Spaulding Field and UCLA Bruins Football: A Legacy of History and Modern Facilities

The UCLA Bruins football program, representing the University of California, Los Angeles, holds a prominent place in college football history. As members of the Big Ten Conference at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level, the Bruins have experienced numerous periods of success. They have consistently been ranked in the top ten of the AP Poll in every decade since its inception in the 1930s. This article explores the history of the UCLA Bruins football program, its significant achievements, and the evolution of its facilities, particularly Spaulding Field.

Early Years and Coaching Changes

The first UCLA football team took the field in 1919, coached by Fred Cozens, who led the team to a 2-6 record. In these early years, UCLA did not participate in an athletic conference until 1920, resulting in a schedule filled with local high schools and assorted teams. Cozens served as UCLA's athletics director from 1919 to 1942.

Harry Trotter succeeded Cozens, guiding the Bruins in their initial season. In 1920, UCLA began competing in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), facing institutions such as Occidental College, California Institute of Technology, University of Redlands, Whittier College, and Pomona College. Trotter's tenure resulted in a 2-13-1 record over three seasons (1920-1922).

James J. William H. Spaulding arrived at UCLA from Minnesota in 1925, marking another chapter in the program's development. Edwin C. Horrell was promoted to head coach following Spaulding's retirement.

The Red Sanders Era: A Golden Age

The 1950s marked the Bruins' first major period of success under head coach Red Sanders. Sanders led the Bruins to the Coaches' Poll national championship in 1954. In nine years, Sanders secured three conference championships and an impressive overall record of 66-19-1.

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The 1954 Bruins achieved a 9-0 record, reaching the top of the Coaches' Poll and sharing the national championship with Ohio State, the AP Poll's titleholder. Due to the Pacific Coast Conference's (PCC) early "no repeat" rule, the undefeated Bruins were unable to compete in the Rose Bowl that season, despite being the PCC champion. Instead, second-place USC, who the Bruins defeated 34-0, played in the 1955 Rose Bowl, losing to Big Ten Conference champion Ohio State, 20-7.

Sanders intensified the Bruins' rivalry with USC. His teams were always given a speech before the game against their cross-town rivals that always ended with "Beat SC!" A famous quote was attributed to Sanders regarding the rivalry, "Beating 'SC isn't a matter of life and death. It's more important than that."

Coaching Transitions and Tommy Prothro's Arrival

After the death of Red Sanders, assistant coach George W. Dickerson took over the Bruins on an interim basis before suffering a nervous breakdown. Then, a full-time head coach was hired. William F. Barnes served as head coach for seven seasons, guiding his teams to a 31-34-3 record. He achieved two seven-win seasons in 1960 and 1961, leading the Bruins to the 1962 Rose Bowl. Barnes resigned after the 1964 season.

On January 11, 1965, Tommy Prothro was hired away from Oregon State as head coach of the UCLA Bruins. In the 1965 football season, the Bruins lost their season opening game 13-3 at Michigan State, who then rose to become the top-ranked team in the country. The unheralded Bruins would go on a seven-game undefeated streak, surprising national powers the likes of Syracuse and Penn State. Going into the 1965 UCLA-USC rivalry football game ranked No. 7, the conference championship and 1966 Rose Bowl were on the line.

Prothro and the Bruins completed the season with a dramatic pay-back upset victory over the No. 1 ranked Michigan State Spartans in the 1966 Rose Bowl, 14-12. Heading into the final game of the 1966 season vs. USC, UCLA was 2-1 in conference games, 8-1 overall and ranked No. 5 in the country. The Bruins, featuring a "dream backfield" of All-Americans Gary Beban and Mel Farr, lost only one game, at rainy Washington, 16-3. USC was 4-0 in conference and 7-1 overall, having lost to unranked Miami. The Bruins and Trojans played a different number of conference due to uneven scheduling caused by new AAWU members Oregon and Oregon State and schedules made years in advance. It was widely assumed that only losses would be considered and the winner of the 1966 UCLA-USC game would go to the 1967 Rose Bowl.

UCLA star quarterback Gary Beban broke his ankle the week before in a win over Stanford, but backup Norman Dow, making his first and only start at quarterback, led UCLA to a 14-7 win. That left USC with a 4-1 conference record (7-2 overall). Due to their win over USC, it was widely assumed UCLA would get the Rose Bowl berth. However, a vote the next Monday among the AAWU conference athletic directors awarded USC the Rose Bowl berth. It was speculated that the directors believed Beban could not play for UCLA in the Rose Bowl due to the broken ankle, thereby giving the Big Ten Conference representative, Purdue, a better chance to win. As it turned out, Beban could have played. But a bigger reason was that this was to make up for 1964 when Oregon State was voted in ahead of USC. The coach of Oregon State in 1964 was Prothro. Another speculation was the vote was against UCLA out of pure jealousy by the rest of the conference, which voted 7-1 for the clearly inferior team. This vote deprived Prothro of being the first coach to earn three consecutive Rose Bowl berths and UCLA athletic director J.D. Morgan called it a "gross injustice" and the "a dark day in UCLA and AAWU Athletic history." Inflamed UCLA students who had gathered for the Rose Bowl celebration rally, took to the streets of Westwood in protest and actually blocked the 405 Freeway for a short time. Ironically, Morgan was the force behind establishing a tie-breaking method adopted by the conference one year later in which only loss column counted; the first tiebreaker was head-to-head results, followed by overall record. If there was still a tie, the Rose Bowl berth would go to the team that had not played in the Rose Bowl the longest. But it was too late for UCLA. In their final game, USC made the AAWU decision look bad by losing to No. 1 Notre Dame, 51-0.

In 1967, Prothro helped a second quarterback capture the Heisman Trophy when Gary Beban was awarded the trophy after the regular season. He would bring his No. 1 ranked UCLA Bruin team to face No. 2 USC in one of the "Games of the Century". Despite playing with cracked ribs, Beban threw for 301 yards, but UCLA lost, 21-20, on a spectacular 64-yard run by O. J. Simpson in the 1967 USC vs. UCLA football game. Another big factor was UCLA's acclaimed sophomore kicker Zenon Andusyshyn missing a chip shot field goal, and having two field goals and an extra point attempt blocked.

In what was acknowledged to be a rebuilding year, the Bruins opened the 1968 season with a 63-7 defeat of Pittsburgh and a win over Washington State. The season ground to a halt at Syracuse and with the season-ending injury of quarterback Billy Bolden, and UCLA would win only one more game, over Stanford 20-17. The Bruins gave No. 1 USC and Heisman Trophy winner O. J.

1969 was the year Prothro had geared his recruiting efforts towards as he believed this was his best team and was capable of contending for the national championship. The Bruins, quarterbacked by a sensational Junior College transfer Dennis Dummit discovered by Prothro, were undefeated until they faced No. 10 Stanford in Palo Alto. Once again, Prothro was let down by now senior kicker Zenon Andrusyshyn as he missed a short field goal late in the game with the score tied 20-20. Suddenly, two long Jim Plunkett passes had Stanford in field goal range in the final seconds, but UCLA blocked Steve Horowitz's attempt to preserve the tie.

Once again, the UCLA-USC game would decide the Pac-8 title and the 1970 Rose Bowl berth. UCLA was ranked 6th with a 5-0-1 record in conference and 8-0-1 overall USC was No. 5 and was 6-0 in conference and 8-0-1 overall (tied Notre Dame in South Bend, 14-14); UCLA and USC were both unbeaten coming into their rivalry game for the first time since 1952. UCLA scored midway through the fourth quarter to take a 12-7 lead (knowing he need a win and not a tie to advance to the Rose Bowl, Prothro had the Bruins go for two after each touchdown and each attempt failed). USC then drove to the winning touchdown with 1:38 to play to win 14-12. The Trojans were aided by two controversial calls; the first was a dubious pass interference call on UCLA's Danny Graham on a 4th-and-10 incompletion. Secondly, on the winning touchdown pass reception, USC receiver Sam Dickerson appeared to be either out of bounds, out of the back of the end zone, or both.

In what turned out to be his final season at UCLA, Prothro's team suffered a rash of key injuries and finished 6-5, yet they were three close games from a 9-2 season and Rose Bowl berth. Before those injuries set in, UCLA took a 3-0 record into Austin to play defending national champ and top ranked Texas. Trailing 13-3 at the half, UCLA rallied and had a 17-13 lead in the final minute. But with 12 seconds left, Texas completed a long pass when their receiver caught the ball between two UCLA defenders, who then collided, allowing the receiver to score. UCLA also blew a 20-point fourth quarter lead against Oregon, when Ducks sophomore quarterback Dan Fouts rallied his team to three touchdowns and a 41-40 win. Finally, there came the showdown with Stanford; the game was expected to be a shootout between UCLA quarterback Dennis Dummit and Heisman winner Jim Plunkett. But the defenses ruled as UCLA took a 7-6 lead into the 4th quarter. Stanford took a 9-7 lead on a field goal, but UCLA was driving to a potential game-winning field goal or touchdown themselves when they completed a pass inside the Stanford 10-yard-line, only to have the receiver get sandwiched by two defenders on the tackle and fumble. This game ultimately decided the Pac-8 championship and 1971 Rose Bowl representative. The season ended on a high note however, when UCLA beat rival USC, 45-20, in a game that was not that close. This would end up being Prothro's final game at UCLA.

Transition Years: Rodgers and Vermeil

Pepper Rodgers came to UCLA from Kansas after the departure of Prothro. In Rodgers' three seasons at the helm of the Bruins, UCLA finished 2-7-1, 8-3 and 9-2. In 1972, the Bruins began the season with a 20-17 victory over two-time defending national champion Nebraska, and finished the season ranked No. 17 and No. 15 in the final Coaches' and AP polls, respectively. In 1973, the Bruins finished ranked No. 9 and No.

As head coach at UCLA, Dick Vermeil compiled a 15-5-3 record in two seasons (1974-1975), including a 9-2-1 record in 1975 when he led the Bruins to their first conference championship in 10 years, and a win in the Rose Bowl over undefeated and No.

Terry Donahue's Era: Sustained Success

In the 1980s and 1990s, under the leadership of Terry Donahue, the Bruins achieved a 151-74-8 record. This period included 13 bowl games and an NCAA record of eight straight bowl wins. Donahue's tenure is remembered as a period of sustained success and competitiveness.

The 1997 team finished as co-champions of the Pacific-10 Conference with Washington State. However, with Washington State defeating the Bruins in the season opener, the Cougars earned the right to play in the Rose Bowl. The highlights of that season were a 66-3 win over the Texas and a victory at the Cotton Bowl Classic over Texas A&M, and a victory over USC. The 1998 season started out as one of the best in the history of UCLA football. The team was high enough in the BCS standings to merit entry to the national championship game, and all UCLA needed to do was beat unranked University of Miami, who were major underdogs after a 66-13 loss to Syracuse the week before. UCLA was also coming off of their eighth consecutive victory over USC and 20th straight win overall.

Recent Years and Coaching Changes

Recent success has eluded the Bruins, resulting in a 16-19 overall bowl game record. Despite this, the program has produced 28 first-round picks in the NFL draft, 30 consensus All-Americans, and multiple major award winners, including Heisman Trophy winner Gary Beban. The Bruins were twice the Pac-12 Conference South Division champions, earning the right to play in Pac-12 Football Championship Games in both 2011 and 2012.

In 2005, his third season as head football coach, Dorrell was able get his first win against a ranked opponent, No. 21 Oklahoma, featuring Adrian Peterson. On October 1, 2005, head coach Tyrone Willingham and his Washington Huskies came to the Rose Bowl for a Pacific-10 Conference game to play UCLA. This was the first time two black head coaches faced each other in a Pac-10 conference game. At the time, Sylvester Croom of Mississippi State was the only other black coach heading an NCAA Division I football program. Dorrell achieved his first win against a top-ten opponent with a 47-40 upset win over No. 10-ranked rival California. Three Bruin wins in the 2005 season set new school records for biggest comebacks earning the nickname "The Cardiac Kids." They came thanks largely to the heroics of quarterback Drew Olson and tailback Maurice Jones-Drew. In the regular season the Bruins came from down 21 points to win in overtime against both Washington State and Stanford. In the Stanford comeback, the Bruins scored 21 points in the final 7:04 of the fourth quarter. In the Sun Bowl, the Bruins set the record again by coming back from 22 points down. The Bruins were ranked No. 7 in the nation until a 52-14 blowout loss to a 3-8 Arizona team. The Bruins came into the UCLA-USC rivalry last regular season game ranked No. 11. They suffered a 66-19 defeat to the No. 1 2005 USC Trojans football team. This was the largest margin of defeat since the series began in 1929 with a 76-0 defeat. The Bruins finished third in the Pac-10 standings. On December 30, 2005, his Bruins defeated the Northwestern Wildcats in the Sun Bowl, 50-38, finishing the season with a 10-2 record. At the end of the 2005 season, Dorrell received pay bonuses for coaching successful seasons. In 2006, Dorrell's fourth season, the Bruins finished the season 7-6 (5-4 in conference) and finished fourth-place in the Pac-10. UCLA played its first…

Spaulding Field and the Wasserman Football Center

Spaulding Field serves as the primary practice facility for the UCLA Bruins football team. In recent years, UCLA has made a significant commitment to upgrading its football facilities. This commitment aims to retain top coaching talent, keep pace with other Pac-12 programs, and realize its potential as a major program in a talent-rich area.

The Wasserman Football Center, named after L.A. sports executive Casey Wasserman, represents a major step forward in this commitment. With $54 million raised of the necessary $65 million, the Bruins received the go-ahead to begin construction.

The Wasserman Football Center is located on the west side of Spaulding Field and boasts approximately 75,000 gross square-feet of space. Designed by ZGF Architects LLP, the facility includes a locker room, athletic training area, strength and conditioning facility, coaches’ offices, team meeting rooms, equipment rooms, and video rooms. It also incorporates elements that showcase the history of UCLA Football.

UCLA has also paired the new football building with a new $25 million basketball practice facility.

J.D. Morgan and the Evolution of UCLA Athletics

In the early 1960s, with the UCLA athletics budget facing challenges, Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy appointed J.D. Morgan as athletics director. Morgan's appointment was driven by the need to restore financial stability to the program.

As associate business manager, Morgan played a crucial role in arranging financing for major campus building projects, including Ackerman Student Union and the four high-rise residence halls. During his tenure, plans for an on-campus indoor sports arena were advanced.

Under Morgan’s direction, UCLA achieved unprecedented success, winning 30 NCAA championships - 10 in basketball, seven in volleyball, six in tennis, four in track and field, and three in water polo - more than any other university during that period.

Morgan's competitive nature and fierce Bruin loyalty fueled his success. A career Bruin, Morgan was a four-year letterman on the men’s tennis team and served as team captain in 1941. Following graduation from the UCLA School of Business Administration, he commanded a Navy torpedo boat in the South Pacific during World War II before returning to his alma mater in 1946.

In 1979, after 33 years at UCLA, Morgan was forced to announce his retirement due to rapidly failing health.

Honoring Jackie Robinson

UCLA announced it is naming its athletic facilities after Jackie Robinson in honor of the 75th anniversary of his enrollment at the university. The 22 athletic facilities, including Pauley Pavilion, Spaulding Field, Drake Stadium and the Morgan Center, will be the Jackie Robinson Athletics and Recreation Complex. UCLA’s baseball stadium, one of the facilities in the complex, is already named for Robinson.

Robinson played football, basketball, baseball and competed in track and field at UCLA from 1939 to 1941. He became the first African American to play in the major leagues when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers for the 1947 season.

Robinson’s No. 42, which he wore with the Dodgers, will be painted on the Rose Bowl field, and Bruins players will wear the number on their helmets for the game against USC on Saturday.

The Future of UCLA Football Facilities

"We talk a lot about family within our program, and now, we need the entire UCLA family to join us on this endeavor. The new UCLA Football Facility will be a multi-level structure located at the West end of Spaulding Field. Players will have unrestricted access to state-of-the art, football-specific equipment and training. For the first time, their strength training facility will be adjacent to their practice field. Student-athletes will have their own lounge and meeting spaces where they can build camaraderie and trust. Similarly, the coaches’ offices will be upgraded, near each other, and adjacent to the players’ facilities. Such improvements will drive recruiting and retention of both players and coaches. Building on Coach Mora’s success in 2012, the planned construction will raise the caliber of the football team’s operational structure to match that of the players and the individuals who support, train and lead them.

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