The Stanford Axe

[UNTflyer]

The Big Game is the battle between the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University in which the Stanford Axe is awarded. The Stanford Axe first appeared in 1899 during a Stanford rally when the axe was used to decapitate a straw man dressed in blue and gold ribbons, the team colors of the California Golden Bears. Two days later Stanford took the axe to a Cal-Stanford baseball game in which Stanford lost. Stanford lost the game and series and started to think the axe was actually a curse and wondered if they should dispose of it. While they were debating it a Cal fan grabbed the axe and ran off with it. The Stanford students chased the Cal students through the streets of San Francisco but never did capture the axe back.

Cal held the Axe for the next 31 years and to ensure they kept it they placed it in a bank vault and used an armored car to bring it to games. However, in 1930 a group of students called the Immortal 21 decided to get the Axe back. Four Stanford students went to a Cal rally posing as photographers. They used the flashes from their cameras to temporarily blind the person watching over the axe while other Stanford students, posing as Cal students, filled the room with tear gas and smoke bombs. A few other Stanford students posed as Cal students led search parties in which they threw the Cal students completely off track. For three years Stanford held the axe before the two sides came together in 1933 and agreed to make the Stanford Axe a trophy to be awarded to the winner of the Big Game. Since the Stanford Axe was rewarded to the winner, Stanford leads the series 37 – 30 – 3.