p.1

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

PROJECT: Bob Murphy Interviews

INTERVIEWEE: John Ralston

Bob Murphy: [0:03] Hello again, everybody. And welcome again to the Stanford Sports

History Book. Bob Murphy here. This time we're visiting with Coach John Ralston.

[0:09] And when you want to talk about one of the most interesting chapters in Stanford's

sports history, you better go back to about 1963. And you better extend it right up

through the Rose Bowl in 1972. It was one of the great coaching jobs over a period of

time that ever took place at Stanford University.

[0:27] John, of course, a dear friend, going back many, many years. And we have a

chance to visit now but it didn't start at Stanford, Coach. It started in Norway, Michigan.

And Norway, Michigan is about as far as you can go without getting into Canada. I mean,

you're up there, baby.

John Ralston: [0:46] Yes, that's in the upper peninsula of Michigan. It's a part of

Michigan that should have belonged to Wisconsin. Because it's hooked onto Wisconsin.

It's not hooked onto Lower Michigan.

[0:53] In fact, from Norway to Detroit is 600 miles. From Norway to Chicago is only 300

miles. So we could come down on that side of Lake Michigan and get to Milwaukee, or

Green Bay in Wisconsin or go down to Chicago much easier than going to Detroit.

Murphy: [1:12] Funny you would end up at the University of California in a place

called Berkley. Hard to believe from Norway, Michigan. Tell the folks that story.

Ralston: [1:20] My mother and father separated when you weren't supposed to, way

back in the middle 30's. And my mother tried to make it. She was actually raised in

Michigan, and met my father in Michigan. He went to Michigan State, and she was at

Western Michigan in Kalamazoo.

p.2

[1:41] And then my father went immediately to California and got in the development

business and called for her to come out. And they got married in California. My brother

and I were born in California. But you couldn't make it in the depression in 35.

[1:58] So our grandparents, luckily, when my mother was divorced, why we all went

back to Norway, Michigan in 1935. Then I went right through high school there. But

came back and lived with my father during the college years.

Murphy: [2:16] A little history there, coach, getting into the depression. Some of the

young folks that are listening now could get maybe a unit of credit [laughter] .

Ralston: [2:26] Those were tough times, I'll tell you. We cried from hunger all the way

from Chicago to northern Michigan. My brother and I, we had eaten all our sandwiches.

We were riding on the train and couldn't afford to go in the dining car.

Murphy: [2:41] Oh, boy.

Ralston: [2:44] Those were touch times.

Murphy: [2:45] Let me see how much of this I can remember. You go to Pappy Waldorf

University at the University of Berkley. Sigma Newhouse, as I remember. Johnny

Oshesky and O'Hare, and all those guys from Saint Anthony's. Was that right?

Ralston: Yes.

Murphy: [3:00] And southern California came in about that time. Right after you.

Ralston: [3:01] Right after.

Murphy: [3:04] So it's the late 40's early 50's. Those were absolutely magnificent times

for Cal football.

Ralston: [3:06] Oh, yes. Lynn Waldorf came to Berkley in 1947. The same time that I

enrolled. In fact, I enrolled in summer school and met him right away. And said I want to

go out for the freshman football team. And so this was his first year. And then in 48, 49,

and 50.

p.3

[3:29] Of course, those teams all went to the Rose Bowl. It was devastating for Pappy

because we lost all three games. But we narrowed the gap with the big ten, certainly. All

of the games were very close.

Murphy: [3:43] And Pappy was wonderful of course. A great coach at Northwestern

before he came out to the west. And then connected with the Shrine game. He was just an

enormous contributor.

[3:53] We remember him, too in later years when he used to come down to the Palo Club.

The million dollar banquet with Walt Gamage, and all the good folks in Palo Alto. Pappy

was always fun to be around. What a man.

Ralston: [4:03] Yes, he was a great guy. And as I reflect on my own coaching, if I came

to a problem area I thought, "Now how would Pappy handle this?"

[4:13] My wife was the same way, "How would Louise Waldorf handle this problem?" It

was amazing what an impact he had on a group of guys who still get together, and we call

ourselves Pappy's boys.

Murphy: [4:31] Yeah. I remember some of those guys, Boots Herb my old buddy. Some

of those guys are gone now, Truck Colum, Darryl Fran from so many years. So many

others, a great one Jackie Jensen, of course, was certainly one of those guys. Now

coaching I think Pappy's influence carried you or pointed you toward coaching, am I right

about that?

Ralston: [4:48] No. I actually wanted to be a coach when I was 11, if you can imagine.

11 years old. My mother, I don't know where she got the money, but she arranged for me

to ride with five grown men to Green Bay Wisconsin to watch the Green Bay Packers

play. This was in the fall of 1940.

[5:12] I watched Green Bay play against the Cleveland Rams now that will take you

really back because the Rams then moved to Los Angeles, and then back to St. Louise

today.

p.4

[5:24] I remember that game and watching Don Hudson and Cecil Isbell and Tony

Canideo, and the Brock brothers, and baby Ray and Buckets Goldenburg, all of those

great Green bay players.

[5:43] I was just 13 years old. The thing I remember the most is I sat in the backseat with

five grown mean clutching my ticket the 90 miles to Green Bay. They stopped at every

bar on the way. The on the way back...

Murphy: [laughter] [5:53] Sounds like our kind of group!

Ralston: [5:56] It was our kind of group, I'll tell you that. All the way back they stopped

at every bar again. My mother was scared to death; I don't think that she thought she'd

ever see me again.

Murphy: [6:07] You never thought you were going to end up in a place called Logan

Utah, but you did. The path to get there was interesting. That was your first coaching job

at Utah State. ...Talk about that.

Ralston: [6:17] Well I was an assistant at Berkeley and we went to the Rose Bowl in

1958, that's when Joe Cap and Jack Hart... I've often thought that maybe two guys just

carried the football team, I'll tell you Joe Cap was one of the most amazing athletes I've

ever been around.

[6:35] We went to the Rose Bowl, so that allowed the University to send all of the

football coaches to the annual convention. When I got there, I wanted to be a Head Coach

I the worst way so I went around asking different people if they had heard of any jobs

open.

[6:54] Lo and behold I ran into my long time friend the Idaho State coach, and he said

that the Utah State job was open. I quickly got on a plane and came back home. My good

friend Paul Christopolis, you remember Paul very well. Remember his boys?

[7:15] I said, "Paul, find out everything you can on this job I'd like to go after it." He

called a newspaper man in Salt Lake and said, "There's no favored son so we'll send all

p.5

your papers in." For gosh sakes going back for all of those interviews was something. I

ended up with the job.

Murphy: [7:37] That's funny; you know you mention all those old Bayers, Joe Cap and

other good guys. Good guys who had been friends for years. Paul Christopolis was your

agent, without fee. [laughter]

Ralston: [7:52] He was an agent without fee. Oh no, he gave me a great lesson. He

insisted that I put a few bucks into a mutual fund in 1949, and I've never missed a month

of contributing to a mutual fund. I'm not wealthy but I'm comfortable, and I always look

back on Paul Christopolis for the best advice. I appreciate it.

Murphy: [8:21] Well I know why you're wealthy. You're not really quick to pick up a

tab. I noticed that. [laughter]

Ralston: [laughs] [8:27] I'm not like Bill Walsh, we both could share that one.

Murphy: [8:30] Walsh is really slow, he's really slow. [laughs] Names up in Logan,

Utah... I'm thinking Clark Miller. I'm thinking Merlin Olsen, Lionel Aldridge. I'm

thinking you've got some players up there.

Ralston: [8:44] Well, we were able to recruit in Northern California, and then we

branched down into Southern California, too. Really, when they got up there and saw the

beautiful university! Gosh, what a great place to go to school! Small place, a good

football conference, and a chance to play against BYU and Utah and Wyoming.

[9:10] Bob Devaney was there. Ray Nagel was in the league. Tally Stevens at BYU - the

coaches that we competed against. I thought we were stealing because we had so many

good football players. We could get the best high school seniors out of Northern

California now, and you talk about a big area! We had some great players.

Murphy: [9:36] And LaDell Anderson was one of your great friends. Of course, LaDell

ended up as athletic director up there and a wonderful guy. But then after the 1962

season, Stanford had gone five and five.

p.6

[9:50] Jack Curtis was up there. Lost them all three years before that. Came back a little

bit in '61. Had a pretty good year in '62 but still was not able to hold the job at Stanford.

A guy by the name of Chuck Taylor came calling on you, didn't he?

Ralston: [9:58] Well, he wanted me to come to that track meet the year before, and I

said, "No, I couldn't do that, Jack, as long as you've got a coach." He just wanted me to

come down and look over the university, get acquainted a little bit. I said, "No, as long as

Jack is there, why if the job opens up you can rest assured I'd be interested in it."

[10:21] Then I got involved in the interview process again and fortunately could leave the

Utah State job to a wonderful football coach. In fact, one of the brightest coaches I've

ever been around. Tony Knapp, out of Pittsburgh High School. That was the only

assistant I could hire when I went to Logan.

Murphy: [10:42] John, you came down to Stanford and everybody of course was glad to

have you there. Of course, a lot of people were sorry to see Jack go, too.

[10:52] Jack had beaten a really good Michigan State team. Remember they had Clarence

Peaks and some of those great teams and had beaten Cal twice in a row? Some people

just didn't think Jack was a good fit at Stanford.

[11:02] So you come in, and a lot of those players who he was successful with in '62 were

all gone. You were starting over again. You went three and seven that year, but you did

beat Notre Dame. Then, of course, we're going to talk a little bit about the Cal game.

Ralston: [11:13] Yes, those were both big wins. The quarterback - gosh, you'll be able to

remember his name - was hurt early.

Murphy: [11:24] Clark Weaver.

Ralston: [11:26] Clark Weaver, and then we had Dick Ragsdale at quarterback, and we

had...

Murphy: [11:32] Dick Berg.

Ralston: [11:34] Dick Berg and the one who won the big game. Now you've got to get...

p.7

Murphy: [11:37] Steve Thurlow.

Ralston: [11:39] Steve Thurlow. So what we did. Those were three or four of the best

athletes we had, so we put Ragsdale at safety. We put Thurlow at running back, and then

we put Weaver at quarterback. We thought that would hold up. Then he got hurt right

into the season, and Dick Berg took over.

Murphy: [12:03] And Berg still talks about beating Notre Dame. [laughs] He hasn't

forgotten that yet.

Ralston: [12:05] That's right.

Murphy: [12:07] But what happened? I always remember that day at the Olympic Club

in San Francisco. I had been up in Chico, came down with friends, walked into the

Olympic Club on Friday, the day before the game. It was very quiet in there. President

Kennedy has been assassinated.

[12:18] Chuck Taylor was at that luncheon meeting. I was speaking at that meeting, and I

mentioned to Chuck. I said, "Chuck, I don't think we're going to play tomorrow." "Oh, we

have to play." There were going to be 90, 000 people. Obviously, the world stopped.

Thurlow had been hurt as you remember.

Ralston: [12:35] Yes, in the Washington State.

Murphy: [12:36] And it was held back. The game was pushed back a week, and in that

week's time Steve Thurlow healed up. Boy, it took a long time to get back to normal

living, but the big game was played. Thurlow ran crazy against the Bears, and you beat

California. It was emotional.

Ralston: [12:57] Yeah, very emotional game. Of course, having gone to school at

Berkley and coached there under Pete Elliott and Lynn Waldorf and having the Rose

Bowl team and all the...

p.8

[13:05] And then coming to Stanford that was fun to hang one on the bears and boy I'll

tell you, if we didn't have Steve Thurlow it wouldn't have happened. But I can remember

the placekicker, kicking a real long field goal that got us up on top and we were able to....

Murphy: [13:26] Braden Beck was that?

Ralston: [13:28] Braden Beck, yes. Braden is a very, very successful dentist and I see

him from time to time.

Murphy: [13:34] You didn't know it at the time but you would never have another

losing season at Stanford. You would cap it all of with Rose Bowl wins over Ohio State

and Michigan. But it was a long road to get there.

[13:45] And I remember, and we'll get to this in a few minutes, but I remember in an

early point in your career you said, that all roads to the Rose Bowl pass through the

University of Southern California. Those were the years when SC really had the great

teams.

[13:57] In '64 you were five and 5. That was a tough five and 5. You had a great running

back by the name of Ray Hanley. And he was an All-American. He didn't have great

speed but he had an enormous capacity for toughness and quickness to make a move.

Ralston: [14:13] Yes. He was a very, very good running back. Not like you say

explosive speed, but strong as an ox. And ran with a good pad level. No Ray Hanley was

a good one. And later became a coach. I didn't think he would be able to but he was the

head coach of the New York Giants, if you can imagine.

Murphy: [14:35] That's right. And that was a five and five year and of course beat the

Bears. And of course, over the years you were seven and two against your Alma Mater.

We'll cover some of those as we go along. But seven and two against the Bears and every

one was emotional.

Ralston: [14:56] Yeah. And I always wanted to do one better and catch up with Lynn

Waldorf. He had the 7-1-1 record in the time that he was the coach at California against

Stanford.

p.9

Murphy: [15:04] Funny you'd still remember that huh? [laughter] How about '65 there

was a quarterback. What an athlete he was, Dave Lewis was his name. And that was a

6-3-1. You beat Cal that year but there was a little bump along the road with UCLA. But

talk about Dave Lewis, because he had great, great athletic ability.

Ralston: [15:26] Oh, yes. He was one of the real fine all around athletes. I think he could

do a lot of things. When I think of Mark Marquess and guys who played in two sports.

Why Dave was just a tremendous athlete.

[15:34] In fact, I had him, when I went over to the Hula Bowl, and the other quarterback,

I got to think of these names as I'm going along, that we had to wait for was Steve

Spurrier.

[15:57] We had to wait for him because he was the Heisman Trophy winner that year.

And Dave Lewis, honestly, was a better quarterback than Steve Spurrier. And when

Spurrier arrived on Friday, to play on Saturday, they insisted that I had to start the guy in

the game.

[16:26] And can you imagine calling, I said I'll call the plays for you Steve. And so he

reluctantly, he didn't like that idea at all. But at any rate he went into the game and he

came out after the first series and he says, coach, if it's all the same to you I'll call the

plays.

[16:36] And so he went back in fumbled on the first play and I told him, if it's all the

same to you Steve, I'll call the plays.

[16:43] Can you imagine that, and of course Steve played for Cincinnati as a punter for

years.

Murphy: [16:49] OK. We're picking this up on with Steve Spurrier and the Hula Bowl.

We're talking about Dave Lewis. We're going to start over with Dave Lewis now. OK. So

Dave Lewis was your quarterback 6-3-1 John and what a remarkable athlete he was.

p.10

Ralston: [17:04] Oh, he could kick the tar out of the ball. He was a great punter, played

for the Cincinnati Bengals and played in the East West game. I was fortunate to have him

in the East West game. Then went out to the Hula Bowl.

[17:19] And he was one of two quarter-backs; he and Steve Spurrier. And, Steve Spurrier

had just won the Heisman Trophy. I was practicing all week with the team, and Dave

Louis was at quarter-back and Steve Spurrier didn't show up until a day before the game.

We were forced to start him rather than Dave Louis.

[17:38] Well, fortunately we won the Hula Bowl game, but it was a disappointment. I

always thought Dave Louis was a much better player.

Murphy: [laughs] [17:48] I hope Dave's listening. I don't think he's listening. He was a

great athlete and a great guy, a lot of fun. You had a game that year down at New Orleans

with Tulane, played in the old Sugar Bowl. This was before the Superdome was built.

[18:00] The old Sugar Bowl, right there in the middle of New Orleans, and you beat New

Orleans 16 to nothing. Could have played for three weeks, Tulane was never going to

score.

[18:09] And it was a night game. Alabama had played up in Baton Rouge against LSU at

the same time. We all had a little meeting, as a matter of fact, at O'Brien's, before and

after that game. [laughter]

On the way back, you and I were sitting together and you gave the guys a little edict. You

said: [18:18] "OK, men, everybody in by 12 'O clock." Everybody had red traveling

jackets then. You told the coach let's go out and have a nice time and you told the kids to

be by 12, because you had UCLA the next week and you wanted everybody to be ready.

[18:39] I think I said to you, "Well, why don't you let them stay out?" "No, no, no we got

to get ready for the Bruins." And as I recall, I think it was coach Mike White, Walsh, Rod

Rust, I think, and me, we went out to quench a thirst, listen to a little music and came

back a little bit late.

[18:59] As we're on our way back, there were awful lots of red coats in that town.

p.11

[19:03] There were red coats on top of roofs. There were red coats going through

windows. There were awful lots of red coats. [laughs] Didn't seem like you checked them

all in. [laughs]

[19:11] And I always remember, because we stayed at the Jung Hotel. I always thought

Chuck Taylor was pretty tough on the budget deal. And, we're going to a town that so

famous for the French Quarter and we're staying in a Chinese hotel. I always though that

was pretty... [laughs]

But there were windows everywhere, like New Orleans. And, I guess these guys were

going through the doors and out the windows, because you checked them all in. And then

when we got on the bus at 7: [19:36] 30, the next morning, our full-back, John Reid, was

arriving just in time for the bus. That was your first clue, I think, that things weren't quite

right?

Ralston: [19:44] Yes. When I addressed the squad the next day, I said, "I think some of

the players broke our training procedure." And so, I notified the captains to check with

the squad members. I just told them. I said, "We're not going to have any players that

broke that curfew play in the game next week against the Bruins."

[20:14] And, of course, I guess when they came back, the captains, why they said, "We're

lining up against those Bruins with about three players!" [laughter]

Murphy: [20:22] That's right. Craig Richie was the guy that told you that. And Craig

had the sniffles and he didn't feel like going out. And we had two black players. Al

Wilburn was one of those at that time? Could have been.

Ralston: [20:35] Could have been, yes. There were a couple players that obeyed the

curfew. But there were all in the rooms when I checked them at 12 'O clock.

[20:46] And I think I did extend it one hour, when you mentioned to me that you thought

one extra hour wouldn't make any difference. So, I did all the bed checks at one 'O clock.

I guess they went right out the window right afterwards.

p.12

Murphy: [laughs] [21:01] Yeah. And that's a little social commentary there, because if it

was... I remember there were two black players. Those were still tough times in New

Orleans, and they weren't comfortable going out.

[21:13] We're going to talk about black players, because you opened up Stanford for the

great black athlete. And, we're gong to get to that very shortly. You're right about Bruins,

because they beat you. They beat you the next week. And, boy, that was one of the great

Bruins teams. That was no disgrace.

Ralston: [21:32] Well, they beat us like a drum. I tell you, that Tommy Prothro, I always

admired him as a football coach. And he had a great team. Gary Beban was his

quarterback, and they went right into the Rose Bowl.

Murphy: [21:38] Well, oh yeah, it was 30-13 in that game. You beat Cal 9-7, then you

went to the next year, 1966. Gene Washington ran crazy for you. That is Gene

Washington as a quarterback running with the football. He came up from Long Beach

Poly as a quarterback, a running quarterback.

Ralston: [21:55] Well, that was a real breakthrough on the USC recruiting, because of

course Gene Washington was one of their prime prospects.

[22:06] I don't think John McKay, I went to his home and I think Don Muchmore was a

fellow who was looking after Gene Washington. So we got the edge, and we brought him

in as a quarterback. He was a great quarterback. I got a chance to see him in a high school

game, and you couldn't take your eyes off of such a great athlete.

Murphy: [22:27] Chuck Williams was the quarterback the next year, and Washington

was bidding his time, between positions, five and five that next year. But 1968, that was a

red letter year, that was fantastic, 6-3-1. And Washington by that time had moved over to

receiver.

[22:45] I remember Gene sitting in my office one day, and I knew that Gene as a

quarterback would not be an NFL player. And we had a long talk about that. And I know

p.13

you talked to him about the same thing, and I told him, Gene why don't you - there is a

kid by the name of Plunkett coming into school.

[23:05] And this guy's a great quarterback, probably going to have a three year career

here. Not going to be much time for you at quarterback. Maybe if you moved outside you

could catch a lot of balls. He did move outside, he caught 71 balls.

[23:15] Sometimes he was so wide open he could fair catch them. [laughter] For over a 1,

000 yards. And that was a fabulous football team, 6-3-1 that year. And Plunkett at

quarterback, and Gene Washington the target for a lot of those passes.

Ralston: [23:24] Well Gene actually came in, I don't know whether as a result of the

conversations you had, but he came in and really asked to play wide receiver.

[23:35] Didn't want the pressure maybe, necessarily and so with Plunkett coming in why

it made a natural for us. Of course Chuck Williams was an outstanding quarterback

himself.

[23:49] That year that Gene Washington came to Stanford, Mark Marquess came in as a

quarterback. So we had lots of quarterbacks lined up there. But Plunkett obviously was

the top one.

[24:00] And Gene, going to a wide receiver, why he was a number one draft choice of the

San Francisco 49ers.

Murphy: [24:09] Made a little money going over there didn't he? [laughter] .

Ralston: [24:10] He made a little money going over there.

Murphy: [24:12] Now you mentioned Marquess, and Mark Marquess of course one of

our all-time favorite guys. What a great player, great athlete. And I always remember,

you told me this story because you knew the numbers and I didn't that Mark Marquess

came over from Stagg High School in Stockton, and he had to pretty much work his way

through high school.

p.14

[24:28] And a very busy young man, as he still is with Stanford baseball. But he had

better grades at Stanford than he did at Stagg High School. And he lettered, not just

lettered in baseball and football, but he hit over 400 in baseball and played how many

different positions for you in football? Any place you wanted him to play.

Ralston: [24:46] Well, he was one of those you knew he was got such a great athlete that

he could adapt. He actually played as a flanker, or a wide-receiver.

[24:54] He played as a safety and he played at quarterback when Chuck Williams got

hurt up in Washington, which was a great turnaround. We finally beat the Huskies up

there after; I don't know how many years. May have been eight or nine years that

Stanford didn't have any success playing in Seattle, or against the University of

Washington.

Murphy: [25:17] Now you get, we're talking about 1969, 1970. What great years that

SC game of course 27-24 in '69. Boy, that was a tough one, and you said, "You got to go

through USC to get to the Rose Bowl." You did it the next two years, '70, '71.

Ralston: [25:30] Yes, 24 points. We had to score three years in a row. We made 24

points, but it didn't hold up until the 24-14 game played at Stanford Stadium.

Murphy: [25:50] John, remember this now. This will strike your memory. You'll

sharpen up on this one. Because Plunkett and Mike Phipps at Purdue in '69.

Thirty-six/thirty-five in one of the greatest passing exhibitions that has ever taken place

before or ever since, I do believe, in college football.

Ralston: [26:09] That was a good Purdue team. They beat us back there.

Murphy: [26:13] One point.

Ralston: [26:15] We were so disappointed. Of course, I spotted a pretty good running

back that they had, Otis Armstrong. He was a dandy, I'll tell you, and later played in

Denver with the Denver Broncos.

p.15

Murphy: [26:29] It all came together in 1970 with Plunkett. He was ballyhoo'd, I guess

you could use the word, for the Heisman Trophy early that season.

[26:37] I think we all said that he would win it on the field, not on our mimeograph

machine. [laughs] We had a laugh about that. Because there were all kinds of "Archie

Who?" buttons. Archie Manning at Mississippi. "Archie Who?" It was a political

campaign.

Ralston: [26:50] Sure.

Murphy: [26:52] And my old pal Roger Valdiserri at Notre Dame had changed Joe

[Theesman's] name to Joe Theisman to rhyme with Heisman. [laughs] If you can

imagine.

Plunkett did go out and win it. What was amazing: [27:01] that was a great year - seven,

two, and one. And those losses came down at the end. You lost right at the end, but still

went to the Rose Bowl and beat a great Ohio State team.

Ralston: [27:14] Well, we lost to the Air Force and we lost to Cal. Those were kind of

devastating losses, but the Washington game cinched the Rose Bowl. We played not

really a great game then. We had to re-build our fundamental base before taking on Ohio

State.

Murphy: [27:37] John, you'll remember this: You talk about that Washington Game; I

can remember it like it was yesterday because it was Plunkett to Vataha, split right, ran a

little circle route right into the middle of the endzone.

[27:46] Plunkett threw the ball down and out in front of him that time. Randy went down,

made the catch. That cinched the Rose Bowl for you. The same play, the same kind of

catch, also cinched the Rose Bowl against Ohio State a month later.

Ralston: [27:57] Yes, that was a good combination. Having lost Washington you think,

gosh we won't have a combination like Plunkett to Washington ever again, and Vataha

came in as a junior college transfer and just picked up the slack. He was a great little

receiver. Not very big, but he could really get off quick and he had great hands.

p.16

Murphy: [28:25] There are a couple of plays... You mentioned that Washington State

game earlier and, of course, you ran away. Ran it up into the 60s. You weren't trying to

run up the score, it just was one of those games.

[28:36] I remember Plunkett threw a 96-yard touchdown pass to Vataha and somewhere

around the 42 yard line that play broke the all-time total offense record in college

football. Vataha just did so many exciting things.

[28:49] Toward the end of that game, remember Eric Cross was in the game. He took it

on a wide reverse around the left side. They'd been having a little suds at dawn party over

on the other side... [laughs] The Cougar students.

[28:59] And one guy staggered out of the stands and set himself up on about the 18 yard

line, and Eric could have run right by him on this wide reverse that's he's going to take for

a touchdown and he ran right over the guy.

[29:06] He knocked the guy right over and left footprints right on his chest. I asked Eric

afterwards [laughs] ... I said, "Couldn't you have run right around that guy?" And he says,

"The guy came out for a thrill; I didn't want to disappoint him." Do you remember that?

[laughs]

Ralston: [29:21] Well, as long as he got in the endzone. That was the important thing.

Murphy: [laughs] [29:25]

Ralston: [29:28] That was when Jim Sweeney was the coach at Washington State. He

did kind of think we ran it up on him. I don't think we did. We just couldn't stop the

offense at that point.

Murphy: [29:39] Then you come back. Jim wins the Heisman Trophy. Absolutely

incredible year of football. Nine and three. These are two Rose Bowl years. Interesting.

You were capable of winning them all, but each year you lost three.

Ralston: [29:53] Yeah.

p.17

Murphy: [29:54] It was just something about that Stanford mentality or something just

went a little goofy. As a matter of fact, in '71 with Don Bunce, the quarterback, doing

such a great job, one of those losses was to San Jose State by a score of 13 to 12.

[30:07] Rod Garcia, who we were going to know a little more about later, missed, I think,

three field goals and had one blocked. Just had a horrible day.

Ralston: [30:15] Yes, and the last one was just like an extra point.

Murphy: [30:18] Yes.

Ralston: [30:20] I remember Don Bunce putting the ball down right on the three yard

line and we missed that one. That was against San Jose State. But Rod Garcia did a great

job in the bowl games.

Murphy: [30:43] Yes, talk about that, my gosh. Both Ohio State and Michigan came in

with perfect, undefeated records. Both ranked if not number one, the closest thing to it.

That game was going to be lost.

[30:49] As James Furgeson was hit on about the four yard line, pushed into the endzone.

Pushed backward into the endzone and it was called a safety.

[30:57] And all of a sudden there isn't going to be any way to beat Michigan. But Don

Bunce found a way. I don't know how those crazy thunder-chicken guys-Tipton and

Lazetich and Greg Sampson and those guys-got the ball back. And with five

completions... The rules had been changed right about that time.

[31:16] The first down stopped the clock. And Don Bunce made these completions for

more than a first down, so the clock stopped. So by the time he got it down the other end

of the field, there was still time for Garcia to try one more time.

Ralston: [31:30] On the 17 yard line. Don was working the clock. Clock management

was perfect this time. We learned some lessons in previous years about clock

management. We told him to run it right down to four seconds.

p.18

[31:44] And here comes old Bill Myers. He got excited and at 17 seconds he called time

out. We kicked the field goal, went ahead 13 to 12. But we had to kick off after the field

goal. That should never have happened.

Murphy: [31:59] Bill Myers, a long-time coach now. Bill knows better than that now.

Ralston: [32:03] Yes. [laughter]

[32:05] Well, he's out of coaching, but he was a long-time football coach and a very good

one in the National Football League.

Murphy: [32:13] It was without any question a great chapter. Maybe the greatest

chapter in Stanford Football history and for you to end up with two Rose Bowl wins over

Ohio State and Michigan. You look back on that, quite an achievement.

Ralston: [32:24] Those were two highpoints when I think of the opposition. Woody

Hayes always said that his team that played us in that Rose Bowl was his very best. When

you think of John Brockington and Rex Kern and Jim Stillwagon and Jack Tatum... Why,

you talk about guys that were really good football players.

But the Stanford teams could rise to the occasion and play those teams. That was a great

thing: [32:47] their ability to do that. Then when they played somebody like San Jose or

Duke or [laughs] Washington...

Murphy: [33:03] Wasn't that important?

Ralston: [33:04] It wasn't that important to them. Ho-hum and we got licked. The Don

Bunce team or the Jim Plunkett team, either one of them could have been National

Champions if they really and truly set that as a goal.

[33:21] But I think the Rose Bowl was such a big goal... Stanford hadn't been there for a

while. We concentrated on that. And beating USC, of course, to get to the Rose Bowl...

[33:36] And then we just slacked off. I still think that was my fault. That I didn't

emphasize, "Hey, let's have a National Championship team." One of those two could

have been.

p.19

Murphy: [33:52] John, I want to talk to you about two things: finding and bringing into

Stanford-and it was real crossing over the line and doing a great job-the great black

player.

[34:02] There hadn't been much of that. Tommy Williams had played for Jack Curtice

back in the late 50s, early 60s, but he was the first one. Eddie Tucker, of course, long

before that had played basketball at Stanford. Also I want to talk to you about coaches.

[34:15] But black players. Boy, when I think of Don Parrish coming up from Paso

Robles, early days... He didn't get into the Rose Bowl. Got right to the edge of the Rose

Bowl, but when you talk about a guy like Demea Washington and Jackie Brown.

[34:27] Jackie Brown scored in both Rose Bowls for you; two in one game, one in the

next one. The fake punt. All those remarkable things. Reggie Sanderson. Gosh, so many.

I wish I could name every single one of them. Benny Barnes was an all time great player.

Charlie McCloud and those kinds of players.

[34:43] You went out and found very bright black kids that were admissible at Stanford

and boy what an achievement that was.

Ralston: [34:53] Well, and they were not only great athletes, but those kind of athletes

compete. They competed on the football field, and they're not going to be embarrassed in

the classroom. They're going to compete in the classroom.

[35:07] And it was a great lesson because I think the admissions standard, I know the

depth of achievement of an individual was very, very important to Rick Snyder. And I

can't say enough great things about Rick Snyder. Because he was able to allow that, the

so called depth of achievement.

[35:30] When he found an Eagle Scout or he found somebody strong in the arts, or music

or something. Well, he could bend a little bit. And of course athletics was the same way.

Murphy: [35:40] Yes, John Winesburg. Did we mention John, what a great player he

was.

p.20

Ralston: [36:01] Oh.

Murphy: [36:03] From Oklahoma.

Ralston: [36:07] Yes, from Oklahoma. And he came in a played on the Rose Bowl team.

So all of those players, John Gillery. You didn't mention John. John was one of the real

early players, and just an exceptional athlete.

Murphy: [36:11] Defensive back, great player.

Ralston: [36:13] Could have played offense, could have played defense. He was just an

exceptional athlete.

Murphy: [36:16] Now coaches, my gosh we can't name them all can we? How did you

surround yourself with so many great coaches? My gosh I think about Mike White and

Bill Walsh.

[36:19] And Jim Mora I ran into not long ago was one of your coaches, not on the Rose

Bowl team. He left before that. Jack Christiansen came to you after being head coach of

the 49ers and had a great run. Never had a loosing year at Stanford either.

[36:30] But you surrounded yourself with so many great coaches. Talk about that a little

bit.

Ralston: [36:34] Well.

Murphy: [36:35] Rod Rust is another one.

Ralston: [36:37] Rod Rust. You didn't mention Dick Vermeil. Dick Vermeil I think was

the most organized football coach I have ever been around. You talk about organization,

now this guy is the master at organization.

[36:50] And then you think of Bill Walsh, had a splendid offensive mind. Didn't take

advantage of it at Stanford, I moved him around so much. And I don't think he ever

coached the offense, and then went to the Raiders. And back with Paul Brown, brilliant

football coach.

p.21

[37:11] In fact with Paul Brown with Bill Walsh, he would allow him to stay home on

Monday and Tuesday and fashion the offensive game plan. Not even come in the office

until Wednesday when he put it on the board. He was just brilliant in offensive football.

And oh gosh Mike White.

Murphy: [37:29] I really think, you know to pick up on that point, I think that that lead

to Paul Brown's retirement when Bill got edgy after seven or eight years in Cincinnati.

And thought that he could be a head coach, actually came out to San Diego I believe it

was. And Paul Brown retired from coaching because he didn't have Bill with him

anymore.

Ralston: [37:48] Well, I think that's probably true. But he didn't give Bill the head

coaching job, and Bill Johnson ended up the coach.

Murphy: [37:58] He wanted him to stay. [laughter] .

Ralston: [37:59] And that's why Bill went to work in San Diego to work with Tom

Prothro. And then right up to the 49ers, and the rest is history.

Murphy: [38:07] Yes.

Ralston: [38:09] They were all brilliant coaches. Each one had his own style. And it was

like you got a team of horses, you had to hold them back a little bit. Because they were so

revved up with such great pride. Boy I'll tell you that was a great staff.

Murphy: [38:26] What I remember about you and your coaching style, your technique,

if that's it. You would let your coaches coach, and back off. And you were an

administrator, a kind of a master coach. Was that conceived by you?

[38:43] Was that the plan you wanted to follow? It was almost at times where these are

really talented guys, I don't want to get in their way or interfere with what they are doing

because they are doing so well?

Ralston: [38:51] That's a big part of it. In fact you had to hold them back. They wanted

to do more. All of them just outstanding, and Lynn Waldorf was the same way. Now

p.22

Lynn took advantage of Wes Fry, who was his offensive coach at the University of

California.

[39:08] So I was always copying "Pappy", whatever he did. Why I thought was a pretty

good idea.

[39:15] When I went up to Utah State I took Tony Knapp. I'll tell you, Tony Knapp was

just brilliant in all three areas. Didn't make any difference if you were talking about the

kicking game, offense, defense. And I could always lean on a guy like Tony Knapp.

[39:31] When we got to Stanford it was Bill Walsh, Mike White, Rod Rust, McLaughlin

was our offensive line coach. Leon McLaughlin and Dick Vermeil. You give them an

assignment and it's going to be done.

Murphy: [39:49] Now I've got to ask you this. In the Michigan Rose Bowl game, Don

Cline my dear old partner, for 11, 12 years. We were together side-by-side, neither of us

ever missed a game. But at the Rose Bowl they picked an announcer from Michigan and

one from Stanford and Don obviously was that guy.

[40:07] So I was standing up in the booth in that Michigan when it's real crunch time.

And you were down there and you called the fake punt. Those guys through off their

headsets and they said, "He's lost it!" And they are banging on the walls, bang, bang,

bang, bang. They are, "He's lost it! We're over the hill guys, it's done, its over!" [laughter]

.

[40:27] The ball was snapped to Jim Cale, and Jim Cale just stepped forward as Jackie

Brown bending over in front of him, had his hand down between his legs. Cale placed the

ball in his hand and then as if he had the football ran in one direction. Brown,

unbelievable how Jackie did this. Jackie from Yakima, Washington.

[40:50] I just loved Jackie Brown, I still do. He had the patience to just stand there and all

of those on rushing linemen ran by him. Jackie Brown ran for what, 33 yards and a first

down, and you went to score from there.

Ralston: [41:01] Yes.

p.23

Murphy: [41:03] Now the coaches, they thought you were goofy calling that play. What

do you think now? [laughter] .

Ralston: [41:07] Well, that was a tough a call as I ever had to make in football. Because

people don't realize it was fourth and ten on the minus 31.

Murphy: [41:20] That's right.

Ralston: [41:21] Now, if this doesn't work the game's over. And, boy oh boy when

Jackie Brown went the first 10 yards and at least I knew we had our first down. So much

air came out of me, it was [laughter] amazing. Because all of that was, I went over to Bob

Gamble.

[41:39] He was standing next to me, and you are right, he just when I said, how about the

fake punt? He sprinted down the sideline. He didn't want any part of that fake punt. But,

no that probably went a long way to winning the game.

Murphy: [41:55] Let's go back to the Ohio State, I am just remembering things now. Go

back to the Ohio State Rose Bowl game. That's the '71 game, and we were way down to

Long Beach, and they did a great job of hosting us down there.

[42:06] But the problem was you had to go up to the Huntington Hotel in Pasadena for all

the press stuff. Ohio State was staying there [laughter] and you would go all the way up

there for these press things. Woody was staying in the Huntington Hotel, but he wouldn't

show up. And you would drive 40 miles up and 40 miles back.

Ralston: [42:24] Well, you told me I had to do that. That wasn't any fun to get there, and

then not see Coach Hayes. But I'll tell you, you really respect a guy like Woody Hayes,

because after the game or as it was winding down, he was halfway across the field.

Murphy: [42:46] Yes, we have pictures of that.

Ralston: [42:47] Yes. He was just an exceptional guy. I got to coach with him in All

Stars games after that, and just loved him. He was a great guy.

p.24

Murphy: [42:59] Now, two other items from that game that will bring a smile to your

face. "The Mad Dog Catch," and Woody came up with that term.

[43:07] Bob Moore on the sideline down the right side going high in the air between two

defenders - Sensabaugh was one of them as a matter of fact, I do remember that - went up

and made the catch that Woody said, "That was a Mad Dog Catch!"

Ralston: [43:18] Yes, it was a Mad Dog Catch. I think that was one time that Jim really

thought he was throwing the ball out of bounds. But Bob Moore got up there [laughs] and

got the ball and that put it in a scoring position.

Murphy: [43:32] Now another young man by the name of John Sande, who was your

center and playing on his nose all day in that Rose Bowl with Jim Stillwagon. Stillwagon

- forget consensus All-American. This guy was unanimous All-American, Outland

Trophy winner, one of the great players in college football that year or any other year.

[43:52] He made one tackle that game, and he played right on John Sande's nose. Sande

just moved him around. You got a little help from those guards on either side.

Ralston: [44:00] That was a great lesson. When we talked to John Sande, we had

launched 16, 000 feet of film or something on Jim Stillwagon and never saw him in a bad

play.

[44:12] Now they use what we call "a slant Arkansas defense." It's an odd defense, so he's

sitting right on the nose but slanting in either direction. You never knew which way he

was going to go. So how can the center block him?

[44:26] So we had told the guards, "You help John on the play side. If we were going to

the right, the right guard would help John Sande. If we were going to the left, the left

guard would help John Sande.

[44:35] At half time, and these are the great memories that a coach gets in athletics. I

went into the locker room at half time, and John Sande did not take his helmet off at half

time. The helmet stayed on.

p.25

[44:52] He was in a state of fixation. I could see him just squeezing his hands. I came

over to him, and a little blood coming down from his nose, I said, "How are you doing

with Stillwagon?" He said, "Coach, I can take him myself."

Murphy: [laughs] [45:08]

Ralston: [45:09] "Don't use the play side guard. I'll handle him myself." And he a half of

one tackle. Now we went over to the Hula Bowl. I had Bob Moore, John Sande, and Jim

Plunkett in the Hula Bowl. Of course, Stillwagon is there with Brockington and Rex

Kern.

[45:29] That Stillwagon followed John Sande around like a puppy dog the entire time that

we were in Honolulu. He couldn't believe that John Sande could block him like that.

[45:45] When I got to an All-Star game that next summer, I wanted John Sande to come.

He said, "No, I'll never play football again. I'm on my way to the combined Harvard

Business and Law School." And he never played another down of football. But you talk

about play in one game, there was no one that played better than John Sande.

Murphy: [46:07] And John, of course, living up in Reno for many, many years. He's one

of the top five or six guys in the whole state of Nevada, one of the most important people.

[46:16] Then you went up to the Denver Broncos with great enthusiasm. I remember I

called Bob Peck. Bob was a dear friend of mine. Your media relations guy up there long

since gone, but we were just really good friends.

[46:28] I warned him about you. I said, "Bob, you've got to be careful with John because

he's just full of enthusiasm and optimism." I knew with the writer, Dick Connor was it?

With The Denver Post?

Ralston: [46:40] Yes.

Murphy: [46:41] Dick Conner and Chet Nelson? Chet Nelson with The Rocky

Mountain News.

p.26

Ralston: [46:45] There's one other one. The name slips me right now, but there were

two. They had the two newspapers and...

Murphy: [46:55] That's right. Competing.

Ralston: [46:56] Yes, and Dick Conner was one and...

Murphy: [46:58] Chet Nelson was the other guy. Rocky Mountain News.

Ralston: [47:01] No, no, it wasn't Chet Nelson that I'm trying to think of. This fellow

long gone. Those guys are all gone now.

Murphy: [47:05] Who cares? [laughs] But anyway. You gave Denver their first winning

season, the first winning season they'd ever had. Somewhere along the way I caught up

with you, and the team that you had fashioned, had put together, went to the Super Bowl.

Ralston: [47:24] Yes. Well, we had a lot of good players. We always thought that that

was an area that we were fairly strong and was recognition of personnel. But tough

management. You've got to be tough in the National Football League, and I wasn't tough

enough.

[47:43] I probably should have replaced some. I should have relied on my own judgment

of players, too. I didn't do enough of that.

Murphy: [47:52] You told me a story one time, and I came across it just recently; a

story about Charlie Johnson. It was a tough game you were in, and you were asking

Charlie if he could go back in the game. You do remember that story?

Ralston: [48:02] Oh yes.

Murphy: [48:04] Tell the folks about that.

Ralston: [48:05] He said, "I'd go back in, but I can't see you." He was standing right next

to me and received a real concussion. He'd always said, "You'll never get me off the field

unless you carry me."

p.27

[48:18] They had to carry him off of the field in that one. We were playing the Oakland

Raiders and I said, "Charlie, can you go back in the game?" He said, "Coach, I'd go back

but I can't see you." I was just six inches from his face when he said that, so I couldn't put

him back in. He was a great player.

Murphy: [48:38] For all those years you were at Stanford, we had our little television

show thanks to Bob Hossfeld who was the General Manager at Channel 11 in San Jose in

those years. Jim Risinger who was the operations guy, and they did everything in the

world to help us.

[48:53] We didn't make much money, but the little we made... God love Patty and you

and your home up at Ladera. Every Stanford football game the house was open and the

few bucks we made bought a few crackers and a little cheese and some soft drinks and

some cheap wine. [laughter]

Ralston: [49:13] It was cheap wine I can tell you that. Later on, Harry Gimble, can you

remember Harry? He was the General Manager at Rickey's hired house. Why he'd send

up hors d'oeuvres to the house because we always wanted to have our house open after

games.

[49:33] Some of them were disappointing but gradually Rick Schneider would come up,

and he wanted to watch the game films. That's the one thing they all enjoyed. Sitting

around and waiting for most of the people to leave, but a lot of them just wanted to watch

the film with us.

Murphy: [49:52] Oh yeah because the manager would bring the film up, and we'd put it

on by eight o clock or so.

Ralston: [49:57] Yeah, and that was something I carried over when I went to Denver. I

couldn't go to sleep until I had seen the film of the game.

Murphy: [50:05] Now as you look back on all of this, let's talk a little bit about the big

game. You've been on both sides of it, and so many guys have; Mike White and Bill

p.28

Walsh. So many others have been on both the Stanford; Bill Myers is another one of

those who you talked about a little bit ago.

[50:19] The big game is not quite the same as it was back in the 30s, 40s, and 50s into the

60s. It's tailing off a little bit, and bothers me a little bit. I wish that it was still the

climactic event that it was going back to those past years.

[50:36] Stanford and Cal deserve one another, they need to be together. The rivalry can't

get hateful. It needs to be a respectful rivalry.

Ralston: [50:45] That's the way it always was, in my experience. It was always a sold

out stadium, whether you were in Stanford or whether you were at California. It was a

friendly rivalry.

[51:01] You think of the inner marriages, Chuck Taylor who was the Athletic Director,

his wife Margaret, a wonderful lady; she was a Cal graduate.

[51:12] Well you had that interaction in the city with all of the bond clubs and

everything, and it was a friendly rivalry. It should never change.

[51:25] Pappy used to talk about it all the time. Chuck would get mad at him because he

would emphasize that part of it. Of course, he beat Stanford seven times and only had one

loss; that's a remarkable record for Lynn Waldorf.

Murphy: [51:44] John I keep thinking of going back; little items here... I have to

mention Walt Gamage, because you dealt with Walt almost every day of your coaching

career at Stanford. You talk about guys that made enormous contributions.

[51:57] Walt really pretty much founded the Palo Club. He pretty much founded the Pop

Warner Award. Pop Warner originally was their earning never for years presented that

Pop Warner Award, the trophy. Walt Gammage, what magnetic kind of guy. Wasn't he?

Ralston: [52:13] He was something. And he became a mentor because he could read

John Ralston pretty well. And a lot of times he'd say, "Can I see you after practice?" And

then he would say something that could help the football team.

p.29

[52:32] It wasn't that he was trying to get a scoop or something, and some little personal

things he would address. And he would say, "You should not go in that direction, go in

this one." And I will tell you, Walt Gamage was always right.

Murphy: [52:48] Well, as we look back on this we were going to talk about 15 minutes

or so [laughter] and we are going close to an hour. I guess we have done this a few times

before, but we are sharing this with a lot of folks. As you look back on this, how do you

feel?

Ralston: [52:59] Oh no, it was a wonderful experience. But, then being one of those

guys I never thought about coaching in professional football. Always the ultimate would

have been college football to be like Lynn Waldorf.

[53:13] Then Lynn Waldorf joined the NFL and was a scout with the 49ers after he had

retired. And I thought after the two Rose Bowls I'd like to try it. I think I went a little too

soon.

[53:30] I wasn't really prepared for the, well probably words fail you is to the extent of

pressure cooker that you are automatically in, in professional football. But, I didn't get a

second chance. I know I could have profited by my Denver experience and I always

wanted that second chance.

[54:00] Even to this day, I think if you coached in the NFL and you didn't get to the

Super Bowl it'll nag at you. And probably if you get to the Super Bowl why, and didn't

win it'll still nag at you.

[54:15] And I think of guys like Bud Grant and Marv Levy that got there, but didn't win

the game, why it still bothered them. Because I would discuss it with them in later life.

Murphy: [54:26] I always thought you could be a Joe Paterno at Stanford the way Joe

has been at Penn State. And of course we played Penn State and known Joe over the

years too.

p.30

[54:38] But, you had figured out Stanford. You had figured out how to get kids admitted.

You had figured out who was admissible. You figured out what worked and what didn't

work. You kind of had the keys to the kingdom.

[54:49] I thought it could have been almost a lifetime occupation for you. And that you

could have written your own history of Stanford football; this is certainly a chapter of it.

[54:58] But, I just wonder what might have happened if you'd stayed at Stanford and just

continued to do what you were doing. Because you were right at the top of the charts.

Ralston: [55:06] I felt that way after the first Rose Bowl. That as soon as they start

talking about Jim Plunkett taking you to the Rose Bowl like it was a one person deal.

Then right away I said, no actually we got to duplicate this, we got to do it again.

Murphy: [55:25] And God love Don Bunce. And my gosh, we lost him way too soon.

But he always felt that way too. He used to approach you daily after practice to find out

whether or not he was going to be a quarterback.

Ralston: [55:37] That's right. He always felt that he was better than Jim Plunkett. And I

couldn't convince him, nor could our other coaches. Knowing this was Jim's time.

Luckily we had redshirted Don, so that he could have his day in the sun. And certainly he

did.

[55:59] Boy that final drive against Michigan and threw five straight completions. Put the

ball right on the money, took us right down that field, was one of the most amazing

things I've ever seen in football.

[56:10] Then after the second one I got restless and thought I ought to try to take on

something else. It didn't occur to me at the time to stay at Stanford.

Murphy: [56:23] One last thing and this is an interesting thought. I think you'll find it

interesting because you and your coaches had also recruited Mike Barilla who came in

right on the heels of that.

p.31

[56:32] He would have been your Quarterback the next year. He was an outstanding

Quarterback for two years, because he followed Puckett and Don Bunts in the two Rose

Bowl wins. I don't think Mike Barilla ever got the attention that he should have.

Ralston: [56:46] If you'll remember when I went up to Denver, I took Bob Gambelt and

Jack Christiansen. I wanted those two off our staff, and I think that Mike White could

have had either job, at Cal or at Stanford. I was promoting Mike for the Head Coaching

job myself.

[57:07] Then when I got up there Jack Christiansen got the nod and he asked to be

released from his contract at Denver. I said, "Certainly." I sent him back to Stanford as

the Head Coach.

Murphy: [57:25] Yes, and what happened was that Chris came back to Stanford. In fact

he was announced as Stanford's coach before Mike was announced over at Cal. I had a lot

of fun with two of my best all time buddies, one of them going one way, one of them

going the other.

[57:49] Boy did Chris make good use of Mike Barilla because Chris never had a losing

season at Stanford. Nonetheless he lost his job to make way for Bill Walsh who came

back and had those great years in '77 and '78.

[57:54] If you had been able to go to another Bowl game other than the Rose Bowl in

those years, Chris would have been to at least two Bowls and maybe three.

Ralston: [58:06] That's right. He had outstanding teams, I remember that. I could reflect

on it from Denver and recognize that there were a lot of football players in the program

and Jack was an excellent coach. Just a wonderful human being.

[58:23] Imagine going from the Head Football Coach of the San Francisco '49ers one

day, and five days later, three days later, I don't know what it was... I remember...

Murphy: [58:35] You remember I came up and I talked to Chris down at Stickney's. I

said, "What're you going to do?" He said, "I don't know." I said, "There's a job open

p.32

across the street." He said, "You're kidding. I would like to stay in the area." I was

surprised that you said, "By all means!"

Ralston: [58:48] Oh no, I couldn't get him quick enough. We had a job opening, and I

guess I was so excited to have the wealth of knowledge that he had...

Murphy: [59:00] Was that when Jim Mora left? I think it was.

Ralston: [59:02] I think it was.

Murphy: [59:03] And he left late because there weren't a lot of guys available at that

time. Chris was only available because he had been fired by the '49ers.

Ralston: [59:09] That's right. Oh what a wonderful coach and a great person. His

son-in-law is the trainer of the Kansas City Chiefs. I get to see him and get caught up on

the family and whatnot. Jack was really something, I enjoyed him.

Murphy: [59:29] Sorry folks, we were going to talk 10 or 15 minutes and I hope we

haven't bored you to death. Kind of fun and kind of inspiring to look back on those years

coach.

Ralston: [59:37] Oh they were a lot of fun and everyday has been fun for me. I'm still

watching football. Imagine going to my first professional football game in the fall of

1940. That's 63 years ago. I've never been away from football.

[59:57] I've had some agonizing moments in my life, but more on the personal side I've

always enjoyed my wife Patty because we moved 24 times. 24 times now. It's not a

record.

[60:10] I understand Willie Shaw's gone 27 or 30 times, I don't know. Whenever we

would move, she would never ask where we were going she would just say, "How soon

do we have to leave?"

Murphy: [60:26] Well said coach, and a great way to end it. There you have the author

of one of the greatest chapters in Stanford football history; John Ralston.

p.33

Transcription by CastingWords