Pac-12 football: Cal coach picks ‘The Play’ to teach Bears history

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California hasn’t been to the Rose Bowl since losing to Iowa, 38-12, in 1959. Probably few, if any, current Golden Bears players have heard of Joe Kapp.

So first-year Coach Sonny Dykes tapped the only piece of Cal lore that still makes the rounds on television: The Play.

Dykes opened training camp Sunday by showing his team the multi-lateral kickoff return that beat Stanford on the final play of the 1982 Big Game.

“I thought that was a great way to start off camp,” Dykes said. “I want to make sure our players are aware of it, certainly most of them are. We wanted our young guys to understand part of our history and appreciate and understand the traditions that Cal has.”

Other Pac-12 schools have national titles and Rose Bowl victories (recent ones) as history and tradition. The Golden Bears, it seems, have a play that ended in a fluke touchdown and dented trombone.

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