Lemon Yellows in leather hats
by Bill Miller for
the Mail Tribune - Monday, December 30th 2019
As the Lemon Yellows worked through
their secret maneuvers, sentries took positions on top of the grandstand and
near the wooden walls, guarding against spying eyes.
Anyone who dared come near the football
field was carefully watched, making sure no eye or ear could press against a
knothole or crack and steal valuable information for the enemy.
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| Tournament Park, Pasadena, California- Game Day January 1 1920 |
Lemon Yellows was an early nickname for
the University of Oregon football team, because they often competed in yellow
jerseys. Occasionally, they were known as Webfoots, and many years later, fans
knew them as Ducks.
In late December 1919, with
temperatures over 80 degrees in the shade, the 32-man squad from Eugene began
practicing for the Jan. 1, 1920, East-West Championship game in Pasadena,
California. The game was part of the city’s annual Tournament of Roses. Two
years later, the game would take on the name of a newly built stadium — the
Rose Bowl.
The undefeated Harvard Crimson,
powerhouse players from Massachusetts, came by train 3,000 miles to compete.
Although Oregon had lost one game that year, everyone expected a tough and
close contest. They wouldn’t be disappointed.
On its way to Southern California, the
Oregon team, along with their coaches and trainers, rode in a private railroad
car. The rest of the train was loaded down with professors and undergraduates
from the university, and supporters from around the entire state.
 |
| 1920 University of Oregon Football Team |
Hoping to gain an advantage, the Oregon
Yellows had brought along a large tank of Eugene’s municipal water. Coach “Shy”
Huntington said he wasn’t about to take any chances that “his boys” would be
out of condition just because of inferior drinking water.
When the team stopped briefly in Medford,
Dec. 19, a small group of supporters met the team at the depot and wished them
luck. The group included a few of the wealthy Harvard graduates who had come to
Jackson County during the orchard boom that had begun just before 1910.
Southern Oregon still didn’t have a
radio station, and local fans who wanted to follow the game had only two
choices.
Medford’s Rialto Theater (later the
Joseph Winans furniture store) had a telegraph line installed in the theater.
While the matinee film played, an on-stage
Western Union operator continually
read a play-by-play description of the action.
 |
| ca. 1938 Rialto Theater, Medford, Oregon |
Other interested fans stopped by the
Mail Tribune office, where the news crew used the company’s newswires to post
game bulletins in the lobby.
 |
| Old Mail Tribune Newsapaper Building, Medford, Oregon |
In Pasadena, the searing temperatures
of mid December gave way by game day to a “balmy” 70 degrees that locals said
was “just a trifle warm” for football, while eastern visitors said it was
“definitely too hot.”
The betting was nearly even — the
Harvard boys were heavier, but Oregon was faster.
It was a titanic struggle in leather
helmets with both teams fumbling and missing field goal attempts in the first
quarter.
 |
| 1920 Rose Bowl Game - Oregon vs. Harvard for National Championship |
The Lemon Yellows from Oregon finally
broke through on the second play of the second quarter with a 23-yard dropkick
field goal, making the score 3-0. After two long passes downfield, Harvard
answered with an 18–yard touchdown run and a successful extra point to lead
7-3. Oregon ended the first half scoring with a last second field goal — the
final score of the game. Harvard took home the 7-6 victory and the
championship.
Returning home with a disappointed
Oregon team, coach Huntington said he was proud of his “men.”
“We go back knowing that they played as
hard and as clean a game as they could. It was a good showing.”
It would be 1958 before the Lemon
Yellows returned to the Rose Bowl, this time as the Ducks. They lost to Ohio
State 10-7.
Writer Bill Miller is the author of
“History Snoopin’,” a collection of his previous history columns and stories.
Reach him at newsmiller@live.com.
https://mailtribune.com/lifestyle/lemon-yellows-in-leather-hats
