ASU vs. Washington: A Little Husky Trivia to Chew On
Arizona State hosts the University of Washington at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe on Saturday. This homecoming game for the Sun Devils has major implications for both teams, as they seek to win their respective divisions in the Pac-12 Conference.
To help ASU fans become more familiar with their opponent from the Northwest, we offer the following trivia:
1. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington’s original campus was situated in downtown Seattle. The university moved to its present location in the U-District in 1895 and opened campuses in Bothell and Tacoma, Washington, in 1990.
2. Many well-known faces have donned the purple and gold as UW students, including Bruce Lee (martial arts expert/actor), Rainn Wilson (Dwight from TV’s The Office) and Christine Gregoire (Governor, State of Washington).
3. Washington’s athletic teams had been called the Sun Dodgers since 1919, but a lot of people thought that didn’t do much for the school’s — or the region’s — image. An attempt to adopt the nickname Vikings in 1921 was met with protest by the students, and a joint committee of students, coaches, faculty, alumni and businessmen proposed new names. The Huskies nickname for athletic teams was officially adopted on Feb. 3, 1922.
4. The UW football team played its first collegiate opponent — Stanford — on Dec. 29, 1893, losing 40-0 before 600 spectators in West Seattle.
5. Washington coach Gil Dobie gained fame by using a trick play to beat Oregon in 1911. Known as Dobie Bunk Play, the UW center faked a handoff to QB Wee Coyle and kept the ball, while the two guards fell down in front of the center. Coyle took off his leather helmet, tucked it under one arm and bolted around end. After counting to three, the center turned and handed the ball off to the end, who then scampered in the opposite direction from Coyle and scored a touchdown. All eleven Oregon players chased Coyle. No one knew what happened. Washington won the game 29-3. Sometime later, the play was declared illegal.
6. Bob Schorledt quarterbacked the UW to its first ever Rose Bowl victory in 1960, with the Huskies winning 44-8 over Wisconsin.
7. To date, three Husky numbers have been retired: Chuck Carroll (2 – 1927, 1928), George Wilson (33 – 1923-25) and Roland Kirkby (44 – 1948-50).
8. Brock Huard holds the record for career passing yards at UW (5,742; 1996-98).
9. Washington has won the conference championship a total of 15 times: 1916, 1919, 1925, 1936, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995 and 2000.
10. Many UW coaches have had interesting nicknames over the years, including Gil Dobie (“Gloomy Gil”), John Cherberg (“Cowboy Johnny”), Ralph Welch (“Pest”), Jim Owens (“The Big Fella”), Don James (“The Man in the Tower”), Leonard B. Allison (“Stub”) and Jim Lambright (“Lambo”).