Husky quote quiz
A pop quiz to test your knowledge
by Malamute, 3 March 2002

"I will stand in defense of Mike Bellotti and our program."

Of all the schools in the Pac-10, the Washington Huskies' football program has the most unique history. What other school can lay claim to having both the winningest coach in college football history and to arguably the winningest coach in Pac-10 history? 

And, also, to having the most exuberant boosters? During the course of Husky history, Washington boosters indirectly helped split the conference in half in the 1950s and, in later years, were responsible for the Huskies drawing some of the severest sanctions levied in NCAA football history, all of them involving minor infractions, one of which involved the distribution of fruit-baskets to prospective recruits. Success breeds contempt. 

So, get ready to rock and roll. Are you up to snuff on Husky quotations? Some of these are taken from the Dawgs' "checkered" history, others from its many successes. If so, get out your Husky reference books and old newspapers and take this quiz. If you don’t have any references, there are some reference books listed below, some of which are currently in print, others that are available from used bookstores.

During the course of Husky history, ex-players, recruits, coaches (not necessarily Husky coaches), sports writers and players have made these statements.

As you scroll down, try to guess who made the statement that is quoted. 

• “They shouldn't be out there if they're hurt. If they're out there on the field and are hurt, then I will hurt them more"

  
  

  This quote has been attributed to Steve Emtman (Washington defensive tackle, 1989-1991)

• “I almost didn't take my trip to Washington because I went to Colorado and Oregon, and all they did was bad-mouth Neuheisel."

  
  

  Donny Mateaki (Washington’s incoming defensive lineman, Honolulu, Hawaii) made this statement on a Honolulu television station (2002).

• “I have decided I can no longer coach in a conference that treats its players and coaches so unfairly. We have suffered for nearly 10 months from media character assassination. By looking at the penalties, it appears we are all guilty, based in large part upon statements of questionable witnesses.”

  
  

  On August 22, 1993, Don James resigned his position as Husky head football coach, making that statement as part of his resignation comments. 

• “Whether one considers the penalties imposed by the conference to be appropriate or fair is a matter of individual judgment. I do not.”

  
  

  University President William P. Gerberding said in response to the penalties the Pac-10 meted out to the Washington program in 1993.

• “Washington's band will play selections from its new 'Guns and Rose Bowls' CD, available at popular prices from Billy Joe Hobert records and tapes.”

  
  

  Mike Downey wrote that in an article for the Los Angeles Times, hyping the Freedom Bowl between USC and Fresno State, “Fresno Fans Plot Escape to Freedom,” 28 December 1992.

• “Seventy thousand screaming, yelling and stomping—that crowd was probably the biggest difference. The acoustics here are amazing, a huge factor. I’ve been around C-130 transports a lot, and this almost felt like I was on a runway."

  
  

  Al Roberts (Army defensive tackle) said that after playing in Husky stadium.

• "Talking to Clayton Walker after UCLA had been in there, you had to have a fire hose to clean him off.”

  
  

  Head coach Rick Neuheisel (Washington) during a news conference (2002) when he talked about negative recruiting in the Pac-10.

• “(We) petitioned the NCAA to make this punishment fit the crime, because it won't. They'll get their hands slapped and they'll be reinstated. That's just the way it's done. I just think that's ridiculous."

  
  

  Gary Barnett (Head coach, Colorado) made this statement in response to the quiet-day rules’ violations perpetrated by Washington in 1999.

• “This means they only get to the tacklers all the sooner."

  
  

  Someone asked him about three particularly fast running backs he coached and Gloomy Gil Dobie (Washington head coach, 1908-1916) made that statement.

• “Happy? Why? What's going to happen to us next week?"

  
  

  After winning a game 49-0, an alumnus approached Gloomy Gil Dobie and said, “Now you must be happy!"

• “This conference is unique in its ability to perch on one another's lists, and to continue to work on guys who have at least said on the record they're going one place. It's an interesting deal. ... There's a couple of schools in the conference that didn't even start recruiting until they saw our list."

  
  

  Rick Neuheisel (2002) at a news conference when he discussed negative recruiting tactics in the Pac-10.

• “’It was a terrible field. Did your ever see a field grow rocks?'” They’d rake the surface to level the field, removing most of the rocks, and after the next rain, “'you’d see thousands of little rocks come up out of the dirt.'” 

  
  

  In his book, “Bow Down to Washington,” Dick Rockne quoted Wee Coyle (a quarterback under Gil Dobie) as saying that about Denny Field, where the Huskies used to play football.

• “You can’t win games with Phi Beta Kappa’s.”

  
  

  Gil Dobie, during his coaching days at Cornel after he had coached at Washington.

• “I will stand in defense of Mike Bellotti and our program."

  
  

  Bill Moos (Athletic Directory, Oregon) in response to the negative recruiting charges levied by Rick Neuheisel (2002).

• “I’ve told any person that ever hired one of my football players that if they didn’t work, fire them.”

  
  

  Don James (1992) in response to the charges that the Los Angeles summer jobs program run by a booster was out of control. His statement is supported by the fact that the summer jobs program in the Seattle area was “fairly well-controlled” by the athletics staff.

• “We are sum of our days, and should look sharp at how they pass. Of our days, they come and go like muffled and veiled figures sent from a distant friendly party.”

  
  

  Quoting William Wadsworth Longfellow, Jim Owens’ said that in a preface to his resignation speech, given December 1974.

• “In one prodigious, unforeseeable swoop, Jim Owens’ ‘3-year-olds’ wiped out 13 years of Pacific Coast embarrassment and 36 years of Husky anguish.”

  
  

  George Myers (The Seattle Times) wrote this after Washington had defeated Wisconsin, 44-8, in the 1960 Rose Bowl.

• “I believe I have a solution. I just recommend that the University of Washington operate along the lines prescribed by the PCC regulations.  Just have the boys not looking beyond their coaches and beyond the athletic department for guidance, for help, and for counsel.”

  
  

  After being fired by athletic director Harvey Cassill, John Cherberg (head coach Washington) made this statement on a Seattle television station, referring indirectly to a slush fund run by Roscoe C. Torrance. (January 1956).

• “The Times came out with stories about the slush fund as if nobody knew about it, and the Blethens had been contributing to it for years. I was terribly disappointed in Royal Brougham whom I had known well since 1919. When The Times started to tear me apart, he did noting in the P-I to support me, and he didn’t even call to give me a boost when he knew that many things being written were untrue.”

  
  

  In 1956, Torchy Torrance (head of the Washington Advertising Association) made this statement in response to the slush fund scandal of 1956. Although boosters were allowed to help players out with cash payments in those days, the allowable amount was limited by the NCAA in the mid-fifties; Washington’s players received more than that amount.

• “I performed by services in as conscientious and thorough manner as was possible under the conditions. Dr. Suzzallo does me wrong when he says I did otherwise.”

  
  

  This was taken from Gil Dobie’s resignation speech, on December 8, 1916.

• “Isaiah is without question the best quarterback I saw on tape this year. I don’t think that it’s even close. There are lots of publications that will have you believe otherwise. But having done this for a number of years and having coached some guys who I think are pretty good and who have gone on to the next level, there is no doubt in my mind that Isaiah Stanback is the best quarterback in the country. And that’s of all the tapes that I saw, and I saw lots of guys. This guy is special.”

  
  

  Rick Neuheisel made this statement on Fox Sports Net (February 2002). If true, this bodes well for Huskies in years to come.

References:

• Rockne, Dick, “Bow Down to Washington,” The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama, 1975.
• “100 Years of Husky Football,” Professional Sports Publications, New York City, New York.
• Burke, Roger, “Once a Husky, Always a Husky,” Columbia River Book Company, 2001.
• Downey, Mike, “Fresno Fans Plot Escape to Freedom,” The Los Angeles Times, 28 December 1992.
• Farmer, Sam, "Bitter Roses,” An Inside Look at the Washington Huskies’ Turbulent Year," Sagamore Publishing, 1993.
• Daves, Jim, Porter Thomas W., “The Glory of Washington,” Sports Publishing Incorporated, 2001.
• Torrance, Roscoe with Bob Karolevitz, "Torchy!, The Biography and Reminiscences of Roscoe C. Torrance," Dakota Homestead Publishers, 1988.