Jim Kershner’s This day in history

From our archives, 50 years ago

The biggest football crowd in Spokane’s history – 28,750 people – converged on Memorial Stadium (now Albi) in 1960 to see Washington State University take on the University of Washington.

For the past 24 hours, trains with dozens of special cars had arrived from Seattle. Autos with King County plates had rolled down the Sunset Hill. Every hotel and motel room in town was booked, with the overflow being sent to Coeur d’Alene.

Traffic police handled the jams around the stadium smoothly, The Spokesman-Review said. Yet thousands were still in line in the stadium tunnels at kickoff time.

Some WSU supporters displayed a sign that read, “U of Wash Goes to the Bowl,” with a drawing of a red toilet bowl.

“The sign was torn to bits by a UW raiding party,” said The Spokesman-Review.

And the result? The Huskies squeaked through with a nail-biting 8-7 win. The winning margin came on a two-point conversion. The Huskies went on to the Rose Bowl and beat Minnesota, the No. 1 team in the country, for a claim on the national championship.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1977: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to visit Israel.