Revision as of 20:47, March 29, 2009

The photo on page 392 of the Chinook '68(Volume 69) may be in black & white, but the colors of that day are etched into my mind. You may ask "How did a Cougar Country sign show up in the Husky rooting section at the 1967 Cougar-Husky game?" Well... I can tell you most of it.

It started long before I went to WSU as a freshman. During a past visit to Palouse Country, some unscrupulous rivals from west of the mountains absconded with one of those prized "This is Cougar Country" signs. As with most such booty, it ended up buried and forgotten in the basement of the UW Delt House.

Enter Jerry Carlson - WSU Alumnus, attending grad school at UW and living in the Delt House. Just before the 1967 Cougar-Husky game, Jerry made contact with another Frat brother, a freshman pledge and a visiting foreign exchange student, all from Washington State. Plans were for Jerry to obtain UW student tickets from friends at UW so he and his three WSU friends could attend the game as a group. It was a slow moving, low scoring game and at half-time Jerry got an idea. He ran back to the Delt house while we saved the seats.

Jerry returned halfway through the third quarter with the Cougar Country sign hidden under a blanket. After some minor preparation we uncovered the sign and proudly held it up. The irony was sweet. Left to right are: Jerry Carlson wearing a hat; Neil Cabbage in a plaid coat; Ferdinand Schunck; and Jim Hoggatt holding onto the corner.

As the caption reads, "The Cougars went on to upset the Huskies 9-7." And fortunately someone in the Cougar section had a camera.