Give 'em! the axe! the axe! the axe!
Give 'em! the axe! the axe! the axe!
Give 'em the axe!
Give 'em the axe!
Give 'em the axe!
Where?!?
Right! in the neck! in the neck! in the neck!
Right! in the neck! in the neck! in the neck!
Right in the neck!
Right in the neck!
Right in the neck!
There!
The Stanford yell-leading squad decided that it would be a good idea to have something to help rally the student body to cheer their team to victory. Because of the popularity of the Axe Yell, it was decided that an Axe would be the perfect instrument to help rally the students. The Axe was not custom made for the Stanford yell leaders, but was a standard lumberman's axe weighing ten pounds with a fifteen inch blade (it was quite possibly ordered from Sears). When the Axe arrived, the handle was painted red.
In April of 1899, there was a best-of-three game series scheduled between Cal and Stanford. Cal upset Stanford 4-1 in the first game of the series. On Thursday April 13, 1899, a rally was held on the Stanford campus to whip up spirit for the second game, to be played two days later. The Axe was displayed to the Stanford student body for the first time at this rally, and was used to decapitate a straw man dressed up in blue and gold.
Anyway, the effort of Stanford's yell leaders did not came to fruition as the Bears won the game 9-7. As fate would have it, the Cal section was the closest to the exit of the field, and so one group of planners decided to wait for the Axe. When it arrived, an "old-fashioned brawl" (or small riot, depending on the account) ensued as the Cal men jumped the Stanfordites with the Axe. At this point, the second group of Cal men jumped into the fray. The Axe was taken by Cal at the cost of a black eye, a torn suit, and a cut finger. Paul Castelhun '00, who lived only blocks away, was given the Axe and took off as fast he could. Unfortunately, he was slowed down because he was wearing a heavy overcoat, so the axe had to be taken by someone else.
At the same time, a squad of police arrived, and Jack McGee '99, succeeded in confusing the police by trying to convince them that some Stanford students were attempting to steal a California Axe. The Sergeant in charge, Michael Josephy Conboy decided "They are college byes. Let them foight it out."
The Axe was passed on to Cal sprinter Billy Drum '00, who took the Axe along a winding route through the City. At one point, Drum accidently handed the Axe to two Stanford men who pretended to be Cal men, but he and some other Cal men helped retrieve the Axe from the two pretenders after chasing them for two blocks. Eventually the Axe reached a butcher shop at Scott and Oak streets where the Cal men were able to saw the handle off. The Axe and handle were then given to Clint Miller '00, who stuffed the Axe under his overcoat and put the handle down his pants leg. On the way to the Ferry Building, Miller stopped at a Chinese hardware store on Clay St. to make the handle easier to hide.
At the ferry building, the police were searching all UC men taking the ferry to Berkeley. Miller kept the axe as close to his skin as possible, buttoned up his coat and overcoat, and looked quite innocent as he waved goodbye to the Cal men while grabbing the arm of an old girlfriend that he saw was in line to board the ferry to Oakland (some legnds say that the girlfriend was a guy in drag, others say that the girlfriend hid the Axe under her skirt--neither are true). Jimmy Hopper '98 noticed what Miller was doing, bought Miller a ticket to Oakland, and handed the ticket to Miller just in time to board the ferry.
That night, the Axe was stored in the safe of Morris the Photographer, and the next night, under the pillow of Al Lean, the trainer of the baseball team. Then, on Monday April 17th, the baseball team plus the men who helped steal the Axe, elected Loll Pringle as the "Custodian of the Axe", and the first Axe rally was held on the Cal campus.
The Axe was then moved to the Chi Phi house where a few days later, several Stanford students raided the house, but did not find the Axe, which was hidden in a space behind a sliding door. After this incident, the Axe was moved to one of the top floors of the Klaus Spreckels building at 3rd and Market in downtown San Francisco, under the care of Clint Miller.
Miller, with his legs starting to tremble, managed to reply, "Oh, by the way, where is the Stanford Axe?"
The Stanford man replied, "Never mind, Clint, we know where it is. You're now warned never to bring it out in public."
The Axe was stored in the vault for 30 years, and was only brought out for Football and Baseball rallies, when it would be transported to and from the Greek Theatre by armored car.
While the Axe was kept in the bank vault, a search warrant for stolen property served on the bank only once. When that happened, the bank manager consulted the bank's attorney, Judge Waste, who said "Pay no attention to the warrant. It has been issued from San Francisco County instead of Alameda County." This prompted the bank manager to ask what he should do if he was ever served a warrant from Alameda County. The Judge replied with "That's easy! Give the Axe to me and I'll put it in my private safe deposit box. They will never think to get a search warrant for my box."
Every year the baseball team would elect a new "Custodian of the Axe". The Axe would be ceremoniously passed from the old Custodian to the new Custodian at the annual Fall Ax Rally. The custodian of the Axe was responsible for displaying the Axe at the two Ax Rallies and safely transporting the axe to and from the bank.
In response to the theft, a Cal joke newspaper, The Raspberry Press, printed an edition with the headline Rally Committee Stinks. Meanwhile, down on the Farm, an impromptu rally was held as the Axe was paraded around the Stanfurd campus and residence halls. The theives were dubbed "The Immortal Twenty-One" (though Cal fans call them the "Immoral Twenty-One") and were each given a Block "S".
Early on, the Axe was presented to the winning side at a ceremony after the game's conclusion, by the Governer of the State of California. (Oh how times have changed).
When the agreement was signed, the responsibilty of displaying and guarding the Axe, while in California hands, was given to the California Rally Committee along with the title "Custodians of the Stanford Axe". The University of California Rally Committee still has this title and the responsibilty that goes with it. At Stanford, a similar group called The Stanford Axe Committee is responsible for the Axe when it is in their custody.
Over the summer of 1948, the Axe was stolen from its case in Cal's Stephen's Union and later was found leaning against a tree near the Stanford golf course.
In 1953, the Axe disappeared from its display case at Cal again (supposedly the Cardinal visitors left a five dollar bill to pay for the broken glass). During this time, the Rally Committee had commissioned the manufacture of a forgery. The phony Axe and plaque were brought out to convince the Stanfordites that they didn't have the genuine Axe. They looked realistic enough that the Axe was returned. The fake Axe still exists and last made an appearence at the 1992 Big Game Bonfire Rally at Cal.
In 1967, a Cal student purloined the Axe from its Stanford case without leaving any visible signs of entry on its case. The Axe appeared in some interesting photographs afterwards: one was next to a University of California Centenial Banner, and the other was atop the Oakland Tribune Building. The Axe was returned to Stanford just prior to the football game. A few hours later it was returned to Cal after the Bears scalped the Indians 26-3.
Outside the restaurant they were greeted by three members of a Stanford fraternity disguised as Cal football players. They requested a picture with the axe, then, during the "photo" overpowered the men guarding the Axe and snatched the trophy away. According to the Stanford Axe Committee, the "Infamous Three" made demands for $6,000, admission to the Stanford graduate program of each's choice, and Thanksgiving dinner with President Richard Lyman.
As has been the case with each theft, the thieves returned the Axe in time for Big Game to begin. Unfortunately, Stanford regained the prized trophy a few hours later after winning 26-17.
Cal reclaimed the Axe in 1975 after demolishing the Cardinals 48-15, only one thing was wrong--the Axe was not on the plaque as some members of the Stanford Band had unbolted it. They eventually returned the Axe to John Larriosou '77, who, according to the 1975-76 Rally Committee scrapbook, held the blade high over his head and dashed across the Stanford Stadium turf to the Cal sideline while yelling "I've got the Axe! I've got the Axe!".
During the refurbishment, all of the individual score plates were replaced with the scores transfered to six larger plates. At the same time, the metal backing and the wooden plaque were cleaned and refurbished. However, the big surprise came when the Axe was cleaned...the original forging stamp was found on the Axe. Prior to this, practically no one believed that the Axe on the plaque was the original. "Surely with all of the thefts, and the moving around, someone had replaced it with a copy.", people had said. However, the forging stamp proved that this was the actual Axe that had been stolen by Cal back in 1899.
1. That all charges for theft of the Axe dropped,
2. That the Stanfurd Daily prints a picture of them with
The Axe on the cover.
3. That Stanfurd changes its nickname to either
"Trees" or "Redwoods"
They signed the letter "Friends of Oski" and included polaroids of the Axe taken from the year before, with conveniently placed scratches to hide the fact that the last year's score was missing.
In addition they used the appropriated stationary and sent letters out to the Daily Californian and various Cal living groups that said that Axe had been stolen in the second week of March, and included a request that any leads be forwarded to the person who "signed" the letter. The signature at the bottom of the letter said "Andy Geiger", who was the Athletic Director of Stanford at the time. Unfortunately for Ken and Tim, Andy Geiger signed all letters with his formal name, Ferdinand Geiger. The hoax was quickly exposed, but it did force Jon Erickson to bring the Axe out of hiding. Ken and Tim were found to be the purpotrators of the hoax because Tim's home phone number was used for Geiger's in the letters. Their connection with Rally Comm was discovered when Tina Hoppe, a new Rally Comm member who didn't know any better, answered the phone and said that the two were Rally Comm members.
This earned them a nice article in the Sunday, April 14, 1985 Examiner. Following the hoax, Jon Erikson made the comment "maybe it was just a case of wishful thinking." In my opinion, Erikson should listen to himself and stop changing the score plate with the 1982 Big Game. According to the officials, the record books, and every newspaper account of the game, STANFORD LOST 25-20! With the ongoing whining I've heard from many Stanford alumni about 1982, I guess that it's no surprise that Stanford alumni such as Jeff Tarango make a name for themselves by whining too much.
Sullivan, John T., "The Big Game, a game by game history of one of America's greatest football rivalries", 1982, Leisure Press, New York, NY.
stories told by John Leon Larrisou, California '77
University of California Rally Committee Information Book, UCRC Alumni
Stanford Axe Committee, The History of the Stanford Axe
The 1924-25 Blue and Gold (Yearbook)
Sibley, Robert & Carol, "University of California Pilgrimage, a treasury of tradition, lore, and laughter", 1952, authors, USA
This last source credits directly...
Captain Kidd '00, "The Saga of the Axe", Nov 1951, California Monthly.
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