The Oregon Stater, Sept. 2003

A celebration of anniversaries
From the 110th anniversary of college football in Corvallis to the 75th birthday of the Memorial Union, OSU is celebrating an astonishing number of special anniversaries in 2003.Memorial Union at 75

By George P. Edmonston Jr.

Since the construction of Benton Hall in 1889, no building erected on the OSU campus has had so profound an effect on the life of the OSU community as the Memorial Union, which celebrates its 75th birthday this year.

When it was first opened to the public in October 1928, it was intended to be a memorial to the soldier and sailor dead of the alumni family who had lost their lives in the Spanish American War and World War I. The building also was designed to be a true campus union, the center of campus unity, housing offices and work spaces for various activity groups, including student government, the Alumni Association, student publications, the student loan office and others. It was to function as a place for social and recreational activities for students, alumni and faculty, complete with facilities for serving meals, light snacks and refreshments. In short, it was to serve as a center for campus life.

It remains a testament to good planning and a good idea that OSU’s Memorial Union still does many of these things … and much more!

The Pyramid Play

football players

What many still consider the most famous photo ever taken of a sporting event in the state of Oregon, the "Pyramid Play," was captured on film Nov. 10, 1933, by Oregon Journal staff photographer Ralph Vincent (see inset), who died in 1988 at age 92. Vincent’s photo, shot at Multnomah Stadium (now PGE Park) in Portland, shows 6-foot-6 Clyde Devine of Oregon State climbing the backs of two teammates in an attempt to block a punt by the University of Oregon.

Almost immediately, the photo went national, appearing in the Saturday Evening Post and other eastern newspapers. Sportswriters argued the pros and cons of the controversial play for days, many labeling it a "sports trick." It didn’t take long for the NCAA to declare the play illegal, a ruling that still stands.

Remembering a remarkable journey
By Patricia Filip

lewis and clark fort

Color their arrival gray. The incessant rain dampened any excitement the explorers might have felt at finally reaching the Pacific Coast. After an arduous 18-month trek across the continent, the beleaguered Corps of Discovery had become pinned down on the northern shore of the Columbia estuary, immobilized for days by drenching rain and vicious winds and waves.
William Clark complained in his journal about rain-soaked bedding and leather clothes so wet they rotted, calling it "the most disagreeable time I have experienced."
Although the account of Lewis and Clark’s epic journey and arrival at the Pacific Ocean is known by most Oregon Staters, what may not be known is the extent to which alumni and faculty are involved in both the study of the expedition and the bicentennial commemoration. Playing a role in interpreting and commemorating this quintessential American adventure are a number of Oregon Staters: from Chief Cliff Snider, ’51, descendent of the chief who met the Corps of Discovery at the mouth of the Columbia to Andrea Laliberte, ’00, an OSU doctoral student who is plotting interactive maps of wildlife observed along the trail.

Almost like Camelot
By Kip Carlson

basketball and football players

Given the way Terry Baker sums up Oregon State’s 1962-63 athletic year, it’s appropriate that John Kennedy was in the White House at the time.
"I think as time has gone by, I’ve often referred to it to others as it was almost like Camelot," Baker said. "Everything was aligned just the right way, and it was a great time for Oregon State. When you’re right in the thick of it and it’s happening, I don’t think you really have time to appreciate it — you need the perspective of history, a little bit."

It was 40 years ago that the Beavers capped one of the finest all-around performances a school has ever enjoyed. In those nine months ending in the spring of 1963, Oregon State:

Had a 9-2 football season, culminating in a bowl game victory back in a time when there were just eight postseason games;

Had football’s Heisman Trophy winner — Baker — who was also Sports Illustrated magazine’s Sportsman of the Year;

Had a basketball season that wound up with a trip to the Final Four;

Had a track and field season that ended with a sixth-place finish at the NCAA meet and two national champions, coming on the heels of an eighth-place national finish in cross country;

And had a baseball season that included a league championship and No. 10 ranking in the final national poll, taking the eventual national champion to the limit in a playoff series before being eliminated.

It was the high point of an era spanning the late 1940s to the late 1960s in which Oregon State was consistently among the nation’s athletic elite.

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