Donahue Made Tie Memorable

When UCLA faces Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl, it will be only the second meeting between the schools. On Christmas Day in 1978, they met in the Fiesta Bowl.

The final score was 10-10 and the headline said, “UCLA Gets a Tie for Christmas and Isn’t Too Thrilled.”

It seems Terry Donahue was upset with the officiating and voiced his displeasure on the sideline, unaware that he was standing next to a live microphone. His X-rated language was carried nationwide by NBC.

Donahue didn’t realize what he’d done until they told him after the game.

“On Christmas Day I said that?” he said. “My wife will kill me. I’ll probably get 150,000 letters. I hope if I get those letters they’re from people who’ve never said that word.”

Note: The Arkansas coach was Lou Holtz.

Add Holtz: If you wondered which players he suspended before the 1978 Orange Bowl, in which Ark

ansas upset Oklahoma, 31-6, they were Ben Cowins, the leading ground gainer; Donny Bobo, the leading receiver, and running back Michael Forrest. They had accounted for 78% of the team’s offense that season.

More Holtz: In the Fiesta Bowl against West Virginia, he’ll be going against his home state. He was born in Follansbee, W.Va. He grew up East Liverpool, Ohio, just up the Ohio River from Follansbee.

Now-it-can-be-told dept.: When defensive end Al (Bubba) Baker of the Minnesota Vikings was at Colorado State, he branded a capital “B” on his right bicep.

“I rubbed Vaseline on my arm and heated the wire until it glowed red,” he said. “It didn’t hurt much.”

Why did he do it?

“It was just an identity thing,” he said. “All the fraternity guys had their fraternity signs tattooed on themselves. There weren’t any blacks allowed into the fraternities then. So I just decided to start Bubba Phi Bubba.”

Trivia Time: When Notre Dame rallied from a 34-12 deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Houston, 35-34, in the 1979 Cotton Bowl, who did Joe Montana hit with the winning pass as time ran out? (Answer below.)

From former heavyweight champion George Foreman, looking for another title shot at age 40: “I’m a better fighter now than I’ve ever been. I could lose weight, but I started thinking, ‘Would a lion lose weight to fight a house cat?’ ”

59 Years Ago Today: On Nov. 28, 1929, Ernie Nevers of the Chicago Cardinals scored 6 touchdowns and added 4 extra points to score all his team’s points in a 40-6 rout of the Chicago Bears. The 40 points is still an NFL record.

Trivia Answer: Kris Haines.

Quotebook

Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post, on the Martina Navratilova-Chris Evert rivalry: “Enough already. The French and Indian wars didn’t last this long.”