Remembering the Men of Roses -- "We'll Be at Our Best"
October 25, 2016 | Football
This is the second installment of a seven-part series (link to part one) written by Kip Carlson about the 1941 Oregon State football team that played in the 1942 Rose Bowl. The '42 Rose Bowl is the only one in the history of the storied game that was played outside of Southern California due to fears of an attack on the U.S. West Coast following Pearl Harbor.Â
This story first appeared in this year's football game-day program Saturday, Sept. 24 vs. Boise State.Â
Oregon State University will honor the "Men of Roses" throughout the week leading up to the culmination of events this Saturday night when the Beavers host Washington State at Reser Stadium.Â
When Lon Stiner became Oregon State's head football coach for the 1933 season, he replaced Paul Schissler, for whom Stiner had been an assistant for five years. Schissler, who had guided the Beavers to noted triumphs over New York University at Yankee Stadium and West Virginia at Chicago's Soldier Field, left Corvallis after being unable to agree with Oregon State officials on salary matters.
Schissler would go on to coach the National Football League's Chicago Cardinals and Brooklyn Dodgers from 1933-36, but by the late 1930s he was back on the West Coast, in Los Angeles. When Oregon State would visit, he and his protégé, Stiner, would get together.
In 1939, the Los Angeles Times would later report, Stiner told Schissler, "We'll be good in 1940. In 1941, we'll be at our best."
Many football writers up and down the Pacific Rim felt the loss of 11 lettermen from 1940's 5-3-1 team and a turnout of only about 50 players put a dent in those Beaver hopes for 1941. A number of Oregon State players had already been drafted into military service or enlisted, leaving Stiner with 19 untested sophomores on his roster, and the Beavers were slotted for a second-division finish.
Stiner felt his team was better than many thought, and it would get a chance to prove it in a hurry. The Beavers would open the 1941 season at Southern California on September 27, then play Washington in Portland and Stanford in Corvallis; the Huskies and Indians were rated favorites in the Pacific Coast Conference race along with California.
New USC head coach Sam Barry – replacing the legendary Howard Jones, who had died that summer of a heart attack – promised the Trojans would have a strong passing attack. And, indeed, it was a pass that proved the difference as Southern California scored on a 6-yard toss with 17 seconds left to break a 7-7 tie and win 13-7 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
It was the Beavers, though, who prospered most through the air, outgaining the Trojans 194-86 in passing and 244-230 in total yardage. The throwing of halfbacks Don Durdan, from Eureka, Calif., and Bob Dethman, from Hood River, impressed onlookers; wrote on San Francisco reporter: "We hope that the California scouts didn't overlook the fact that left-handed Durdan of OSC – ran to his right- and passed as he ran to his right! We have always believed that left-handers were helpless on such stuff. Certain people should watch that Durdan-(George) Zellick pass, particularly (head coach) Irish Jimmy Phelan of Washington."
For the first time since 1923, Oregon State would be hosting Washington; the game would take place at Portland's Multnomah Stadium. Given the Huskies' role as a conference co-favorite and the Beavers' better-than-expected showing at USC, it rated as the top game on the West Coast that week. Trainloads of students from both Seattle and Corvallis were scheduled to make the trip, and tickets – priced at 50 cents, including tax – had been sent to all Army barracks in the vicinity.
The turf was soggy from rain earlier in the week, which didn't bode well for Stiner's strategy to beat the Huskies' strong line by going through the air – so the Beavers did it on the ground.
Early in the second quarter, Durdan took off to his left on a reverse from the OSC 20-yard line, threatening to pass; he then bolted ahead but appeared stopped at the UW 45. A quick change of direction freed Durdan, who then got to the left sideline and outraced a pair of Huskies to the goal line. Warren Simas, from Arcata, Calif., booted the extra point to put the Beavers up 7-0.
That was just the sort of play that made Durdan and Dethman so dangerous. Wrote one Oregonian reporter of OSC's bread-and-butter play: "On reason it's so good is it's concealed. In fact, it's an option play – if the situation develops so that an end run looks good they make the end run. If not, they suddenly flip the ball."
Washington scored midway through the fourth quarter but missed its conversion, and Oregon State tallied a late safety for a 9-6 win.
Now the Beavers had the conference's full attention, and the next week's opponent guaranteed they'd grab a big share of the national spotlight as well. Stanford, with its newfangled T formation, was the defending PCC and Rose Bowl champion and had won 12 straight games over two seasons.
"If our boys play football like they did against Southern California and Washington the past two Saturdays, none of us will have anything to be ashamed of," Stiner said.
Durdan, who had been hurt late in the win over Washington, was cleared to play by midweek by team physician Dr. Waldo Ball. The Beavers would also have the services of end Leland Gustafson, from Portland,who had missed the first two games with a knee injury.
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In practice, the Beavers concentrated on making sure tackles. Stanford's deceptive, sleight-of-hand T formation was still guided by Frankie Albert, who had led the Indians to their unbeaten, untied season the year before and victories over Oregon and UCLA already in 1941; the Beavers would have to bring down ballcarriers when they had their chance.
As the game neared, tickets grew scarce for seats at the Beavers' Bell Field. The fact its 22,000 seats would be covered would matter to the spectators: rain was forecast for the day of the game.
And, indeed, as the Associated Press story following the game read: "This was the day the football world had been waiting for. The T formation was stopped at last. It melted in a downpour."
Midway through the first quarter, the Beavers drove 58 yards and Simas booted a 16-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. In the third quarter, Stanford fumbled deep in its own territory and Oregon State center Quentin Greenough, from San Gabriel, Calif., recovered at the Indian 14; Dethman scored on fourth-down plunge from the 1 to make it 10-0.
Stanford got within 25 yards of the OSC goal line three times, but was forced to punt in the second period, lost the ball on downs in the third period, and finally Albert was intercepted by Dethman at the 12 in the game's final minutes to secure Oregon State's 10-0 win.
The California press blamed Stanford's ineffectiveness on the rain, but Associated Press writer Fred Hampson scoffed at the notion, writing: "The trickery executed by the Indians from the T didn't strike this observer as bogging down so much in the rain as in the Oregon State secondary defense … True, the T stuff didn't work quite well enough to give Stanford the victory, but the best systems, the best coaches and the best teams don't always do that. Particularly against a better team."
Stanford coach Clark Shaugnessy agreed, saying of Oregon State: "It was definitely the better team today."
The victory gave the Beavers the lead in the race to Pasadena, but the Oregon State coach would have none of it. Wrote Harry Leeding in the Oregon Journal: "Start talking Rose Bowl around Stiner and he runs for cover like a Chinese pheasant with an army of scatter-gun artists approaching."
The win pushed the Beavers into the Associated Press national rankings at No. 16, and Oregon State got to enjoy that through a bye week before visiting Washington State. The Cougars made a first-quarter score stand up for a 7-0 upset, and a series of upsets around the conference put Stanford back in first place.
The next month would show the Beavers had learned their lesson in Pullman.
Back home November 1, after an all-night rain a meager crowd of 5,000 in Corvallis saw the Beavers beat Idaho 33-0 with substitutes scoring all the points. The next week, a rare clear and warm day in November, Oregon State throttled UCLA 19-0 at Bell Field with Durdan notching two of the Beavers' touchdowns before a Homecoming crowd of 10,000.
Next was a trip to California, and the Beavers won 6-0 when substitute halfback Everett Smith, from Coquille, scored on a one-yard dive in the third quarter; the score was set up when a five-yard punt by the Bears put Oregon State in business at the Cal 35.
As big a news as the Beaver win, though, was that Washington State had upset Stanford, creating a three-way tie atop the PCC standings among Oregon State, Stanford and Washington – and the Beavers had the tiebreaker over both those teams by virtue of their victories in the second and third week of the season.
Now, with their Rose Bowl hopes in their own hands, the Beavers would finish the season against Montana in a non-conference game in Portland and then Oregon in Eugene. Oregon State made it four straight shutouts, thumping the Grizzlies 27-0 as the Beavers scored in every quarter and used substitutes in the second and fourth periods.
One hurdle remained to Oregon State making its first Rose Bowl appearance: Oregon.
NEXT: A Civil War for the Roses.
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