And Just Imagine How Upset It Must Have Made Knute

What is the biggest upset in college football history?

Phil Axelrod of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette nominates Carnegie Tech’s 19-0 victory over undefeated Notre Dame in 1926.

“Knute Rockne didn’t even bother to attend because he was so confident of victory,” wrote Axelrod. “The famed Notre Dame coach chose to scout the Army-Navy game in Chicago that afternoon rather than stalk the Notre Dame sideline at Forbes Field.

“To add even further insult, Rockne was scouting Navy for a game the next season.”

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Add upset: Things have changed in sportswriting in the 70 years since Carnegie Tech’s stunning win. In those days, football teams were referred to as females. A paragraph from the New York Herald’s story read:

“Notre Dame took the ball on her 19-yard line. She couldn’t move the Techsters and had to punt.”

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Trivia time: How many Southern California teams have played in the Continental Basketball Assn.?

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Remembering Johnny O: Former Times sports columnist John Hall writes to say that obituaries on the death of Johnny Olszewski failed to mention an important item--that Olszewski, before playing at California and in the NFL, was CIF Southern Section player of the year in 1948 at St. Anthony’s High in Long Beach.

“Don Klosterman has always said that Johnny O was one of the two greatest high school backs he ever saw--a dead heat with Washington High’s Hugh McElhenny,” writes Hall.

Wonder if he ever saw Anaheim’s Mickey Flynn?

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Happy collector: Mike Lawler of Palm Springs writes that he too has a photo of Mickey Mantle wearing No. 6 in 1951. He was pleased by a recent Morning Briefing item reporting that such a photo brought $3,220 at a New York auction.

Lawler also claims to own the last football thrown by Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

“It’s a Hank Stram model Rawlings,” he wrote. “He tossed it to me at Orange County Airport, two days before he was killed.”

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Time warp: Busch Stadium in St. Louis, which had its artificial turf replaced with grass last year, is going even more old fashioned.

A 270-foot-long scoreboard will be installed across the upper tier of the stadium in center field for scores of all games in both leagues--and it won’t be electronically operated.

“It will take six individuals, running around inning by inning, game by game, to operate,” said Cardinal President Mark Lamping. “It should be something very interesting for the fans to watch, and very informative.”

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Trivia answer: Three: San Diego Wildcards, 1995-96; Bakersfield Jammers, 1991-92, and Santa Barbara Islanders, 1989-90. Note: San Diego and Bakersfield didn’t make it through the season before folding.

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And finally: The day after Xavier of Ohio defeated Loyola Marymount, 81-65, the players visited Disneyland--giving the Musketeers a chance to meet some Mouseketeers.