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'Watch the drawwwww': Jim Walden recalls Oregon fans groaning as Rueben Mayes ran into WSU football lore

'Watch the drawwwww': Jim Walden recalls Oregon fans groaning as Rueben Mayes ran into WSU football lore

Nearly a half-century later, the memory remains vivid for Jim Walden of the overwhelming buzz in Pullman as his Oregon Ducks took the field at Martin Stadium.

Facing a Washington State team with a 1-7 record, Oregon may have been 8-1 and ranked No. 13 in the country, but WSU’s Palouse Posse had officially reached its peak.

What had begun as the largest gathering of its kind in the 50-year history of Pullman drew national media to the Palouse during the week leading up to the game.

Never had the crimson-and-gray faithful been so amped to watch their Cougars.

Looking back on it nearly a half-century later, Walden can’t help but smile at the memory of that afternoon.

WSU fans lining the walkway to the locker room — all making sure to make eye contact with the Ducks — spoke volumes of what was to come.

“I had never seen anything like that,” said Walden, who coached Oregon from 1987-94.

“The fans were out there giving us the business. They were talking trash. It was a hostile, hostile environment.”

And it only intensified as the Ducks made their way onto the field.

“We came out of the tunnel, and Martin Stadium was just going crazy,” said former Oregon quarterback Bill Musgrave, who started the game against the Cougars.

“It was rocking.”

The noise was certainly a factor, but it was the momentum of the Cougar faithful that was the true difference-maker — something that former WSU assistant coach Dick Zornes remembers well.

“There was tremendous emotion in the stadium that day,” Zornes said. “Our crowd had built to a full frenzy.”

It wouldn’t take long for that emotion to boil over.