Inside "THE PLAY" with Joe Kapp

An Internet Broadcasting Event

Introduction to The Play

The most electrifying and memorable four seconds in the history of football, referred to simply as The Play by college football fans everywhere, occurred on November 20, 1982, during the 85th playing of the BIG GAME between the University of California Golden Bears and the Cardinal of Stanford University.

The Bear’s head coach, Joe Kapp, was again facing his old opponent from their playing days, Cardinal coach, Paul Wiggin, on the hallowed turf of Cal's home field, California Memorial Stadium. Kapp's and his team’s prime challenge that Saturday: find a way to stop highly touted, Stanford All-American quarterback John Elway. They accomplished their objective with a swarming defense and innovative blitzes the entire evenly fought and exhausting afternoon—that is, until the last minute and twenty seconds of the fourth quarter. Down 19-17, the relentless Elway, led his team down the field to kick a go-ahead field goal with only four seconds left on the clock, lifting an elated Stanford team to a 20-17 lead and an apparent victory.

The Cardinal players, fans and band exploded into a frenzy of jubilation while Kapp’s dazed troops attempted to think and act through the reverberating chaos. The Cardinal, penalized 15 yards for a delay of game, grew more confident with the clock showing a mere four seconds remaining in which the Bears could take the kickoff and attempt an improbable score. In the midst of their life and death crisis, the Bears focused on their determination to fight to the last second, a way of thinking they had gained from weeks of mental practice. With that engrained in their hearts and minds, the improvisation began.

“…The ball is still loose as they get it to Rodgers! They get it back now to the 30, they're down to the 20... OH, THE BAND IS OUT ON THE FIELD! HE'S GONNA GO INTO THE END ZONE! HE'S GONE INTO THE END ZONE!!!” JoeStarkey

Five dangerous laterals later, through the entire Stanford team and band, Cal crossed the goal line. As the officials sorted out the dizzying action of the last four seconds, the world held its breath until the referee's arms shot skyward, signaling touchdown. Cal had won the game, leaving one half of the stadium's capacity crowd in stunned disbelief and the other half in a state of pandemonium.

“THE BEARS!!! THE BEARS HAVE WON! THE BEARS HAVE WON! OH MY GOD, THE MOST AMAZING, SENSATIONAL, DRAMATIC, HEART-RENDING… EXCITING, THRILLING FINISH IN THE HISTORY OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL! CALIFORNIA HAS WON THE BIG GAME OVER STANFORD.”
Joe Starkey

Understandably, countless arguments and opinions abounded following the most talked about play in college football history. For the disgruntled that dismissed the feat with “foul” or the incredulous that justified it with, “pure luck,” Coach Joe Kapp had a ready response, “When preparation meets opportunity, good fortune follows.” This axiom represents one of the fundamental values that has driven his life’s work and that found living expression in The Play.

Kapp’s Special Take on The Play

To this day, Joe agrees The Play should be considered breathtaking and amazing, but, by no means, a fluke or miracle. He knew that extraordinary results could arise from an unwillingness to quit, even in the face of insurmountable odds. In addition, he believed that taking great risks could sometimes yield great rewards. Blitzing Elway all afternoon, a risky strategy, kept Cal in the game and set the stage for the phenomenal last-minute win. He had seen a similar blitzing defense used against him and The Vikings by Baltimore the day Joe threw seven touchdown passes. The strategy doesn’t always work.

One of Joe’s training exercises during the season, jokingly referred to by the players as “gra-bass,” amounted to a game in which one group of players tried to keep the ball away from another group, including linemen. The game helped to improve ball handling, spontaneous play and quick thinking. These guys were no strangers to laterals and inspired by Cal’s illustrious Rugby tradition. “The ball will not fall,” was the only encouragement Richard Rodgers needed to impart to his teammates. They had prepared for the moment, for the opportunity.

Yet, no one had prepared for the endless debate and controversy, but in 1983, Sports Illustrated, as part of a 12-page article, found no mistakes in the officiating. “The best Stanford could do was to persuade conference Executive Director Wiles Hallock to issue a public statement acknowledging that Cal had only four men in the restraining area on the fatal kickoff. Hallock added, however, that it was a violation that required no penalty. And, he said later, ‘I’m pleased that in all the confusion the officials never stopped officiating.’ As for The Play? ‘Well, it’s just one of those marvelous things that happen in football.’”

Courage and resolve represent qualities that dwell in the heart and mind of the dedicated athlete, implanted by experience and nurtured by the special people that cross his or her path in life. In the case of Joe Kapp, legendary mentors such as Lynn “Pappy’ Waldorf, Pete Newell and Pete Elliott, as well as outstanding role models such as Nobel Laureate, Glenn Seaborg, helped form his character. Their early influence while attending the University of California flowed through him to a group of young men that accomplished an astonishing feat more than two decades later.

Today, the resurgence of Cal Football under the brilliant leadership of Coach Jeff Tedford and AD, Sandy Barbour, shows that its heritage resides in trustworthy and capable hands. In pre-season polls, Cal is picked to finish second in the PAC-10 for the third year in a row.

The Play will remind us of this remarkable lineage of excellence and achievement. Telling the story behind The Play will inspire, entertain and extol the history and tradition of a great university while revealing that an unforgettable four seconds of its past can impart much greater meaning than the mere crossing of a goal line.

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