Joe Roth Day

montinelevin · Post by **montinelevin** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 8:12 am

At Cal today...

I've been a Cal fan since 1972 as a kid.

Joe was the pre-season Heisman Trophy favorite in 1976... and died on campus of (Melanoma) Cancer in Feb. 1977.

Barry Switzer, the former coach of Okalahoma who also coached the Super Bowl Champion Dallas Cowboys '96, said: "Roth is the Best I've faced as a coach. None of the others had such a quick delivery with such a great arm while throwing such a soft ball--all of his should be caught." Joe Roth came to Cal as a junior college transfer, and started at quarterback at third game of the season after the team started 0-2, and finished the season 8-3 and led Cal to Pac-8 co-champion during his first season with Cal in 1975. During that year, Cal was No. 1 in the nation in offense, averaging over 450 yards per game. The season also earned him the All-American honor. To this date, it remains to be the last league championship Cal has had in football.

I hope Marshawn's dream comes true... of wearing the same uniform as Joe wore in a football game.

If the Bears make it to the "Rose Bowl" look for something special.

A life taken way to early.

TenTallBen · Post by **TenTallBen** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 9:02 am

Good thing dude had a backup career as the singer for Eve 6.

Shoalzie · Post by **Shoalzie** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 12:20 pm

the_ouskull · Post by **the_ouskull** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 4:21 pm

Why the fuck are we reading these Babs' posts? Also, how fucking hard is it to spell "O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A?" Honestly. I always see Oaklahoma Oklalahoma etc... Idiots.

the_ouskull

The Seer · Post by **The Seer** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 4:49 pm

It pains me to say this, but Kal showed a lot of class by retiring his jersey and honoring him the way they do....

Van · Post by **Van** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 6:01 pm

It pains me to say this but if m2's been following Cal since 1972 then yep, he has been following football as long as I have.

My apologies, m2!

Then again, you've been following Cal since 1972 and I've been following USC and the Miami Dolphins since 1972 (pretty good year for both...) so I'm not entirely sure it'd be accurate to say you've been watching actual "football" all these years...

:-)

Question, m2...

Cal hasn't been in the Rose Bowl since '59, when they were crushed by Iowa 38-12. In '75 Cal ended up the season as Pac 8 co-champs with UCLA. (I'll hate you forever, Jeff Fisher, for gagging on that pick and giving Freeman McNeil and UCLA the game and the league championship...) I thought the Pac 8 was using the Big 10's tiebreaker system for awarding their Rose Bowl invitation, ie, they give it to the team that'd been there least recently...

UCLA's most recent Rose Bowl appearance before '76 was in '66, which was still more recent than Cal's most recent appearance in '59. So, do you happen to remember why UCLA and not Cal got to go to the Rose Bowl that year?

Btw, as good as Joe Roth was it was Chuck Muncie who was the real stud on that '75 Cal team. That dude was a blast to watch...

montinelevin · Post by **montinelevin** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 7:12 am

The Seer wrote:It pains me to say this, but Kal showed a lot of class by retiring his jersey and honoring him the way they do....

One thing I heard or read somewhere...

It was said that Joe continued to work on his studies until he was too sick to do so and that he wanted to graduate.

Kind of falls into line with the idea of making the most of your life.

montinelevin · Post by **montinelevin** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 8:21 pm

Van wrote:
Question, m2...

Cal hasn't been in the Rose Bowl since '59, when they were crushed by Iowa 38-12. In '75 Cal ended up the season as Pac 8 co-champs with UCLA. (I'll hate you forever, Jeff Fisher, for gagging on that pick and giving Freeman McNeil and UCLA the game and the league championship...) I thought the Pac 8 was using the Big 10's tiebreaker system for awarding their Rose Bowl invitation, ie, they give it to the team that'd been there least recently...

UCLA's most recent Rose Bowl appearance before '76 was in '66, which was still more recent than Cal's most recent appearance in '59. So, do you happen to remember why UCLA and not Cal got to go to the Rose Bowl that year?

Because you fuckers couldn't beat or tie fucla, even though fucla fumbled 9 times! I think you guys did that on purpose because we wacked you over the head and beat you by 2 TD's when you were ranked #4 in the country.

Van wrote:Btw, as good as Joe Roth was it was Chuck Muncie who was the real stud on that '75 Cal team. That dude was a blast to watch...

Speaking of Chuck Muncie... I found this gem from way back in the Pac 8 days. It takes a while to download, but is well worth it. Plenty of old $C footage.

Those were the classic days of College Football. I forgot how loaded both teams were that year.

Steve Bartkowski had just graduated... yet we still had

Joe Roth... Chuck Muncie...Wesley Walker ... Jim Breech ... John Paul Jones ... Steve Rivera ... etc.

You guys had

Ricky Bell... Dennis Thurman... Gary Jeter... Clay Matthews... Marvin Powell... etc.

Click here

Cuda · Post by **Cuda** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 8:49 pm

the_ouskull wrote:Why the fuck are we reading these Babs' posts? Also, how fucking hard is it to spell "O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A?" Honestly. I always see Oaklahoma Oklalahoma etc... Idiots.

the_ouskull

Some people just want to spell it the way it's pronounced

Van · Post by **Van** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 9:03 pm

m2, Cal ended up only being co-champs with UCLA in '75 because USC gagged away the UCLA game.

I know that. That's not what I'm asking.

I'm asking why UCLA and not Cal got the Rose Bowl game when UCLA had been to the Rose Bowl more recently than Cal? The Big 10 had a tie breaker rule whereby their co-champ who'd been to the Rose Bowl least recently was awarded the Rose Bowl bid.

That would've been Cal, not UCLA. So, why didn't co-champs Cal get the Rose Bowl nod over UCLA? What was the tie breaker system in place then that gave the Rose Bowl bid to UCLA?