The San Francisco call., 1896-11-27

TN the presence of the greatest multitude
of spectators that ever assem- bled in the
far West to view an outdoor athlecic
contest Stanford University yesterday de-
feated the University of California at foot.
ball The score was 20 to 0.
Hours before the game was called at 2:45
O'clock people were blockading the imme-
diate avenues of approach to the grounds,
and those who had not secured tickets
E. days before were forced to take their place
in an endless line stretching down Market
street from the main entrance to the
grounds.
The day was perfect for football and for
: an unprecedented crowd. The air was
crisp, and there was hardly cloud in the
clear blue sky. A few scattered. gentle
ralndrops foated down at the opening of
the game from a solitary feathery clond
that passed overhead through the clear
blue sky, but that was all.
Not another thing occurred to mar the
perfection of circumstances attending the
match. the sixth annual meeting of the
two representative educational centers of
the great West.
Within the Enclosure the array of spec
tators was inspiring.
Everybody that is anybody in society.
in club life, in athletics was there mingled
with the more active partisans, the
alumni and students of both colleges.
Imagine a great amphitheater sur
rounded on its four sides by thousands
upon thousands of wildly enthusiastic
men and women rising tier beyond tier
from the very edges of large. level arena,
down Upon which the multitude ever
rivets an intense but nervous and ex-
pectant gaze. There on that field twenty
two men, the best com bined Drawn and
nerve and physical skill and endurance
and self-control from nearly three thou
sand youths at two great rival universities
of the same great State.
One is officially and by State support
the University of California; the other,
just as much the property and pride OF
the commonwealth, but freely endowed
and maintained by the irrevoca BILE public
gift oil one of the wealthiest of those hon.
ored dead pione eers that did so much to
make tie Golden State rich in more than
gold. Stanford University and the Uni
!. versity of California, both striving to
perfect the young manhood and young
'womanhood Of the State, and vet both, on
In occasion OF this kind, eager almost to
frenzy for the attainment of glory won by
mighty public victory over the other.
Tue two elevens face each other down
''in; the arena. An intense calm settles
" upon the sloping hillsides of humanity
j" that stretch up and back almost TO the
surrounding housetops and wall in the So
called gridiron field, maj ked off every five
yards by parallel whitewashed Iir.es, by
which each teams progress toward the
;other's goal may always be accurately
measured.
An opportunity is seized by the men in
. blue and gold striped jerseys and stock
lngsi As though stirred by an electric
gust thousands OF people jump to their feet
:. with one instantaneous impulse and like
.frenzied maniacs wave arms and hats and
blue and gold flags and streamers and rib
bons until it seems that whirlwind has
scattered nothing but blue and gold over
all those peopled slopes; and the tumult
the volume OF the applause, is terrific
thunderous, greater than the noise o
storr-driven waves on a rocky coast.
denly as these thousands are sink
ing back to their seats a mighty roar goes
up from every side and SWEEPS round the
borders of the amphitheater. and like one
man other thousands before silent spring
erect and lashing, tossing storm OF cardi
nal bursts over the multitude.
The impact OF the men IN the contest i.
terrific. Those timid spectators not yet
(" completely lost to other thoughts IN 8
.sava ee partisan desire for the supremacy
of the team of their choice cannot look on
. wit b. evincing sympathetic fear at each
furious crush of bodies and fall of men
But as the excitement of the game in.
creases even these timid ones are carried
away BY the contagion and lose themselves
in the wild spirit of the great mass OF peo-
: pie.
Probably no two rival educational OF
purely athletic institutions in The world
were ever for so long q time so equally
Z. matched as Cali ornia's two universities.
:. For the five annual foo ball contests
preceding this the teams we're so n arly
equal that three times the score of the
: game declared them precisely so, and
{ twice Stanford won by a margin too small
$to lndicate much superiority.
What wonder, then, that thousands OF
partisans flock to the support OF each in a
great spectacular display o. muscle. nerve,
sKn and self-control; for it does require
eeii-co ntrol to play clean. scientific loot
bali. Tie men that make football brutal