NICKNAME: GOLDEN BEARS
A successful tour through the nation's Midwest and East by Cal's  track & field team in 1895 is credited with the inspiration of the university's "Golden Bear" nickname. Since the grizzly bear is a symbol of the state of California, it was appropriate that the track team displayed a banner on their tour that featured a golden grizzly.

Continuing the domination they had enjoyed on the West Coast, the Cal team struck gold during their eight-meet tour by winning five of the events. Cal fans were supposedly so excited by their team's great performance that one of the school 's professors Charles Mills Gayley, wrote the son g "The Golden Bear."  Since that defining moment, Cal 's athletic teams have been called the Cal Golden Bears.

MASCOT: OSKI
After stepping forward as a more bearable mascot alternative than the l ive bears the school had been using, Oski joined Cal athletics in 1941.  The grinning bear costumed character has much better stadium manners that his live predecessors. An Oski Committee handles the mascot's selection and its members are the only ones who know the bear's identity.   Cal 's number one supporter  is named after the popular "Oski Wow-Wow" yell.

CAL COLORS: EAST AND WEST COME TOGETHER
Cal's blue and gold colors were established  in 1868 and reflect the heritage of the university's founders and the "Golden State" of California.   Many men instrumental in the development of the school had come from Yale.  Therefore, they matched the Ivy League school's blue with the California gold to form the color combo  that's still used today.  Cal athletes first wore the colors in 1882.

CAL'S BIGGEST RIVAL: AN AXE TO GRIND WITH STANFORD
Each year Cal plays 10 regular season opponents  along with the "Big Game" that pits the Golden Bears against their PAC 10 rival Stanford.   Noted as one of college football 's oldest, most intense and bizarre rivalries, the series has more than a century of history. If these two Northern  California  foes didn't already have enough to play for, the added variable of the contest  being a trophy game builds the pressure higher. The Stanford  Axe is the prize that's been given to the winning team since  it was first presented  following  the 1933 game.  Mounted  on a plaque, the scores  of every game since  I 933 are listed on the axe.

Stanford students yelling, "Give them the axe" during an I 899 pep rally that featured  a Cal straw man being decapitated  with the blade, helped the axe swing its way into the series.  Stanford students were also accused  of taunting their Cal opponents  during the next day's  baseball game by cutting pieces of blue and gold ribbon with the axe.  After earning a dramatic come from behind victory, Cal supporters grabbed the axe and smuggled  it back to Berkeley.  The axe disappeared for more than three decades  before resurfacing too become the focal point of the Stanford   rivalry.

CAL GAMEDAY TRADITION: A GREAT DECK OF CARDS
Cal athletic officials proclaim the game day tradition of fans performing card stunts  in the stands originated at their school.   Cards were first flashed  during a 191 0-rugby  match against Stanford. Two symbols, The Stanford Axe and a blue "C" on a white background were the stunts  performed.

Cal fans still rev up the tradition  several times a year at Memorial Stadium.  As many as 10 stunts are sometimes performed  in one day, with some of them involving more than 5,000 cards.  The process of placing the cards in their proper  position  used to take days of planning, but now is much simpler thanks to the advent  of computers.

THE BEAR'S DEN: MEMORIAL STADIUM
Completed  in time for the 1923 Big Game against Stanford,  Cal's  Memorial  Stadium  is known for its architectural design and beautiful  and surroundings. Modeled  after Rome's Coliseum, the venue offers an impressive view that includes a plush wall of pine trees in the Berkeley Hills to the east and a full view of the San Francisco  Bay and its three bridges to the west.

Besides hosting  Golden Bear football, Memorial  Stadium  serves as a dedication  to World War I participants who were killed in the conflict.   Due to stadium  alterations  its seating capacity  has fluctuated through  the years.  It current y has room for 74,909  fans, but 83,000  fans squeezed  in for the I 947 Navy and 1952 Stanford  games.

ROTH RETIREMENT: CAL'S
The jersey No. 12 that was worn by former  quarterback Joe Roth is the only one that's  been retired by the Cal football program.  Roth led the Bears in passing in 1975 and 1976 before being sacked by illness.  Cancer ended his football career following the 1976 season and took his life on Feb. 19, 1977. Roth's jersey was retired during a ceremony prior to the USC foot ball game that fall.  Cal defeated the Trojans 17-14.

SUPER QUARTERBACKS
Golden Bear signal callers have made quite an impact in the NFL after leaving Berkeley.  Joe Kapp (Minnesota),Craig Morton (Denver) and Vince Ferragamo (LA Rams) all led their teams to the Super Bowl.  However the one fly in the ointment is that all three came up short in their bid to win an NFL championship.

Kapp returned to the Cal all program as the team 's head coach in 1982.  Despite boasting 4 record his first season, Kapp left the program after winning on l y 20 games in five years. Another former Cal quarterback also made his mark in the pros.  Following his stellar 1974 collegiate season,  the Atlanta Falcons picked Steve Bartkowski with the first selection in the 1975 NFL draft.Aaron Rodgers has taken Cal's NFL success to elite levels.  Rodgers replaced Brett Favre as the Green Bay Packers signal caller and has guided the Packers to a Super Bowl title (SB XLV) in 2010 and also captured NFL MVP honors in 2011.

THE LEGEND OF WRONG WAY RIEGELS
While he was once known for being an All-American center on Ca l 's "Wonder Teams" of the 1920s, Roy Riegels will forever be remembered for his breathtaking run in the 1929 Rose Bowl. Playing undefeated Georgia Tech, Riegels picked up an opposing player's fumble and for a brief moment headed toward Tech's goal line.  However, after being spun around, Riegels darted in the wrong direction to Cal 's one-yard line before being turned around by a teammate.

Disaster quickly struck Cal after Riegels was tackled at the one-yard line, when Tech blocked a Cal punt for a safety and a 2-0 lead. Georgia Tech never relinquished the lead on their way to an 8-7 w in that will long be remembered as one of college football's classic games.