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White Runs 95 And 57 Yards And Scores All CU Points
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A Denver Post photo-illustration shows the path that Byron White took on his 95-yard touchdown. |
Colorado’s All-America Candidate Leads Buffs in Great Comeback After Utah Takes Lead On Cooper’s 65-Yard Run
By C.L. (Poss) Parsons
Denver Post Sports Editor
(Nov. 6, 1937)
UTAH STADIUM, Salt Lake City, Utah—Class will tell! Colorado University’s 17-to-7 triumph over Utah here Saturday afternoon conclusively proved this.
A homecoming crowd of 18,439 saw a battling University of Utah team put up a game fight. The Utes held the Buffs scoreless during the first half, Colorado scored in third period and Utah came from behind to take the lead; Colorado then staged a rally, scoring two touchdowns to put the game on ice.
Byron (Whizzer) White showed the fans some of the greatest open field running ever witnessed in this stadium. He scored every point for Colorado and one of his touchdown gallops was little short of miraculous. White showed his real worth by winning the crowd’s fancy after Cooper had stolen the show early in the third period to put the Utes out ahead 7 to 3.
Here is what White did:
White placekicked from the 15-yard line to put C.U. ahead 3 to 0 in the third period.
White took a punt and ran 95 yards for a touchdown after fading back toward the goal line to set up his tacklers. White placekicked the extra point.
Near the end of the game, White skirted right end for 57 yards and another touchdown. He again placekicked the extra point.
This was nearly as sensational a performance as White turned in against the Utes last year. His sensational punting and passing also stood out. There was not a fan in the stadium who was not acclaiming him all-America when they left the park. White’s display of fireworks was all the more remarkable as Utah played him hard and there were plenty of times when he was thrown for losses.
The tougher the going, the better White got. As I said before, class will tell.
Utah played a whale of a game and did its best but lost to a better ball club.
Coach Ike Armstrong of Utah had this to say: “They beat us but they didn’t lick us. They were a better ball club than we were today. C.U. played beautiful football, but they had to. We dished out sixty minutes of football. That’s all I can expect of my men. It was just a case of too much White. The turning point of the ball game was White’s punt return.”
The Utah coach then personally congratulated every member of his team.
OAKES SAYS WHITE IS ALL-AMERICA.
This is what Coach Bunny Oakes of Colorado said: “Utah played great ball and has another splendid team. This man Cooper was a most outstanding player for the Utes Saturday. It was one of the finest and most thrilling games I have ever witnessed. White is an all-America without question. Utah watched him, yet he gave the big crowd the thrills they came to see.”
Whizzer White remarked: “Utah has one of the cleanest and hardest fighting teams I ever played against. Cooper was great out there today and that big Schleckman certainly went to town on the Utah line. Snow and Mecham set a high standard of punting and this was one of the features of Utah’s play. The Buffs certainly dished out the cooperation. It was swell to play with them.”
As if the fans weren’t treated to a most sensational game, there had to be a riot at the finish which continued for twenty minutes before police got it under control. Just before the game was over, C.U. rooters lined up on the east side of the field and Utah rooters lined up on the west side. When the game ended the C.U. rooters made a dash for the goal posts, but found the opposition too tough. The goal posts withstood the attack.
There were a lot of black eyes and blood spilled, there was plenty of torn clothes after the battle. The police took seven C.U. rooters to jail following the free-for-all.
BOTH TEAMS BOG DOWN IN FIRST PERIOD.
In the first period, both teams showed flashes of an attack, only to bog down when reaching scoring territory. Utah advanced to the Colorado 16-yard mark, only to fumble a lateral and lose the ball.
C.U. drove down the field more than fifty yards on one march, but could get no farther than Utah’s 21. White got off two runs around right end of 25 and 14 yards and also slipped off left tackle for 18 yards, but Antonio lost on a reverse and White also was thrown for a 7-yard loss, which checked this march.
Utah made three drives in the second period, but couldn’t get over even from the 2-foot line. A 15-yard roughing penalty on C.U. gave the Utes a first down on the C.U. 12, but they couldn’t advance in three plays and McGarry missed a placekick from the 13. Swan recovered White’s fumble on the Colorado 18. Illegal use of the hands set Utah back 15 yards, but on second down Cooper passed to Cory, who was forced out on the C.U. 2-foot line. The Buffs piled up the Utes for three line plays, then Moore recovered Cooper’s fumbled lateral on the 4-yard mark.
Pace started throwing strikes to Balkin and McDonough and the Utes advanced to Colorado’s 10, where McGarry missed another placement. Near the end of the period White swiped Pace’s pass and ran back 28 yards to Utah’s 21. The Buffs just missed scoring when White’s long pass to Antonio was caught just outside the end zone. It was a close play, but the officials ruled this one correctly.
LEAD SEE-SAWS IN THIRD PERIOD.
In the third period, Colorado scored and took the lead, only to have Utah grab the lead right back. White’s ball carrying and a 27-yard pass to Lavington, gave the Buffs a first down on the Utah 11-yard stripe. The Utes braced and White dropped back to the 15-yard line and booted a perfect field goal from placement. Three points looked plenty big, until little Gene Cooper turned the tide of battle toward the Utes.
White punted to Cooper on Utah’s 35-yard mark. He grabbed the ball going at top speed, ran right, then reversed his field behind some timely blocking and ran 65 yards for a touchdown as the large homecoming crowd went wild. Three blockers removed White from the picture in the final dash. Page converted to put Utah into 7-3 lead.
As the fourth period got under way, Snow punted to White from Utah’s 48-yard mark. Then came a miracle play on White’s part, which turned out to be one of the greatest runs this writer has seen in many a moon. White caught the ball on his own 14-yard line, but was forced back to the 5-yard stripe and entirely across the field within a hair breadth’s of the side line. Sidestepping and straight arming his way thru a bunch of red shirts, White broke into the open and raced down the sideline like a gray streak, sprinting 95 yards for a touchdown. He converted the extra point as C.U. went into a 10-7 lead.
To further seal Utah’s doom, the Whizzer swept around right end for 57 yards and a touchdown in the waning minutes of the game. He converted again and personally accounted for all of the Buffs’ points.
NOTES OF THE GAME.
Coach Oakes used his reserves near the end of each period and carried over into the next period so that the regulars received some relief. White and Moore both played the entire game . . . When Utah flopped on Colorado’s 2-foot line in the second period, Davidson and Smart were at the guards and Don Smith was at right tackle. These reserves certainly came thru in this spot . . . Of course, White and Moore were C.U. standouts, the Whizzer for doing all his chores well and Moore for being the outstanding tackler on the field . . . All of Colorado’s men played great ball and it is hard to dish out the bouquets without making it a blanket affair . . . C.U.’s lighter line had to beat back a game and fighting Utah forward wall and don’t think this wasn’t tough . . . The officiating wasn’t so hot, as the boys made several mistakes, but why yell about it now . . . Both teams were socked with many penalties . . . McGarry, Page, and Schleckman were the best of the Utah linemen . . . Dewey Gunn, Ute tackle, was taken out of the game near the finish with a fractured left leg . . . If C.U. had a weakness, it was not covering White’s kicks in the usual manner . . . Cooper’s touchdown gallop could have been averted by some timely tackling right after he caught the punt . . . When White faded back on his sensational punt return, it appeared that he might be forced back of the goal line for a safety. However, he was just setting up the tacklers for what looked like an impossible bit of running . . . White got off several punts which brought forth ohs and ahs from the crowd . . . The between the halves stunt certainly didn’t have much effect on the two student bodies, judging from what happened after the game . . . The C.U. band entertained the crowd with snappy marching maneuvers. Then the Utah band went thru an Indian war dance as tribute to the Buffaloes and the Utes, which was climaxed by smoking the pipe of peace . . . Well, peace didn’t last for long . . . The Salt Lake sports writers had their inning when Cooper ran thru the whole C.U. team for a touchdown . . . One of them hit me on the back and I can still feel it . . . However, Whizzer White soon made them forget Cooper with his greater exploits . . . And before the game was over all the scribes were on White’s band wagon . . . He made believers out of them. This writer had a busy day from dawn to dusk with Captain Eyston’s speed run at the Bonneville salt flats shortly after day break and then a free-for-all fight as the shades of evening were falling.