006 9:58 AM PST in Football Comment 8 comments

Eric McNeal joins Marivin Goodwin, John Barnes, Cade McNown, J. J. Stokes as one of the Bruin legends:

AN ETERNAL HERO IN THE BRUINS NATION.

GO BRUINS.

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Another one

My first hero was Bob Stiles (OK, it was Rose Bowl, not sc) when he nailed Bob Apisa going for a two point conversion for Michigan State to tie the game.

And there are Many MANY more.

by Fox 71 on Dec 3, 2006 4:17 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

My dad would tell me about that all the time

I think that's where "gutty little Bruins" comes from.

by bruinbabe2000 on Dec 3, 2006 7:32 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I was right there --

I was a yell leader, on the sideline, down by the goal line, when Stiles hit him. Knocked Stiles out, for a moment -- and won the game for us.

That was the original team team to be called called the "gutty little bruins".

Jim Colletto and Terry Donahue were very undersized linemen on that team.

Michigan State was huge. They had Bubba Smith. They had a yell, "Kill Bubba, Kill".

In the end David beat Goliath.

Just like yesterday.

GO BRUINS!!!

sjh

by Class of 66 on Dec 3, 2006 9:32 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

BTW -- We Beat SC, in the last 5 minutes ...

of the game to get the Rose Bowl Bid.

They had pushed us all over for most of the game, outgaining us by something like 400 yards to 80 yards. We recovered a fumble and scored on a long pass to Dick Witcher -- one of my best friends when I was in college. Then, we recoverd and onside kick and scored on a long pass to Kurt Altenberg.

In those days, we played all of our games in the Coliseum. This game was sold out.

I've never heard anything as loud as the crowd when we won that game.

The coach that season of miracles? Tommy Prothro.

Good Memories.

sjh

by Class of 66 on Dec 3, 2006 9:43 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

20-16

And if you recall at the sc basketball game, their band played "1812 Overture," and of course our band responded by playing it better. Then Terry Stewart (head yell leader and my frat bro) lead the best cheer of his career - "20 to 16 Overture."

And the fumble was by Troy Winslow. Yes, his first name was "Troy," named by his dad who was a former sc football hero named Bob Winslow. (That was all the sc - oops, LA Times wrote about that week.) Mike Garrett had 200+ yards, but no TDs.

Yes, that was a good year for football (but a brief aberration in BB.)

by Fox 71 on Dec 4, 2006 5:22 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Those Were Very Good Days

I was a yell leader when Terry was head yell leader. (Jim Colletto's then girlfriend and now wife was the head Song Girl.)

We didn't do any of that fancy tumbling, pyramids and stuff -- we yelled. And, we didn't have an alum to lead a section of cheers, we spread out and covered our half of the stadium -- the students had the good seats and made incredible noise. Our card stunts were spectacular -- they would show them on TV at halftime; being down by the field, I always marveled at the ingenuity, depth and creativity shown by our Rally Com people; and they did it in the days before the prevalence of home computers and walkie talkies. The Bruin Band -- well it was the Bruin Band. I taught in the Big 10 for years and loved their bands, but our Bruin Band could compete with any of them.

The Rose Bowl is nice, but nothing beat getting on the busses, with kegs, and traveling to the Coliseum for games.

Those were incredible days on campus.

sjh

BTW -- I found DG's comments on what it was like when he went to school rang very true. It was a time of great passion -- passion for social justice(civil rights movement -- UCLA sent a large number of "freedom riders" to the South, the beginning of the anti-war movement) , passion for educational reform (the Free Speech Movement) and passion for our sports teams(Wooden and Prothro -- what a great time).

I wish that experience for all Bruin students --

sjh

by Class of 66 on Dec 4, 2006 6:02 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

it was my fantasy

to do that in a game once. pop a QB's pass into the air and catch it. I didn't know it was really possible. McNeal, our hero.

by crazybunz on Dec 3, 2006 6:18 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Student seating

My last game sitting in the student section was in '87, when the were card stunts every game, andthe student section was full and vocal. I then left L.A. for a long time. I went back for a game a last year, and I was saddened by the small turnout in the student section, and the lack of card stunts. The current students need to get the school spirit back into the Rose Bowl next year.

Bob O. (Signholder #3)

by TuneMan7 on Dec 4, 2006 6:43 AM PST reply actions 0 recs