Civil War buffs remember mud of days gone by.

Byline: TIM CHRISTIE The Register-Guard

When you play football this time of year in the Willamette Valley, you take your chances with the weather.

And chances are, in late November and early December, you're going to get wet.

Rain, mud, wind, sometimes snow - all are threaded into the lore surrounding the 104 Civil War battles between the University of Oregon and Oregon State.

We don't yet know whether Saturday's Civil War - only the second time the game has been played in December - will go down as a memorable weather game. The National Weather Service predicts "rain at times," and highs in the upper 40s.

"Looks like a wet day," said state climatologist George Taylor.

Of course, it will take more than a little rain to make this year's Civil War stand out in a history marked by mud, sweat and chills.

But then, today's players have it easy. Since 1969, Beavers and Ducks have been playing on artificial turf, which means they must contend only with the rain and wind.

Back in the old days, men were men and gridders played in the mud and sawdust, or maybe a little grass if they were lucky. Lore has it that a game played in 1899 in Eugene was delayed when the football got lost in the mud.

Ross Carter of Eugene played left guard for the Ducks in 1934-35, and he recalled "very sloppy" playing conditions.

"The weather was not a factor when I was playing," he said. "But the fields were, because we and Oregon State were the only ones that didn't have grass in those days. It was mostly sawdust and a little bit of dirt and a little bit of rocks."

Not that Carter, now 85, minded the mud.

"As a matter of fact I enjoyed playing on the mud rather than hard ground because you just slide around. No one could get any contact, so injuries were nil."

Sportswriters chronicling the Civil War battles in the early part of the 20th century often found themselves using the same terms to describe the playing conditions: sea of mud, quagmire, muddy bog, mud bath.

The Register-Guard said the 1930 Civil War game, for instance, which Oregon State won 15-0, "will go down as one of the muddiest, wettest, most uncomfortable and most exciting game in the history of Oregon."

Not by a long shot.

In 1932, the editors of The Register-Guard wanted readers of the Saturday afternoon paper to have the latest news of the big rivalry game, even though the paper went to press before the game was done. So they stripped this banner headline across the top of the front page in all caps: "OREGON STATE LEADS 6-0 AT HALF."

A wire service story reported the first-half action from Corvallis: "Playing on a slippery field with a strong southwest wind blowing a hard rain upon them, the University of Oregon trailed Oregon State College 6 to 0 at the half in their battle for the state championship."

Oregon, then known as the Webfoots, came back to win, 12-6.

The teams played another mudfest in Corvallis in 1946. "Beavers beat U.O. and the Mud, 13-0," read the headline in the next day's Register-Guard. Sports editor Dick Strite described the field as a "quagmire of mud and grass" and the players as "chocolate soldiers in their mud-caked togs."

The 1961 game was not such a happy affair for the Ducks. With a high temperature of 35 and a chilly 8 mph north wind, the Beavers spoiled Oregon's homecoming, 6-2, in conditions so muddy the school bands were forbidden from marching at halftime.

Bill Mulflur covered the 1961 game for the Oregon Journal in 1961. He remembers snow piled up around the field that had been shoveled off before the game.

"That was a pretty miserable day," he said. "It was cold, but it didn't snow or rain during the game."

As the third or fourth sportswriter there from the Oregon Journal, he didn't always have a seat in the press box and instead would cover the game from the sidelines, itself a challenge in rainy, muddy conditions. He'd put on boots and heavy clothes and takes notes under a plastic bag.

"Walking the sidelines was fun," he said. "You got awful wet."

In the modern era, three truly bad-weather Civil War games stand out for Hal Cowan. Cowan has been the sports information director for the past 27 years at Oregon State and previously held the same post for seven years at Oregon.

The "absolute worst" was the now infamous 1983 Civil War, a 0-0 tie at Autzen Stadium that left Oregon with a record of 4-6-1 and Oregon State at 2-8-1. The teams combined for 11 fumbles, five interceptions and four missed field goals.

"It was just horrible conditions," Cowan said. He was in the press box, trying to keep stats for the OSU radio crew but quickly gave up before long.

"The rain was coming in sideways," he said. "The wind was very strong. ... Water was over my feet in the press box. We're lucky we weren't electrocuted."

Two years later, back at Autzen, the temperature at game time was 26 degrees. Snow had been pushed off the field, and crews tried in vain to thaw the ice on the Oregon State side of the field.

"It was like a skating rink on that side of the field," he said. "The footing was just atrocious."

The 1992 game at Parker Stadium in Corvallis was played in what was described as "monsoon-like conditions," with standing water all over the field, Cowan said. Oregon won 7-0.

Cowan's most vivid memory of that game was seeing OSU coach Jerry Pettibone shivering and shaking so bad that the post-game interview had to be cut short.

"Those are the only three games I consider not fit for a football game," he said.

CIVIL WAR WEATHER

Mud and miserable conditions have played a role in many of the Civil War battles played since 1894. Here's a look at five games played in conditions only a Duck - or a Beaver - could love.

1921, Eugene: This scoreless tie - the teams repeated the dubious feat in 1931 and 1983 - was played in a downpour that transformed Hayward Field "into a soup-like lubricant."

1946, Corvallis: Oregon State won, 13-0, on a quagmire-like field and on a day "you wouldn't have turned a cow out to grass or a dog out to die on," wrote sportswriter L.H. Gregory.

1961, Eugene: A north wind made the 35-degree temperatures seem colder. The field was so muddy the bands were barred from marching at halftime. Oregon State won, 6-2.

1983, Eugene: A game that lives in infamy - a 0-0 tie sometimes called the Toilet Bowl. More than half an inch of rain fell that miserable day, much of it driven sideways by the wind.

1992, Corvallis: Rain fell in sheets on this 7-0 Oregon victory. Nearly 1 1/2 inches of rain fell in "monsoon-like" conditions. It was so windy, the joke goes, that when the Beavers won the coin toss, they elected to take the current.

- The Register-Guard

CAPTION(S):

Oregon's Sean Burwell (above) runs through a hole during Oregon's 7-0 Civil War victory over Oregon State in 1992. Nearly 1 1/2 inches of rain fell on that year's game at Parker Stadium. In 1985 (left), the game at Autzen Stadium was played in frosty 26-degree temperatures.