Apple Cup in the WSU Archives: Memories of All Kinds

The Apple Cup rivalry goes way back. WSU Libraries University Archivist Mark O’English’s favorite story comes from 1932, the year of the riot over a stuffed cougar mascot University of Washington had stolen 13 years before the fateful game.

This photo from the 1919 game between Washington State College and University of Idaho marks the first appearance of the cougar mascots (stuffed, not real). University of Washington students stole one of the mascots two weeks later. Photo courtesy of Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections.

On Nov. 1, 1919, Washington State College rolled out their two new mascots—literally, as the stuffed cougars were mounted on wagons—at a game with University of Idaho. Two weeks later, UW stole one of them when they played WSC in Pullman.

WSC alumnus Kenyon T. “Ken” Bement gave an oral history interview in 1987 describing the dustup. At every Apple Cup game after the theft, the UW students “would parade that stolen stuffed cougar…in front of their own student body and in front of the Washington State student body. We decided that year [1932] that we were going to disrupt that parade and try to get the cougar back.”

Bement was one of the “yell” leaders, the precursor to today’s cheerleaders. As the smallest leader, he was chosen to be launched by two others on top of the cougar as the UW men carried it on their shoulders past the WSC stands. That was the signal for the WSC fans to swarm the track and take the mascot away from their rivals. UW fans then poured onto the track too.

The Seattle Sunday Times covered the Apple Cup riot that ensued between Washington State College and University of Washington in 1932, when WSC students reclaimed their stolen cougar mascot after 13 years. Photo courtesy of Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections.

“And we had probably the best free-for-all that has ever occurred between the student bodies of the two institutions,” Bement recalled. “But we held up the start of the second half of the game some half hour in order to get this brawl out of the way. And we completely tore up the cougar. We demolished it.”

Except for Butch’s ears. Bement managed to hold on to those, despite being pummeled at the bottom of the pile. They were his prized possessions for a year or two.

“It was rather stupid, but it seemed worth it at the time,” he said. “And it was.”

Sharing Apple Cup trivia with audiences

O’English has given numerous talks about the 1932 riot and other tidbits of Apple Cup history to audiences in his deep dives into the library archives. He highlights a few of the things he’s discovered:

Cover of the football program for the Apple Cup match on Nov. 21, 1970. Photo courtesy of Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections.
  • The first Apple Cup game was played on Nov. 29, 1900. Money had to be raised to send The Evergreen reporter to Seattle to cover the game, O’English said. In the Dec. 5 issue, the reporter described the game thusly: “At no point in the game can the U. of W. show such playing as was exhibited by our team when it settled down on its own ten yard line, and by steady plunges hurled its opponents across the entire field for a touchdown. The U. of W. people wore no long faces nor indulged in no lamentations over the resultant tie. Instead it was a look of satisfaction, for they realized how near they had been to defeat, at one time only lacking one inch.” In other words, UW was grateful to have tied and not lost because it was that close.
  • One of the earliest football films in the WSU digital archives is the 1929 Apple Cup, in which WSC defeated UW 20-13. The seven-minute, silent black-and-white film shows people gathering at the field before the game in their vintage finery with 1920s cars driving past; bundled-up fans in the stands; and football players taking the field and playing in slow motion. Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections holds films, some digitized, covering close to 800 WSU football games dating from the 1916 Rose Bowl to present day.
  • A spectacular collection of football programs, some with “really lovely graphics,” O’English said, including one from the 1970 Apple Cup. Played at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane, WSU lost to the Huskies 25-43.

To learn more about the history of Apple Cup from a longtime Seattle Times sportswriter, check out Too Good to Be Through by Bud Withers, just published on Sept. 1. Withers examines each game in the long series and the relationships involving supporters of WSU and UW who have helped make this one of the nation’s most underrated rivalries.

Withers will hold book signings in Pullman this Saturday from 8:30-10:30 a.m. at the Hampton Inn (the old Holiday Inn); from 12:30-1:45 p.m. at Lewis Alumni Centre; and from 2-4 p.m. at The Bookie. The book can be purchased through Amazon and bookstores.