The year was 1957,
and perhaps no other high school in the state of Idaho was had a better,
tougher, and determined football team than old Wallace High had. (Now mind you,
I was not in HS by a long ways.) A little background for this story is in
order.
Back then, college
football was pretty well dominated by two legendary programs, the University of
Oklahoma Sooners, and the Fighting Irish of the University of Notre Dame. The
Sooners had won an incredible 47 straight games, and it seemed like the streak
would never end. So, how is all of this related to little old Wallace, Idaho? Down
in the Palouse sits the town of Pullman, Washington, and home of the Washington
State Cougars, but they are not the story, either. No, the story was Pullman
High School who had won 35 straight games, and they, too, seemed unbeatable.
The Sooners of mighty Oklahoma were so impressed with Pullman High School’s
streak, that they dubbed them “The Sooners of the Palouse”. Now that was pretty
heady stuff back I those days.
As we all know, all
streaks must come to and end, the Sooners streak came to a grinding halt when a
little Irish magic, and a whole lot of football skill combined on the field,
and the result was that Notre Dame stopped the Sooners streak at 47. Now, we
move back to little old Wallace.
Guess who played
Pullman on game 36 of their 35 game winning streak? You guessed it, our own
Wallace High Miners. Need I say more? The Pullman streak died that day on the
gridiron.
Word reached all of
the way to South Bend , Indiana, and the Fighting Irish were so impressed with
the Miner’s victory over the “ Sooners of the Palouse” that the athletic
director of Notre Dame sent a telegram to Wallace coach Bud Riley
congratulating them on their big win, and dubbed Wallace as the “Fighting Irish
of the Northwest” In addition, each Notre Dame player autographed a football,
and the ball was sent to Wallace High, and the last time that I was in the old
Civic Auditorium , it was still resting in the trophy case in the entrance to
the auditorium. I assume that it now rests in a place of honor in the new
school.
Ah, the good old days of Wallace.
4 comments:
The rest of the story was that the team I played on (the team that graduated in the spring of 1957) lost its last three games by over 40 points, including a home loss to PUllman. Bud built on that to have one of the best teams Wallace ever had.
Thank you, Gary. I really appreciate your comment. I was only in the first grade, but I remember Mr. Riley because they lived close to us. I also am a big fan of his son, Mike, and his success as a head coach. I hope he does well at Nebraska. Drop in anytime.
Not sure if your blog is still active, but I saw that autographed football today in the "new" high school, as well as my older brother's name on the team roster - and the telegram from Moose Krause, Notre Dame AD. One year later my brother was on the Notre Dame campus as a freshman. As he arrived, he carried a letter written to him in 1949 that ended, "See you in the fall of 1958. Sincerely (or something like that), Moose Krause." He had gotten the letter after returning from attending our uncles graduation from Notre Dame where our Dad had introduced my brother to his old football coach and friend of over 15 years at the time - Moose Krause. So now you know how word of Wallace's victory reached all the way to South Bend. Our Dad and Moose remained good friends throughout their lives, getting together whenever circumstances permitted - like at my brother's graduation and later mine.
The 60th anniversary of that game is coming up on October 25th. I wonder how many of the members of that team are still around Wallace. I know a few are.
Thank you, Tony, for your contribution and personal knowledge of the game.It certainly is one of the WHS special times. I just feel so sorry for the Wallace kids today who have no idea of our history or past glory.
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