Name/Title
Print, PhotographicEntry/Object ID
2004.17.13Description
This b&w photo appears to be a different print of an identical image in this collection, Catalog No. 2009.01.16.
And both, it appears, are a cropped version of a larger image, which has been digitized and is available online in the University of Puget Sound’s “A Sound Past” collection, at <http://digitalcollections.pugetsound.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/upsimages/id/4137/rec/61>. (See, “Night football game, 1949,” Identifier: upsic.BWNeg-00966; Archives Folder: RG 04.03 Box 3 (00680-01000); CONTENTdm number: 4137.)
The available information suggests that this football game photo is from the College of Puget Sound’s 13-7 victory over Eastern Washington College of Education on 8 Oct. 1949, in the Lincoln Bowl. CPS was in the light jerseys; Eastern in the dark.
Assuming all that is correct, these are the CPS players, in the white jerseys:
39 — Bob Carlson
40 — Dick Brown (1927-2015)
These are the Eastern players, in the dark jerseys:
67 — Dewey Doe
57 — Don Cobb
This action appears to be taking place deep in Eastern’s defensive secondary. That suggests the official is probably the field judge; in the 1949 CPS-Eastern game, that was Pat Schlicting.
(In that game, the other officials were the referee, Tim McCullough; the umpire, Joe Koenig; and the head linesman, Ed Logan.)
In fact, this photo may show an identifiable, and notable, moment from the CPS-Eastern game. Near the very end of the game, CPS was driving, looking to pad their 13-0 lead. Instead, Eastern’s defensive back Dewey Doe intercepted a Logger pass just in front of the goal line, and raced the other way with it, returning it 97 yards for the Savages’ only TD of the game.
Here’s the Trail’s description of the play (a couple months later, in an article recapping the CPS football season):
“Defense halfback Dewey Doe had his say—‘[Jim] Sulenes fades to pass on the Eastern 17; there’s a long throw down the middle, deflected by Cobb [57] on the goal line; Doe [67] grabs it in mid-air on the three, cuts to his right, gets away from one man, down the sidelines to the 10, eludes a tackler and he’s all alone; he’s going all the way to promised land—a 97 yard pass interception runback!’ ”
See, “Pleasin’ Season . . . ,” The Trail, p. 12 (2 Dec. 1949). (That article does not have an author’s byline, but it seems likely that it’s the inimitable prose of Doug McArthur, then a CPS undergraduate and the sports editor for the Trail. Over the next seven decades, Doug (a member of the Logger Hall of Fame as an administrator) forged a legendary career in the Greater Tacoma area as an athlete, coach, athletics administrator, sports publicist, and friend to one and all.)
That narrative matches this photo on points that would seem unlikely •all• to be replicated in any one other play in the same game: the ball is descending on the trajectory of a fairly long pass; it’s coming down at about the goal line, and roughly mid-way between the sidelines; Eastern’s Cobb has gone up to defend, and is in good position to get a hand on the ball; and Doe is just a few steps away, well-placed to grab Cobb’s deflection — and pulling it in at the three, to start his runback, seems entirely plausible.
Further observation about the people: Dick Brown is one of the legends of Logger athletics. The youngest of the five children of Harry L. and Alpharetta Brown (Harry was a renowned candy-maker, and a co-founder of the Brown & Haley candy company), a graduate of Stadium High, Dick had started college at Washington State in 1944. After service in the Army at the end of WWII, Dick transferred to CPS, because he wanted to be closer to his family.
An imposing 6-4 end, Dick was a superb talent. “He could have played •anywhere•,” is the judgment of his Logger teammate Norm Pollom, who was later a UW assistant coach, and a long-time scout for the Buffalo Bills. In 1948 Dick was named AP Little All-America 2nd-team end, the first Logger to earn All-America recognition as high as the 2nd-team level. In 1949 he was the only Evergreen Conference player named 1st-team All-Conference on both offense and defense. Not even his Logger Hall of Fame teammate Warren Wood — who that year was named Little All-America 2nd-team guard, and became the only Logger ever selected for the East-West Shrine Game — achieved that distinction.
Dick was also an outstanding basketball player, helping lead the Loggers to the NAIB national basketball tournament in Kansas City, Mo., in 1949 and 1950. (The NAIB was renamed the NAIA in the early 1950s.) Dick starred in the Loggers’ epic 48-41 whipping of the University of Washington, on 22 Dec. 1948 in the Tacoma Armory, shutting down the Huskies’ All-America guard, Sammy White, that evening.
Dick had earned enough credits to graduate by the spring of 1950 — and he did so, although he still had athletic eligibility remaining. He explained years later that he was married, already older for having spent time in the Army, and was eager to get his career underway. All the same, Dick was an early inductee to the Logger Hall of Fame, being named to the Hall’s second class, in 1967.
Note: The Museum provisionally identified this photo (no. 2004.17.13) as a shot from the 1949 game between the College of Puget Sound and Eastern Washington State College, at the Stadium Bowl. That information has required two corrections. First, Eastern was then “Eastern Washington College of Education,” the name that school had adopted in 1937. It did not to become “Eastern Washington State College” until 1961.
Second, accounts in the Trail, CPS’s student paper, and the CPS-Eastern game program that year, state that the game was played in the Lincoln Bowl, •not• the Stadium Bowl. In fact, •none• of the Loggers’ 1949 games were, or could have been, played in the Stadium Bowl. The 13 April 1949 Olympia earthquake (moment magnitude 6.7) had cracked seating areas and retaining walls in the Stadium Bowl, and the facility was condemned. It wasn’t until 1960 that repairs allowed the resumption of football games there.Made/Created
Date made
1949 - 1950Place
Location
Stadium Bowl, Tacoma, WALexicon
Search Terms
Football, CollegeRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
College of Puget SoundPerson or Organization
Eastern Washington State CollegePerson or Organization
Eastern Washington College of EducationPerson or Organization
Pat SchlictingPerson or Organization
Doe, DeweyPerson or Organization
Cobb, DonPerson or Organization
Carlson, BobPerson or Organization
Brown, DickRelated Events
Event
College of Puget Sound Football vs. Eastern Washington State College