December 25, 1907: College Football In Cuba

December 25, 1907: For the 1st time, a game of American football is played in a foreign country -- Cuba.

The game was known as the Bacaradi Bowl, and was held at La Tropical Stadium in the capital of Havana. The University of Havana, founded in 1728, had invited Louisiana State University, who came into the game at 6-3. Perhaps UH showed LSU a little too much hospitality -- or, perhaps UH drank too much Bacardi. LSU won the game, 56-0.

La Tropical was torn down in 1929, and replaced with a new football/soccer stadium, Pedro Marrero Stadium, which is still in use.

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December 25, 1907 was a Wednesday. Cabell Calloway III, later known as the jazz singer Cab Calloway, was born.

There was 1 other sporting event that day, and it was also a college football game. Washington State University beat Saint Louis University, 11-0 at Natatorium Park in Spokane, Washington. This was a minor-league baseball park built next-door to a public pool, or a "natatorium."

For those of you from the St. Louis area, this is "Wazzu," from Pullman, in the eastern part of the State of Washington, near Spokane and the Idaho State Line, in "the Palouse"; and it should not be confused with Washington University of St. Louis.

Why the Cougars and the Billikens were playing each other at all, let alone on Christmas, and in a cold-weather place instead of a warmer clime, is information that I don't have. Nevertheless, this was a reasonable substitute for the on-hiatus Rose Bowl, as Wazzu finished the season 7-1, while SLU finished 7-3.

There may have been hockey games that week, but I have no record of them. A few days later, the Montreal Wanderers defended the Stanley Cup at the Montreal Arena, in a two-games-total-goals series with the Ottawa Victorias, winning 9-3 on January 9, 1908, and 13-1 on January 13.  

November 5, 2011: Louisiana State vs. Alabama, "The Game of the Century"

November 5, 2011: Louisiana State, ranked Number 1, takes on Number 2 Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Complicating things is the fact that Alabama coach Nick Saban had previously led LSU to a National Championship. Les Miles, known as "The Mad Hatter" for his signature white cap and odd-but-successful play-calling, was not LSU's head coach.

It is one of several college football games that has gotten billed as "The Game of the Century," and it goes to overtime, where Alabama's Cade Foster misses a field goal, while Drew Alleman makes his to give LSU a 9-6 victory.

But, in one of the several scenarios that made people hate the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and demand a Playoff system (which we now have), 'Bama ended up Number 2 in the national rankings anyway, and got a rematch with LSU, and dominated it, 21-0, to win the National Championship. It made Saban the 1st coach ever to win National Championships at 2 different schools.

It shouldn't have happened. The November 5 matchup decided the Southeastern Conference Western Division title. LSU then beat Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. Alabama couldn't even win its Division, never mind its Conference. If you can't win your Conference Championship, that should eliminate you from consideration for the National Championship.

The fact that Alabama had finished Number 2 in the BCS rankings -- a computerized system, not a poll -- should have been irrelevant. The November 5 game should have been considered an elimination game. So the team that finished Number 3, Oklahoma State, should have been raised to Number 2, and played LSU in the National Championship Game.

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November 5, 2011 was a Saturday. Among the other college football games played that day were these:

* Number 3 Oklahoma State beat Number 17 Kansas State, 52-45 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Oklahoma State won the Big Twelve Conference title.

* Number 4 Stanford beat Oregon State, 38-13 at Reser Stadium in Corvallis, Oregon. Stanford went to the Fiesta Bowl, where they lost to Oklahoma State.

* Number 5 Boise State beat the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV), 48-21 at Sam Boyd Stadium in the Las Vegas suburb of Whitney, Nevada. But they blew their chance at the Bowl Championship Series the next week, by losing to Texas Christian University (TCU).

* Number 6 Oregon beat Washington, 34-17 at Husky Stadium in Seattle. Oregon won the Pacific-Twelve Conference title, but lost to Southern California 2 weeks later, forcing a tie in the Pac-12 standings with Stanford. Despite having the head-to-head tiebreaker over Stanford, having beaten them, Stanford ended up with the higher BCS ranking, and went to the Playoff. Oregon had to console themselves with the usual prize for the West Coast's top team, a trip to the Rose Bowl.

* Number 7 Oklahoma beat Texas A&M, 41-25 at Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium in Norma, Oklahoma.

* In another big SEC game, Number 8 Arkansas beat Number 10 South Carolina, 44-28 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

* Number 9 Nebraska were upset by Northwestern, 28-25 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

* Number 11 Clemson were idle. They won the Atlantic Coast Conference title, and went to the Orange Bowl, where they beat West Virginia.

* Number 13 Michigan were upset by Iowa, 24-16 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. Michigan still went to the Sugar Bowl, and beat Virginia Tech.

* Number 19 Wisconsin beat Purdue, 62-17 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. Wisconsin won the Big Ten Conference title, and went to the Rose Bowl, but lost to Oregon.

* Number 20 Arizona State were upset by UCLA, 29-28 at the Rose Bowl outside Los Angeles in Pasadena, California.

* Number 24 West Virginia were upset by Louisville, 38-35 at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia.

* Notre Dame beat Wake Forest, 24-17 at BB&T Field (now Truist Field) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Notre Dame went to the Citrus Bowl, where they lost to Florida State.

* Among the service academies, Air Force beat Army, 24-14 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs; while Navy beat Troy, 42-14 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.

* And Rutgers beat South Florida, 20-17 at High Point Solutions Stadium (now SHI Stadium) in Piscataway, New Jersey.

The baseball season had ended 7 days earlier, when the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Texas Rangers in Game 7 of the World Series. And the NBA team owners had locked the players out, so the season didn't start until Christmas Day (a day whose revenue, more TV than arena-grounds, the owners did not want to lose). But 11 NHL games were played:

* In an "Original Six" game, the New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-3 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New York Islanders beat the Washington Capitals, 5-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-2 at the Prudential Center. Adam Henrique scored the winning goal with 3:32 left in overtime. That season, in the Playoffs, Henrique would score an even bigger overtime winner. And then a bigger one than that.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 9-2 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Ottawa Senators, 3-2 in a shootout at Scotiabank Place (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.

* In another "Original Six" game, the Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 7-0 at the Air Canada Centre (now the Scotiabank Arena) in Toronto.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Anaheim Ducks, 5-0 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Minnesota Wild beat the St. Louis Blues, 2-1 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The Phoenix Coyotes beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2 at the Jobing.com Arena (now the Desert Diamond Arena) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-2 in a shootout at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

* And the Nashville Predators beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-3 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. David Legwand scored the winning goal with 2:07 left in overtime.

And in English soccer, Arsenal beat Birmingham-area team West Bromwich Albion, 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium in North London.

October 31, 1959: Billy Cannon's Halloween Run

October 31, 1959: Louisiana State University hosts the University of Mississippi at Tiger Stadium in a foggy Baton Rouge. LSU comes into the game ranked Number 1, Ole Miss Number 3. Late in the 4th quarter, Ole Miss leads 3-0.

Jake Gibbs, Ole Miss' quarterback and punter, and later a catcher for the New York Yankees, punts, and Billy Cannon, who led LSU to the National Championship the year before, returns it 89 yards, breaking 7 tackles and running the last 60 yards untouched through the fog, for a touchdown that wins the game, 7-3. It becomes known as "Billy Cannon's Halloween Run," and it effectively clinches the Heisman Trophy for him.

But LSU lost to the University of Tennessee the next week, 14-13, as Cannon was stuffed on an attempt for a 2-point conversion, costing LSU a 2nd straight national title. A rematch with Ole Miss was set up for the Sugar Bowl, and Ole Miss won.

Cannon played in all 10 seasons of the American Football League, winning AFL Championships with the 1960 and '61 Houston Oilers and the 1967 Oakland Raiders, playing in Super Bowl II but losing to the Green Bay Packers. He played 1 more season, in the NFL after the merger, with the Kansas City Chiefs. He later became a dentist, but fell into gambling debts, and turned to counterfeiting to pay them off. He got caught, and served 2 1/2 years in prison. He managed to restore his reputation as the dentist of the Louisiana State Prison system, eventually being named director of its entire medical system. He lived until 2018.

Exactly 20 years later to the day, on October 31, 1979, Billy Cannon Jr. followed in his father's footsteps, sort of. Playing for Broadmoor High School in Baton Rouge, he returns a punt 89 yards for a touchdown, leading them to a 20-18 win over... his father's Alma Mater, Istrouma High School.

A safety, he went to Texas A&M, and was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys. But his career ended 8 games into his rookie season, 1985, as a tackle he made damaged his neck and forced him into early retirement at age 22. He sued the Cowboys for negligence, and the case was settled out of court.

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October 31, 1959 was a Saturday. Among the other college football games played on this day were these:

* Number 2 Northwestern beat Indiana, 30-13 at Dyche Stadium (now Ryan Field) in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois.

* Number 4 Texas beat Southern Methodist (SMU), 21-0 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Texas won the Southwest Conference title.

* Number 5 Syracuse beat Pittsburgh, 35-0 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh. With sophomore running back Ernie Davis, who would win the Heisman Trophy 2 years later, Syracuse rose to Number 1, went to the Cotton Bowl, and beat Texas, winning the National Championship.

* Number 6 University of Southern California (a.k.a. USC) beat the University of California (a.k.a. Cal or Berkeley), 14-7 at California Memorial Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Berkeley.

* Number 7 Penn State beat West Virginia, 28-10 at the old Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. Losses to Syracuse and Pitt left a pre-Joe Paterno Penn State in the Liberty Bowl, where they beat Alabama.

* Number 8 Auburn beat Florida, 6-0 at Cliff Hare Stadium (now Jordan-Hare Stadium) in Auburn, Alabama.

* Number 9 Georgia Tech were upset by Duke, 10-7 at Grant Field in Atlanta. Tech had already lost to Auburn, beat Notre Dame the next week, then dropped their next 3, to Alabama, Georgia and Arkansas, to drop out of bowl consideration.

* Number 10 Wisconsin beat Michigan, 19-10 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. Wisconsin won the Big Ten Conference title.

* Number 14 Georgia beat Florida State, 42-0 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia. Georgia didn't play LSU or Ole Miss, but each of them finished with 1 loss in the Southeastern Conference, while Georgia went undefeated in SEC play. But the Sugar Bowl wanted the LSU-Ole Miss rematch, perhaps the 1st rematch in bowl game history. So George were invited to the Orange Bowl.

* Number 17 University of Washington beat UCLA, 23-7 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Washington won the title in the league then named the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU, now the Pacific-Twelve Conference), then beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.

* Missouri, then unranked, lost to Colorado, 21-20 at Folsom Field in the Denver suburb of Boulder, Colorado. Missouri rebounded to win the Big Seven Conference title (Oklahoma State soon joined to make it the Big Eight), and lost to Georgia in the Orange Bowl.

* Among the service academies, Army and Air Force played each other, to a 13-13 tie at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; while Navy lost to Notre Dame, 25-22 at the new Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.

* And among the New Jersey teams, Princeton beat Brown, 7-0 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton; and Rutgers lost to the University of Delaware, 34-14 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway.

Baseball season was over. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics, 123-109 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia Warriors beat the Detroit Pistons, 120-112 at the Philadelphia Civic Center. Wilt Chamberlain, in only his 2nd NBA game, scored 36 points and grabbed 34 rebounds.

* The Syracuse Nationals beat the Minneapolis Lakers, 117-108 at the Onondaga County War Memorial (now the Upstate Medical University Arena) in Syracuse, New York.

* And the St. Louis Hawks beat the Cincinnati Royals, 109-102 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. Clyde Lovellette scored 33 for the Hawks, Jack Twyman 35 for the Royals.

And there were 2 games in the NHL. The Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Canadiens played  to a tie, 2-2 at the Montreal Forum. And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins, 4-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The New York Rangers and the Chicago Black Hawks were not scheduled.