danucla1
Joined: 4/28/17 Posts: 1,147
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Posted Tue, Dec 14 10:44 pm
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In response to Anybody see the "Apisa Moment" live on TV '66 Rosebowl? (carloschivo1954)
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Nobody thought UCLA had a chance in that game- even though they had only lost to MSU 13-3 in regular season if my memory is correct. MSU had Bubba Smith "Kill Bubba, Kill!!!"
Apisa, and a bunch of great players...may have been Prothro's best coaching job |
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BruinRenaissance
Joined: 9/05/17 Posts: 3,056
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Posted Tue, Dec 14 10:50 pm
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In response to Anybody see the "Apisa Moment" live on TV '66 Rosebowl? (carloschivo1954)
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I am 13 years older than you, so I had graduated already. That was our chance to win our first Rose Bowl game. (Our 54 team would have won it for sure, but were prevented to play by the no repeat rule.)
Our QB was our only Heisman winner, Gary Beban. We recovered a fumble deep in MSU territory and Beban scored on a QB sneak. Then we executed a surprise onside kick, and reached the one yard line on gains by Mel Farr and pass to Kurt Altenberg, and Beban scored again on another keeper.
Leading by 14, the undersized (Terry Donahue was a 190 lb defensive lineman) Bruins somehow or another kept MSU out of the endzone until the fourth quarter when we began to tire. After their first TD MSU went for two and failed. Then they scored again with half a minute left and went for two again for the tie. And that was the play all Bruins will always remember.
Little Bobby Stiles (advertised to be 5-8 and 160) had already been voted player of the game by the press box, and this play justified that choice. Big Bob Apisa (240 lb?) swept right end and turned upfield, and it looked for all the world like he could waltz into the endzone. Then out of nowhere Styles flew out of the defensive backfield and met Apisa head on. The collison literally knocked Stiles out, and stunned Apisa, who remained upright but did not move. John Richardson, one of few good sized lineman we had, finished the job. We recovered the subsequent onside kick and won the game.
But that moment when Stiles flew into Apisa with reckless abandon, with total disregard for his own body, was the greatest single moment in Bruin FB history. It typified everything that was good about the Gutty Little Bruin, and was forever etched in my mind. |
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Rgb76
Joined: 12/23/12 Posts: 1,833
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Alta Loma Bruin
Joined: 1/13/14 Posts: 2,618
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Posted Wed, Dec 15 7:24 am
(Edited Wed, Dec 15 7:25 am)
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In response to Anybody see the "Apisa Moment" live on TV '66 Rosebowl? (carloschivo1954)
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Born in 1947. My freshman year at UCLA. My family home was in Pasadena so the Rose Bowl was a local landmark. Beban got UCLA out to an early lead and MSU’s highly touted QB Steve Juday, I believe, was ineffective against our “gutty little Bruin” defense. They finally replaced Juday with Jimmy Raye, I believe, who was more of an option QB. He led a comeback and a score with seconds remaining to pull MSU to within two points. A two point conversion would have ended the game in a tie, since there was no OT in 1966. Raye ran the option and pitched to Apisa, a huge running back. Little Bob Styles stood him up at the goal line and Jim Coletto finished him off. Styles literally knocked himself out to save the win. UCLA had beaten a team that most thought was unbeatable. |
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trtl4x4
Joined: 8/16/05 Posts: 1,061
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Posted Wed, Dec 15 11:15 am
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In response to Anybody see the "Apisa Moment" live on TV '66 Rosebowl? (carloschivo1954)
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...but on TV. I was 6 about to be seven. The sound went out on our TV so we had to listen to the radio for sound. I think Tom Harmon used to do Ucla football game radio commentary, but I can't recall if he did it for that game. Born into a Bruin loving family, that game was a great way to be initiated into the Bruin fold.
My first live game at the mausoleum unfortunately was against Syracuse the week after the oj game. They had Larry Csonka and he ran all over us. |
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