BOULDER—On Thursday morning the University of Colorado football team left Boulder en route to Honolulu and arrived later on Thursday afternoon in preparation to open the Jon Embree era against the University of Hawai’i.
Embree has made it clear to the Buffs that the visit to paradise is a business trip, saying, “The only beach they will see is when they land and when we take off.”
Spending time on the beach was unavoidable for CU the last time they faced Hawai’i on the island, however.
On Dec. 10, 1924, Myron Witham’s squad left Boulder to a pep rally of 4,000 on a train bound for San Francisco. The champions of the Rocky Mountain Conference, CU was 7-0-1 as they departed for Hawai’i, outscoring opponents by a score of 194-0 for the season. Included in those seven victories was a 39-0 rout of Regis on Oct. 11 that christened CU’s new stadium, later renamed Folsom Field.
The Silver and Gold, they were nearly a decade shy of taking the “Buffaloes” nickname, were received in San Francisco on December 12 by a group of alumni in the Bay Area region who threw a banquet for the team. While the means of transportation may have changed, CU’s alumni support on the Pacific Coast was as alive for the Silver and Gold in the 1920s as it is with the Buffs entering the Pac-12 Conference in 2011.
From San Francisco, CU set sail on the S.S. President Woodrow Wilson where they spent a week at sea before docking at the Honolulu beach on Friday, Dec. 19, nine days after leaving Boulder. The Silver and Gold then checked in to the Moana Hotel for, as The Coloradoan yearbook put it, the “sky-high” rate of $205 a week.
CU was initially scheduled to play Hawai’i on Christmas and a team of Army and Navy stars stationed on the islands on New Year’s Day. Upon arrival in Honolulu, CU discovered that the dates of the games had been swapped. The reasoning behind this switch was reported by The Boulder Daily Camera as allowing Hawai’i the opportunity to see CU play, in addition to allowing fans the opportunity to witness CU’s standout team to increase ticket sales for the New Year’s Day game.
CU didn’t disappoint on Christmas, dispatching the Navy team of sailors serving in Honolulu (the Navy defeated the Army’s team 19 -7 on Dec. 20) by a score of 43-0. Earl Loser was the star of the game for the Silver and Gold scoring two touchdowns—one rushing and another on a 35-yard fumble return—in addition to booting an extra point and a 32-yard field goal.
Another positive of the one-sided affair was CU was not forced to reveal any of their “forward passing” attack to the Hawaiian scouts in attendance.
Following a week of light workouts the “Mountaineers,” as CU was dubbed by the Hawaiian writers, were ready to take on the “Islanders,” the moniker given Hawai’i by the Colorado media. Unlike the advanced statistical breakdowns that will preview tomorrow’s contest, The Daily Camera’s preview story featured one stat: “The Hawaiians average 174 pounds; Coloradoans average 169 pounds” (In case you were wondering, the 2011 Hawai’i team averages 227 pounds; Colorado averages 226 pounds).
The kick-off occurred at 3:30 p.m. Honolulu time in front of a crowd of over 10,000 people as thousands more were turned away at the gates on a hot, balmy New Year’s afternoon. The game was played at Moiliili Field on a surface of natural grass (Aloha Stadium’s new artificial “UBU Sports Speed S5-M” turf would have baffled the spectators as much as the Warriors’ current air raid offense).
Back in Boulder, the game was being followed not on ESPN2, but on “Gridgraph.” Gridgraph was very similar to online live scoring used today, only instead of being accessible anywhere with an internet connection, CU fans had to pay 50 cents to attend Macky Auditorium where a series of radio, telephone, and telegraph brought a delayed play-by-play account of the game.
Before the game was five minutes old, Hawai’i back Bill “Doggie” Wise faked a pass and ran around the left side for a 17-yard touchdown; the first points CU had given up on the season. Eddie Fernandez’s extra point attempt hit the post as the Islanders took a 6-0 lead beneath a celebratory display of fireworks from the Hawai’i stands. The touchdown was set up by a 22-yard run by Fernandez.
Colorado quarterback Hatfield Chilson was intercepted by Wise in the second quarter to set up Hawai’i’s second touchdown; a 35-yard pass from Wise to Johnny Morse. Fernandez made this extra point to put Hawai’i up 13-0 going into halftime.
In the third quarter the Silver and Gold advanced the ball all the way to the Hawai’i 5-yard line before a Chilson pass to Bill Bohn was broken up by Theodore “Pump” Searle, returning the ball to Hawai’i on downs. CU would not get that close again and the game ended with a 13-0 Hawai’i victory.
The Coloradoan attributed the loss to the fact that CU “had lost most of its aggressiveness during the additional week of life in the pep-destroying climate.” More tangibly, CU’s best receiver, John Dozier, went down to a leg injury on the second play of the game and did not return.
The 18-man CU travel squad fatigued in the 78-degree temperature and sweated so much that the silver color of their pants had faded out by game’s end.
CU end Jack Healy said of the loss, “We were all willing and fighting hard, but the body refused to obey the mind.”
The Silver and Gold took no shame in defeat as Otto Klum’s impressive Hawai’i team finished the season 8-0 with a 185-12 scoring edge over their opponents. CU’s performance won the admiration of their Hawaiian hosts who offered a standing invitation for the team to return.
Though the loss was disappointing, the trip to Hawai’i was still a great success for the Silver and Gold. The team received a warm reception while there; head coach Myron Witham said of their treatment, “The entire city of Honolulu wanted to entertain the team.”
The collection of souvenirs was the favorite hobby of the CU team in Hawai’i. The yearbook said members of the team returned with “everything from ivory cigarette holders to grass skirts.”
One of CU’s players even seemed to have fallen in love. The Coloradoan reported, “One of the men—a fast, pass-grabbing end, and a campus-women’s favorite—lost his heart to a fair damsel on the island, and he plans to return during the summer months.”
No report was made of whether the end returned in the summer, and despite the standing invitation extended in 1925, the Buffs have not returned to the island to take on the University of Hawai’i until now.
On Jan. 3, 1925, CU boarded a ship bound for Los Angeles. On Jan. 12 the Silver and Gold finally returned to Boulder where hundreds of fans greeted them at the train station over a month after they departed.
The Buffs’ first “business trip” of the 2011 season began with a flight to Hawai’i on Thursday morning. It will conclude with a flight back to Colorado following the game on Saturday night. Hopefully for the 2011 version of CU football, the eight-hour plane ride home doesn’t feel as long as the nine-day odyssey taken by the 1924 version. A win would ensure that.
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